She had never been sure if the Godstars were truly real. But right now, in this moment, she could almost feel their presence. A soft, calming sense that replaced the dread that had weighed her down since they’d rescued Valen.
“I’m sorry,” Andi whispered. That horrible, hellish pain in her chest returned, bubbling up into her throat. She swallowed it down, forced herself to stay in control. “I knew I shouldn’t take her. Several times I felt this little whisper telling me not to do it. But she was so insistent. I just wanted to make her happy on her birthday. Did you know your father hardly spoke to her that entire day?”
Valen huffed out a breath. “My father,” he said bitterly.
“But that night? Everything was perfect. We were having so much fun, and Kalee was laughing, and it was the most beautiful evening, Valen. The stars were practically alive. And then the wind picked up and I just...lost control.”
She could still remember the empty sky before her.
Then the lurching of the transport. The crash as the wing clipped the mountainside. The tumble down to the ground.
“I wish I had died with her,” Andi confessed.
“I wish I had died, too,” Valen said.
She nodded, staring out at the moonflowers, marveling at how they looked like little delicate flames, dancing in the wind.
“Without Kalee...” Andi began, finally voicing the realization she’d come to terms with these past few days. “Without Kalee, there wouldn’t have been a sentence for me to run from. And without that running, I never would have found Dex. And without him...”
“You wouldn’t be the Bloody Baroness,” Valen finished for her. “My father would not have hired you.”
It was a vicious cycle, one that Andi wished she could have undone before it had ever started. But it was her story. Her life.
And it was her burden to bear.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “Truly sorry, Valen.”
For everything, she thought. Even me.
He didn’t respond. But the expression on his face was a little lighter, the tension in his shoulders a little less.
“We’ll leave as soon as the ship is repaired,” Andi said. “Then you’ll be home.”
“Home?” He said it like a question. He must have felt like this was a dream, that the two of them had been stuck in a nightmare for the past four years.
A breeze drifted through the trees, and with it, the faint sound of music.
“Do you want to go to the festival?” Andi asked hesitantly.
Valen, after a moment, nodded his head. “I think I’d like that.”
They stood and walked a few paces apart toward the rainforest’s edge.
Andi peered back up at the night sky.
The darkness seemed a little lighter now. As if it wasn’t entirely black after all.
Chapter Fifty-Four
* * *
LIRA
LIRA STOOD AT the base of Rhymore, the cool kiss of the night air slowly dancing around her.
She’d always loved Adhiran nights, the peace that came with each flicker of the stars far beyond the mountaintop. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the mountainside, relieved as Andi sent her and the girls a com.
Found him. See you at Revalia.
Lon had helped her find him, then. Good. The two Arcardians could talk more, wade through their tangled webs and hopefully enjoy the festival tonight.
Revalia, Lira thought, still in awe that they were here on Adhira at the same time as the festival. Though it looked as if she was going to be late to the festivities.
Even on board the Marauder, with its limited supplies, Breck and Gilly took ages to prepare for social events. But here, with an entire planet full of beauty supplies they could get their hands on?
Your silent pacing will be our demise, Gilly had hissed at Lira back in the girls’ temporary quarters, right after she’d thrown a moss pillow at Lira’s face. You heard the kid, Breck had said as she winked apologetically, slapped Lira’s behind and shoved her out of the room.
Lira herself had left the mountain fortress in a simple sand-shaded dress and with a pair of twisting sandals on her feet. Now she was fairly certain that she’d be waiting here for her friends forever.
But that was fine with her.
She couldn’t help but smile as she watched the continuous flow of people exiting Rhymore. Each year, Revalia took place in a different quadrant of the planet, the attire changing to suit the location.
Tonight, it would be in the Sands of Bailet. Already, massive cargo wagons, pulled by Albatusks with their many curling and hissing tongues, were carting citizens from Rhymore toward Bailet.
In the moonlight overhead, Lira could see the winged outlines of creatures from the rainforest taking their riders toward the desert. She could hear the distant, tolling whine of Sky Whales, soaring from the Endless Sea with hundreds on their backs.
“I thought you weren’t one for parties.”
Lira glanced sideways as a warm arm sidled up against hers, and with it a familiar musky scent that reminded her of the mountain tunnels.
“And I thought you were supposed to be guarding Andi,” Lira said to her brother.
“She’s fine out there. I have a feeling whatever creatures may come her way would be afraid of her.” Lon grinned and crossed his arms. Though he wore a pair of loose black pants, the rest of him was bare. Muscles and a sculpted chest were out in full view of the people who passed by in their festival attire, some whispering or giggling to each other as they tried to catch Lon’s eye. “And besides, every princess needs an escort to the ball. I figured, who better than your trustworthy, protective brother?”
Lira gave him a glare worthy of Andi. “I’m not a princess.”
“Technically, you are,” Lon said.
Lira rolled her eyes. “And this isn’t a ball.” She shoved away from the mountainside as two familiar forms finally came through the exit doors. Breck and Gilly, at last ready to take on the night, and fully decked out in Adhira’s best gowns. Lira turned back to her twin. “And even if it were a ball, who says I’d want to attend on my brother’s arm?”
“Come on, little bug,” Lon said in a wheedling tone. “I know you’re desperate to perform the dance we learned for our Efflorescence Ceremony. If I remember correctly, those feet of yours could stomp for days.”
She laughed, recalling the countless hours of lessons. The horror of having to stand in public, before hundreds of eyes, and perform. With her brother, of all people. How Andi used to dance for fun, Lira would never understand.
It was the torture of all tortures.
A roar sounded in the night, followed by a series of hisses, as another transport wagon arrived, massive, towering wooden wheels squeaking as the Albatusk came to a stop.
“That’s our ride,” Lon said. “Magnificent night, isn’t it?”
Lira wasn’t listening.
She had turned back to watch Breck and Gilly emerge from the mountainside, looking so alive. Their faces were luminous with smiles and laughter. Gilly’s hair was elegantly braided on top of her head. Breck’s handiwork, no doubt. And Breck’s eyes, the lids painted to look like a desert sunset, were completely mesmerizing.