Page 153 of Once the Skies Fade

“I can’t believe Lieke and Connor actually thought I could…they know me. They had to know how much I…”

“Grief can push us in directions we wouldn’t otherwise go. Even someone as noble as Connor.”

Calla didn’t respond except to slide out of my embrace. Turning, she started to walk deeper into the forest. She’d gone a few paces when she stopped and glanced back at me.

“You coming?”

“That depends,” I said, smirking. “Do you still hate me?”

Chapter 67

Calla

Ididn’t answer Matthias, except to lift a quizzical brow before turning away again.

He was at my side so quickly it startled me until I remembered this was a dream where poison didn’t slow our movements and time didn’t matter. In silence we walked deeper and deeper into the forest. Occasionally, I stole a glance at him, shifting my eyes quickly when he caught me. I expected some teasing response, but he said nothing.

The quiet was oddly refreshing, though, and I focused on the muted thumping of our boots against the soft ground as it blended with the pulse in my ears.

Not two pulses, but asinglepulse.

I stopped mid-step and pivoted toward him, laying one hand on his chest and the other on mine. My mouth fell open at the impossibility, but there beneath my fingers our hearts—bound by the stars—beat as one. Lifting my eyes to his, I started to remark on it, but he vanished along with the entire forest, leaving me in a dark emptiness. The uniform beat of our hearts was replaced by a steady, incessant pounding that pulled me reluctantly out of my reverie and back to my cold, lonely reality.

My gut hollowed as I slipped my feet off the sofa and down to the floor. I wanted to lie down, to find my way back to that dream, but the knocking at the door only grew louder and more impatient with every breath I drew trying to find the energy to stand.

There’d been so much more to say to Matthias, so much more to discuss and to argue about.

Like why he’d taken the poison himself, why he’d kissed me while I was unconscious, and what in the stars-damned fuck I was supposed to do now that we were mates.

“Calla!” Graham’s muffled voice shouted from behind the door, pulling a soft groan from my chest. Here I’d foolishly hoped it was Isa.

“I’m coming,” I muttered as I stomped to my feet and trudged to the door. I half-expected him to barrel in as soon as I answered, but he was leaning against the door frame, his head rested against his forearm as he struggled to catch his breath.

“What is it? What’s going on?” I asked.

“The Assembly is sending the guards up here,” he huffed, his eyes wild with panic.

“Why? Where’s Isa?”

Graham shook his head as he pushed away from the doorframe and moved into the room. His eyes darted around erratically, as if he were trying to find the answers to my question on the dust motes floating in the air.

“Where is Isa?” I repeated, more sternly.

Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me close and repeated the same words over and over. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

I’d never seen him in such a state, not when my parents died, not when Brennan had been killed. Slowly, I leaned back so I could cup my hands around his face and force him to look at me.

“Why is the guard being sent, Graham?” I asked, stepping back to force his arms to pull from around my waist.

“You need to leave. Now,” he said.

“Fuck it all, Graham. Why!”

“They’re arresting you for the king’s murder!”

My hands shook as they fell, lifeless, to my sides. My shadows, awakened by the jolt to my heart, burst from my palms and swarmed around Graham, slowly spiraling around his body, higher and higher. He eyed them as they crept closer to his throat.

“They couldn’t find Isa. I thought she might have come to warn you, but I came up here in case she hadn’t. We need to leave, now.”

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