Page 49 of Scales and Seduction

“Well, it’s like flashes, really,” I say nervously, wondering if that’s enough for her to go off of. “I can sense threads between someone, and I have this knowing that they’re coming here.”

“I suppose the mystery gentleman from your dream gave no information?” Calista hums as she closes her eyes in thought. I can only nod in reply. “How rude of him, honestly…”

“Well, rude and creepy. He poisoned me, all for me to have powers.” I chew at my lip in anxious habit. “He has to be the one who created the app.”

Calista takes her palm, giving my bare legs a gentle pat of reassurance. The smile on her face comes back full-force. She’s all sunshine and mischief; I can see just where Silas gets it from.

“Let’s just focus on what we know for now, but his days are numbered. We’ll find him,” she says in a singsong voice. “Close your eyes, little dove, and take a deep, slow breath.”

I do as I’m told, closing my eyes, inhaling until my lungs feel full before I exhale that breath. “Think of the threads. The way they weave between people. Are they always there, even when you can’t see them?”

The world around me dims as I reach out to those colorful threads, but not with my hands, with something deeper that sits just below my chest. There’s a sense of awareness as the magic courses through me. Suddenly…I feel them. The threads are invisible to most, stretching and twisting, but I can see my own thread below my body.

It’s thick and sturdy, the color a dark ruby red intertwined with teal like Gideon’s scales. It’s nothing like the one I sawfrom the blonde woman. Hers was thin and looked like any minute it could break. “I see my thread.”

“Good, focus on it tell me what you notice,” Calista says, though her voice feels far away like she’s in another universe.

Reaching further, my focus sharpens, but it’s not my thread I see anymore. Just beyond my grasp is a new thread glowing faintly. It shimmers like spun gold, so delicate but intact.

There’s a name written there, traced by some unseen hand in scrawling, beautiful calligraphy.

Sage Wilson.

My breathing catches in my chest as I feel the tug toward me. It’s pulling her this way. I’ve seen this before, the realization that she’s coming to the Vale. Sage is coming.

Her thread though is so vulnerable and thin…it worries me.

“Calista?” I whisper, my voice trembling. “She’s coming. Her name is Sage Wilson.”

Calista’s hands settle on my shoulders, and I feel the weight of her palms pressing on me. “Good, girl. What else do you see? Who is she mated to?”

I push myself further, tracing the tiny gold thread. I want to see who she’s connected to. The edges blur together, but slowly it steps out of the mist. I see it! A name starts to form, light weaving through the air. The other thread is a rich forest green—no, sage green.

Suddenly, I hear a crash as the front door bursts open.

“I’m home!”

My entire body jolts. The connection shatters as a small girl’s voice rings through the house. The threads dissolve into nothing, vanishing in the mist.

“Ugh, Mommy, today was soooo boring! Mr. Dalal kept talking on and on and on and on about chrysanthemums.”

Slowly allowing my eyes to open, I feel like the world is a hundred times brighter than I’d like. My head throbs behind myeyelids as everything slams into focus. Calista chuckles softly as if she knows the pain before turning toward her daughter.

“Did you learn anything today?” Calista asks with a smirk. “Leave Loran alone; you know he loves his potions.”

“Uh…define learn?” Wren grins before she stops in the doorway of the living room. “Oh, who’s this lady?”

Wren is tiny compared to the other two and has a spotted black-and-white body. She has short black hair and the cutest freckles across her nose. As she strides into the room, she’s completely oblivious to the moment she just ruined.

“This is Ruby, Prince Gideon’s mate. We were working on her magic aptitude. You know what you should have done today at school,” Calista says, shaking her head fondly.

Wren flops into a low chair, kicking her feet up onto a stool. “Wait, you’re doing fun magic stuff without me?”

It’s as if she couldn’t care less if he’s got a mate. She doesn’t think about me at all and instead pouts, giving the most pitiful face. “Mom, you never do fun magic stuff with me.”

Calista stands up, ruffling her daughter’s hair as she plants a kiss on top of her head. “One day, little bird, I’ll teach you. One day.”

I can’t help but smile as Wren chatters on and on about her day. Her energy fills the space with so much warmth. For now, the magical lessons are done, but I know for certain that Sage is coming. Whoever she’s meant to find is here somewhere, but I hope her thread doesn’t snap before they meet.

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