Page 72 of Of Withering Dreams
Letti and Xeni breezed by us, Letti’s delighted titters streaming in her wake as Xeni held my sister’s hand and twirled her in place. They were a sight to behold, with Letti’s silky snow-colored dress fluttering around her and Xeni’s formal Draumr uniform pressed to perfection.
A flash of ruby caught my eye at the edge of the dance floor. Breena, in her magnificent, mermaid-cut dress, and Rhaegar, also in his dress uniform, were deep in conversation. She winked at me as we waltzed past them.
When the song finished, Kaden and I stepped apart, my hand resting atop my racing heart. “Mind if we take a moment? Unless you want to chop off my feet.”
“Best not. They might be useful later,” Kaden teased, leading me from the dance floor with his palm on the small of my back.
“Bree, like I predicted. Astonishing,” I said, waving my hand from the floor to her bare shoulders.
“You’re bloody right.” She rocked her hips from side to side, her hands propped on her waist. “And you look positively delicious.”
I smiled, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. “Rhaegar, won’t you dance?”
“Two left feet, I’m afraid.”
“More like two massive slabs of meat,” Breena muttered, bending and rubbing the toe of her … boots. I pinched my mouth together to hold in any laughter that was trying to flee.
Kaden patted Rhaegar on the shoulder in solidarity, offering to get some refreshments for us all. “Four honey wines coming right up.”
The first bittersweet chords of the next song echoed through the room. My head tilted to look at the beautifully forlorn notes drawn across the musician’s strings.
I knew this melody.
Where was it from?
Without thought, my feet shuffled toward it. My heart pumped wildly, its pulse drumming under the star on my nape. My ember chafed under my flesh, and I trapped the air within my lungs—not wanting to miss a single note.
My concentration was so fixated that I didn’t realize I stood in the center of the dance floor, my hand covering the spot where my heart should have been. The spot where tiny shards were breaking off with every haunting harmony. Tears gathered as faint words surfaced above the shadows of my recollection—the corpse of a buried memory exhumed. My eyes fluttered closed. The haunting lyrics echoed in my head to the rhythm of the ballad.
There it shall linger,
In the void where shadows creep.
Beyond Nether,
The nightmares decay sleep.
Here you’ll find me,
In the withering mist between trees.
Among shattered
Hopes and phantom breeze.
There, I’ll find you,
In the blooming embers of your dreams.
Fated promises,
Sealed in moonbeams.
“It’s the song you hum when you eat—Maya’s song.” The words whispered across my cheek, bringing me back to the present, my eyes snapping open. I drew in a deep lungful of air, remembering to breathe again as the sound of my mother singing faded into the shadowy corners of my mind.
Gavrel’s warm, solid frame stood close, and he shifted from just behind my right side to face me. His dark, formal uniform rustled against the velvet of my skirt. He looked at me, his brow drawn together.
People danced around us, swaying and swirling as if we weren’t even there. Steel-colored, braided tassels swung from his squared shoulders, the only things moving on his person. The only thing ensuring me we weren’t frozen in time.
