Page 91 of Of Blooming Embers
His shoulders slumped. “Fine. Dungeon first. Stratagems next.Destroying the Elders last. I know you’re right, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Shifting my baldric, I rolled my eyes, and he snorted, staring at his feet.
He pushed his shoulders back, chewing slowly. “Something going on with you and Seryn?”
My chin pushed upward, jaw ticking at the swift change in topic.
“You can tell me, you know.”
My heart knocked against my chest, and my jaw tightened. “Kaden?—”
“Sure, she ripped my heart out. But she never promised she wouldn’t.” With a sardonic chuckle, he rubbed his palm against his collarbone.
“Mind your tongue when you speak of her,” I warned, eyes narrowing.
His expression pinched with a look somewhere between guilt and pigheadedness. “I often suspected there was something between you. Two summers ago, especially. I was bloody sure of it. But then … nothing. I’m not as oblivious as you think, Gav.”
“I don’t think?—”
He interrupted, his words rising with the color of his cheeks. “I know what you think. What youallthink. Kaden, the jester.” He tossed the bread he’d been eating on the table. “Well, I’m finished being everyone’s joke. Let’s figure out how to destroy the bloody Elders.” He drank from his cup and then pointed it at me. “And then you and my best friend can ride off into the sunset.”
His goblet clinked against the metal table as he strode away.
Confusion and frustration rippled over me.
Seryn had ended things with Kaden. That much, I was sure. But seeing them together again. Did she have second thoughts? Was she questioning our relationship?
She sure as void would when she finally learned everything.
But this wasn’t the time or place.
And I … I couldn’t tell her even if I wanted to.
You damned failure.
My fists clamped around the leather strap on my chest.
I couldn’t bring myself to regret what Seryn and I had done. I wouldn’t apologize for any of it. What we had … it was everything.
Yet, his reaction wasn’t my brother’s typical outburst. It lacked heat. It was more … subtle. Laced in regret and despondency.
Kaden had gone into that glass prison as himself. But now, something had finally splintered within him. Or maybe he’d come out more himself than he’d ever been.
Frustrated, I shoved my hands in my pockets, looking up at the cerulean sky. Cool stone met my fingers.
A spark lit within me, trying to carve through the murky shadows. A faraway smile curving across my mouth.
Seryn’s talisman.
Later that day,we gathered together for dinner and then wandered the streets toward the citadel. Twilight painted the sky in shades of cerise and electric orange. Kaden was to my left, and Seryn on my right. Her shiny curls cascaded down her back, reflecting the burnished copper of her dress.
My fingers itched to burrow within the fiery strands and then glide over her curves to check if the dress was made of liquid, since it looked like it had been poured over her. Instead, I offered her my elbow, the silvery sheen of my overcoat shifting over my joints.
We all wore borrowed clothing in varying metallic shades as if we were a collection of precious metals.
The astrals seemed content. Chatting, wandering, living their eternal dream. Something stirred within me, seeing that such peace could follow a life well-lived.
“If the Elders live in Morpheus’ palace through the turn, then they likely have some Order unit or perhaps their most trusted Akridais guarding it,” I noted.
