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My eyes caught a glimpse of purple hair. She must’ve seen me, too, as she shook her head. Cora hadn’t found anything, either.
Finding the clock, I watched as the hand ticked closer and closer to midnight.
Two minutes left.
My eyes started to burn. They were going to return to their golden color any minute now. I couldn’t risk it. Cursing, I ran toward the glass panels that led to the gardens. My heels clicked on the marble floor as I maneuvered through the crowded space, brushing past bodies in my haste to reach the back of the ballroom.
I would be killed if anyone recognized me or saw my golden eyes.
The clock's ticks echoed through the large room, ringing in my ears, reminding me that the spell had vanished.
After pushing through all the people in the way, I finally reached the back glass door. I descended the cemented steps leading through the grassy garden, the night air conjuring an icy breeze that brushed past my face. Lifting my dress as I started to cross the greenery, thinking about the disappointment that lined my heart from not finding the map, I heard my name.
“MissLaneux1?” I stopped in my tracks. The spell had worn off. Now I was vulnerable to anyone who could see my eyes. There were hundreds of people inside, and if any of them were to step foot outside, it might be the end of me.
I slowly pivoted with curiosity at who said my name.
Tobias.
He was sitting by the grand silver fountain, ice blue water pouring profusely down into the flow of the pool beneath it, trickling as it joined the basin of clear water, reflecting the moon off its surface—the Celestials in a similar duplicate. Small jade frogs hopped from one end to the other, speckled in various shades of yellow and purple.
Swiveling his hand with fluid precision in the reservoir, the shimmering reflections scattered in different directions, creating small ripples distorting the world seen from above.
I scanned the garden, observing the slightly worn rust outlining the silver water fountain, the perfectly trimmed bushes surveying the area, and the patches of florals weeping with dew drops. The quiet garden was imbued with a subtle hum from the conversations within the palace.
“Aurelia?! What are you doing here? You’re going to get yourself killed!” he pronounced as he looked up from his dipped fingertips.
I was about to make a snarky comment, but realized that he probably had the map, and I had to play it safe.
“I am looking for you,” I lied. I started to walk closer to him, my vision sharpening from the dark light of the night sky.
“I didn’t even recognize you inside!” He looked me up and down, realizing he talked to me, but didn’t know who I was.
“You weren’t expecting me to be here.” Now, that wasn’t a lie. The relief made my shoulders ease, as he would notice the familiar quiver in my lip if I were to lie.
“No. I wasn’t.”
“I remember what you said, ya know?” I said, getting closer to him. I would only get the map if I were close to his body. Even then, I did not know how to grab it without him noticing.
We used to be close to each other. When we dated, he would come up to my tower every night. We would stay up all night telling scary stories and myths from the Old Religion. I hated the turn of events in our relationship.
This would’ve been normal if he wasn’t so power-hungry. If he didn’t only think of himself all the time. We wouldn’t have had to break up; we could still be together, and this wouldn’t be the case.
I remembered our first kiss when we ran into each other in the gardens, where he was new to being a knight in our court. He had just been elected from his city, Leveland, to represent them inside the kingdom. He didn’t know of me, but he was kind, sweet, and willing to have feelings for someone that wasn’t normal–wasn’t human. He told me he loved the fierceness of my golden eyes, pink hair, and the flames that could immediately jump from my hands.
Only four years ago, we met. We were sixteen, vulnerable, and dumb.
Approaching him, I settled on the dirt next to his feet as he sat perched on the edge of the water fountain. Laying on my hip, my legs gently placed behind me, I moved my dress to sit comfortably, not caring if it soiled. I desired to give him my full attention, to draw him into my golden eyes like I used to be able to, and to make the world stand still while I formed a plan to search his body for the map.
The need to find the map surged through me, resulting in my fingers trailing his body, aware of any indication that the map was hidden from him. His brocade suit beneath my fingertips was textured and smooth beneath the touch. The depths of thewoven designs tickled my fingertips as I swirled circles on his thighs and stared up at him with vulnerable eyes.
The familiarity of this touch scared the scales out of me.
“Yeah?” he said, trying to play it cool, even though I could feel his heart running a thousand miles per minute. “I also have to tell you something,” he said, his eyes darting from side to side. “But I can’t tell you here. Your tower would be perfect.”
“Yeah…” I said, my fingers further trailing up his body, not acknowledging in the moment that he needed to tell me something. “I remember that you said you would marry me.” He shivered as I raised my fingers and grabbed his face, leaning in to whisper in his ear. “I think we should get out of here,” I said, nipping his ear lobe.
Desperation started to take over because I would never have done this otherwise, but it felt easy and normal. A reminder of our past relationship reverberated through the blood in my veins.
