Page 12 of Fallacies

“Stop talking about me as if I’m not here,” I bite back before I can think better of it, earning me the unwanted attention of Gemma, Kimber, Selene, and everyone else in our row. “Sorry,” I mutter, clearing my throat, but my friends aren’t buying it.

“Cin?” Gemma places a hand on my thigh. “Did you have too much?”

I drag in a full breath and shake my head. “No, I’m fine. I just⁠—”

“You are here!” My father’s voice is sharp in my ear, making me jump. “That’s the problem. You shouldn’t be.”

“I don’t feel good,” I tell Gemma, glancing at Kimber and Selene as I stand. “I’m gonna go.”

“I’ll come with you,” Gemma offers.

“No.” The word slices the air like a whip, so defensive that I take a second to collect myself before trying again, “Sorry, no. I’m fine. I promise.”

Mercifully, she listens, and none of them follow as I hurry across the teal-tiled floor and stumble back onto the path we’d taken to get here. I press myself against a nearby tree and try to catch my breath. Whatever I’d had to drink is making my legs wobbly, but my rapid heart rate isn’t so easily blamed on my sobriety. Or lack thereof.

“Breathe, Lune Sylra.” My grandmother is before me now, golden light warm on my face. “It’s okay.”

“No, it is not!” His voice is a growl, dark and deep.

My father emerges from the trees—a midnight black silhouette with piercing yellow eyes. Somehow, when he steps into the dim moonlight, he’s even more menacing. A shadow. A panther.

“Lucina.” He jumps forward, and a heartbeat later, he’s occupying the space Sable was just standing in, only inches from my face. “You’re hiding from half of your magic,” he accuses.

“I don’t need it.”

“Yes, you do!” His voice is distorted, stretching too far from whatever plane of existence his soul is on.

Sable appears beside me, so bright compared to him. The warmth and safety of her wraps me up like a shield. One he can’t break through. “Leave. Her. Alone.”

My father takes a reluctant step back, jaw clenched and teeth gritted. “You do need it,” he tells me, staring straight into my soul as he cements his statement with, “If you hide from it, it will consume you. If you deny it, it will eat you alive. Control or be controlled.”

“Cin?”

I whip my head towards the sound of Callan’s voice. He’s walking the path towards me, Pax at his side, and whatever he sees on my face makes him speed up.

I dart my attention forward and freeze.

My father is gone, and so is Sable. Though heat lingers against my skin. Her shield is still holding.

Relief cracks through fear and panic. Not that Callan and Pax would be able to see them anyway, but I certainly can’t take that risk.

In seconds, Callan is in front of me, reaching for my hands. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine.” The lies are starting to come easier. “I just…drank too much, I think.”

He seems to buy it, his concern shifting into relief as he takes my hand and helps me back onto the path. “It’s pretty powerful stuff.”

“Yeah.” I push my hair over my shoulders and take a deep breath. “You decided to come?”

Callan smiles then, gesturing to Pax. “He couldn’t stop thinking about what you said.”

My brows furrow as I glance between them. “What did I say?”

“About Kimber,” Pax admits, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his suit. He’s dressed up. “If I don’t, someone else will?” He recites what I’d said to him earlier.

“Ah.” It’s impossible not to smile, even given the residual haunting I just experienced. I’m also still under the influence of whatever I drank, with too much adrenaline added to the mix. My legs feel like jelly, and my arms tingle at my sides. “Good.” I manage a smile. “It’s about time.”

Pax glances at the archway leading to the ceremony space, and panic flares in his eyes. “But what if she doesn’t⁠—”