Page 140 of The Amber Sunburst

A shiny plastic tiara with fake pink gems shimmers in his hands and she burns in a full-body blush that is surely dark enough to show on her dusk-kissed skin. The tiara is made for kids and it probably cost less than a drachma, but it’s beautiful anyway.

He beams up at her, waiting for her reaction, and she debates whether it’s inappropriate to kiss him with their friends shouting distance away, in the middle of a busy street.

Yes, it probably is.

But, oh, how she wants to.

She settles for a smile instead. “Stupid,” she says fondly.

“Darling,” he says with a wink. The jokey tone doesn’t stop her from flushing further. He stands and draws close enough for her to feel the ghost of his breath on her skin. He sets the crown on her head and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and she is at major risk of losing her mind.

“You’re beautiful,” Zeno whispers like a secret just for her.

“You’re mine,” she says back without thinking, too high off of his proximity.

He pulls back to meet her eyes. “Always.” Sincerity drips from every letter.

She bites her lip in thought and Zeno’s eyes drop to it, and you know what? Screw it. She needs to kiss him.

They’re less than a centimeter apart and she feels so foolish for not doing this earlier because she’s already intoxicated. But right before they connect, both of their rings ping loudly with a summons back to the Academy.

They jump away from each other in surprise and she can’t hide her sigh of frustration.

“Guess we have to go,” Zeno says, disappointed.

“Yes, let’s.”

They jog steadily to the rendezvous point and Eudoxia plays the almost kiss in her head over and over and over until they get home.

What if she never gets another chance?

What if she does?

41

OPHELIA

“Think about it this way,” Alexander slurs, on what must be at least his fourth glass of wine. “No one is going to say ‘Alex the Great’. You say…” He motions for all of them to continue.

“Alexander the Great,” everyone choruses.

Alexander gestures emphatically. “Yes! And why would I sa—sacrifice ‘the great’ by calling myself Alex?”

He and Kallias sit on the floor of Zeno and Alexander’s room, both of them drunk off their asses and getting drunker despite the fact that everyone else switched to water over an hour ago. Ophelia would tell them to slow down, but the Trial is tomorrow, and if they need to get drunk, they need to get drunk.

Their goofiness reminds her of when she, Aika, and Dora used to⁠—

No. She needs to stop thinking about this; about the pain Dora must have experienced wherever she ended up; about Aika’s eyes seeing for someone else at the bottom of the sea; about the fact that if the woman has Aika’s eyes, maybe she… she…

She’s driving herself crazy and she can’t afford to right now.

She needs to focus. On her plans. On her friends.

Alexander throws an arm around Kallias’ shoulders, which an adorably chatty Kallias takes as a cue to share an observation. “You know what else is dumb?”

Zeno smiles indulgently and asks, “What’s dumb?” His hand is on Eudoxia’s lower back where they sit together on his bed.

“The first Trial was a maze. A maze! And then this one is a labyrinth. You know what a labyrinth is?”