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Mina smiled and turned to look at him, beaming from the inside out. “To a beautiful love story.”
He lifted his glass returning her smile, and they drank. Her eyes never looked away. He never blinked. They set their glasses down as one, and he opened his mouth to ask her to dance, but the band cut him off, striking up as another troupe of performers entered through the main door, running across the floor dressed in red silk carrying violet streamers behind them.
The ones carrying the violet spread it out over the ground, and a man appeared from between the sheets, draped in black silk. Dancers at the edge of the image pulled the silk, and he writhed as if fighting off an attack.
Erik’s eyes went wide. He recognized this scene too. This was the scene from his vision. Mina and the wildflowers.
To prove it a woman with wild dark hair the exact shade of Mina’s ran through the open hall doors and shouted at the top of her lungs. “He is mine!”
The music rumbled and crashed, and—
Mina shot up from her chair, her face pale as a sheet. She darted out from behind the table, aiming for the antechamber he’d taken her to the night they’d arrived. She disappeared through the door, and he leapt from his chair just as Aria crossed in front of him.
“Sit down,” he snapped. “I will find her.”
The handmaid turned and snarled back at him, baring her teeth. “You stay away from her.”
“Aria!” Lucy gasped, grabbing her by the arm.
Erik didn’t wait to see what the witch would say. He took advantage of their distraction and darted after Mina, moving through the antechamber and out into the hall. He sniffed the air, searching for her scent, and his chest felt tight. Where had she gone?
Closing his eyes, he sniffed a second time, and the faintest hint of violets, and wine found his nose. She’d doubled back around the front of the hall, to head for the gardens. The closest exit to the outside world. The closest fresh air she could find.
Following in her footsteps, he inhaled deeply every few steps, keeping track of her scent as it grew stronger. Stepping out the door to the gardens, the cold air hit him like a slap in the face. Winter was coming to Nilumaria. It wouldn’t be long before snow coated the grounds.
Among the roses he lost Mina’s scent, but he knew where she would go. It was the place where everyone went. The balcony that overlooked the city beyond the walls. It had the best views.
Cutting his way through the dark walks, and around the fountains, he felt his heartbeat once hard against his ribs, and his hands clenched. After everything that had happened since she’d arrived, he didn’t like letting her out of his sight.
He turned the last corner, and the moment his eyes found her, his body relaxed. He walked closer and he saw the exaggerated rise and fall of her shoulders. She was crying.
“Mina, are you okay?” He called softly, putting a light touch on her shoulder.
She jumped and whipped around, grabbing at the railing behind her. “I…what was that dance? How did…that was my dream. I saw that in my dreams.”
“Shhhh,” he said, catching her face between his palms. “Take a breath.”
She met his eye, and exhaled. “Erik, I’m scared. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
He brushed his thumbs over her cheeks, wiping away her tears, and he gave her a soft smile. “I know. I’m just as scared, but we can figure this out together.”
Music floated from the great hall in the distance, and she slid her arms around him, resting her head on his chest. He held her close and pulled her with him into a slow sway following the tune.
“It’ll be okay, Starlight.”
Her fingers tensed on his lower back and then relaxed as she exhaled. “Am I Evangeline?”
“What?” His steps faltered.
Mina lifted her head. “Am I her? Is that why you chose me?”
“I…” He knew they’d have to have this conversation sooner or later. He’d hoped that he’d be more prepared for it, but now was as good a time as any.
“Erik?” She frowned, fresh tears gathering in her eyes. His hesitation was hurting her. “Tell me. Please.”
“Iwasattracted to you because you look like her, and for years Andrea has sworn that Evangeline would return to me one day, but…I honestly don’t know if you are her. There are tests that can give us that answer, but none of that matters. Not anymore.”
She jerked out of his grasp, shaking her head. “How can it not matter?”
