Page 90 of Fallen Stars
She felt the shift in magick and heat around halfway down the in-between, seeing Merissa and Isra waving up ahead. Astra whined again, as though she could sense that she was home too.
Elara began to smell lemon and jasmine, could hear the hustle and bustle of Helios beckoning her. She’d missed it so much, missed how it was coated in Enzo.
She began running, further down the dim path, Astra barking, until she was assaulted by light and sound.
Isra and Merissa were already grinning as they pulled her out into the streets of Sol, hurrying her along.
“Wait,” Elara said breathlessly as they passed the artists’ square, dodging and weaving between the crowds, all still bewildered at the Sun’s ascent. “I can’t—” She took a moment to catch her breath. “I haven’t seen Enzo in months. I can’t go to him looking likethis.”
Elara looked down to her drab skirt, her hair lank, eyes she knew to be dusted with shadow.
Isra tutted. “Elara, the last thing on Enzo’s mind will be how you look right now.”
Merissa on the other hand was tilting her head, scanning Elara. “No, El’s right. She cannot see her love after a month looking like this.”
“Thank you,” Elara said, allowing herself the first small smile that she had in months. Both Isra and Merissa noticed, taking a hand each and squeezing them.
“Come,” Merissa said as she pulled them all through another street until they were a street away from the palace rise. “Just a few tricks.”
She raised her hands until the glamour’s familiar rosy glow was coating Merissa’s hands. “A swipe here,” she murmured to herself, passing a hand over Elara’s eyes. “A swipe there,” she said, passing it over her hair. She took a step back, studying her. “I can’t do much about the dress except tailor it a little.”
She felt her waist being cinched in, the bodice cutting low.
Isra smirked. “Okay, I’ll concede.Muchbetter.”
Elara trusted Merissa’s judgement as the glamour continued to weave magick around until she was content. Elara was itching and impatient by the time Merissa deemed her, “Ready!”
She needed a distraction from the overwhelming wave that had begun to rise the moment she had seen the Sun’s ascent in Castor. She knew if she opened up to her hope, if she truly acknowledged that Enzo was awake and waiting for her within those palace walls only to find that she was mistaken, she may just crumble apart.
“How are you feeling about seeing Leo?” she directed to Merissa, forcing her mind away from the prospect.
Merissa raised a brow as they continued to hurry through the crowded street, Elara balancing her illusion around Astra, making sure to guide the wolf so she didn’t knock into any passers-by.
“Your soulmate has awoken, and you’re minutes away from seeing him again, but you want to ask about my fleeting relationship with Leo?”
“Yes,” Elara said. “I do want to know. Everything has been overshadowed by my fight to wake Enzo, and your feelings are just as important.”
Merissa sighed as she hitched her pink skirts to avoid a spilled spices cart in the bedlam of the city. “I’m fine,” she said brightly. “Like I told you, we barely even kissed. It’s hardly something to write home about.”
Isra rolled her eyes. “You liked him, Mer. We all know it. It’s okay to feel disappointment, to feel nervous about seeing him.”
Astra harrumphed, seemingly in agreement, and Elara’s lip quirked, though the other two women didn’t hear the wolf.
Merissa’s face was smooth and impassive as she focused on the path ahead. “Like I said, we’re better as friends. Good things don’t happen to me with love, and if we took things further, it could ruin our friendship—one that is very precious to me.”
“Mer—"
“El, I promise. Nothing will change in the group. I’m excited to see him—him and Enzo. There’s nothing more to it.”
Elara knew there was more that Merissa was hiding. She knew that it was easy to push things down and avoid them while pretending that everything was fine. But Elara could tell that her friend didn’t want the subject pushed further, and so with a look at Isra, she let it go.
The road began to quieten, twisting up towards the palace and surrounding forests. These were the trails she had walked hundreds of times with Enzo during their training, and just being close to them set her heart fluttering.
Astra began to whine again, nuzzling Elara’s hand, and this time, Elara’s heart fluttered for a different reason.
They slowed on the steep incline, small mud trails winding off into the forest.
“Are you home, Astra?” Elara whispered, kneeling before the wolf. The wolf whined again, looking to the path behind, and Elara’s eyes filled with tears. “I know sweet girl, I know.”