Page 64 of Ashes of Aether

Then, as everything is spinning around me, I’m certain I glimpse Arluin’s raven curls amid the alley.

I blink and sit up.

But when I stare into the alley again, I can only see the long shadows that the late noon sun is casting across the street.

Was he there? Or did I imagine him?

Then I’m thrown back to the moment where I was rummaging through all the dead bodies, desperately trying to find him.

My breaths come out as gasps. I bolt from my seat, no longer caring what the others think.

“Reyna!” Eliya shouts after me.

I don’t stop. I continue through the bakery and shove open the powder blue door. The bell tinkles overhead. I keep running. All the way across the street, until I reach the alleyway.

The shadows loom over me. Several moments pass.

But Arluin doesn’t appear. Not even when I squeeze my eyes shut and will for him to step from the shadows.

It seems he was never here at all.

“Reyna!” Eliya shouts again. Her hurried footsteps chase me.

I glance back to see her racing toward me. Then I return my attention to the shadows and grasp the locket beneath my robes.

She stops behind me. “Reyna, what’s the matter?”

“I thought I saw something,” I whisper, not turning to her. I don’t want her to see my disappointment. “But it seems I was wrong...”

“What are you talking about? What did you see?”

If I explain that I thought I saw Arluin, that I think of him every day, then I fear I’ll rip open the stitches holding together the broken pieces of my heart.

She reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “Come on, let’s go back inside. Mrs. Baxter just brought the cakes over.”

With how horribly my stomach is churning, I know I won’t be able to eat anything. “I think I’ll head home,” I say. “I don’t feel too good.”

“How come?” she asks with a frown. “What’s the matter?”

“I’ve probably caught a cold. It’s the season for it, I suppose.”

Her frown doesn’t abate. I know she doesn’t believe me. At least not entirely. “Well, make sure you take a healing potion as soon as you’re

home.”

“I will.” I hold out my hand. “Conparios.”My coin purse emerges from violet light. It’s of a pink and gold satin brocade, complete with a decorative metallic clasp.

Eliya shakes her head before I can open my purse. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll eat your slice.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am,” she replies. “Make sure you look after yourself. Our first trial starts on Monday, so don’t forget to take that healing potion.”

“I won’t forget. I promise.”

She gives me a wave and then heads back into the bakery, her crimson waves floating behind her.

My gaze returns to the shadows. I stare at them for several minutes more, a question weighing on my mind.