Page 70 of Ashes of Aether

If only he were someone else’s son. Then all this wouldn’t have happened. Then we might still be together.

The locket weighs heavily in my palm. I don’t know how it doesn’t slip from my grasp and fall to the floor.

I watch myself kiss him, watch how still he is within my embrace. Maybe he suspected that our time together was reaching an end and that this moment would be one of our last. Maybe that’s why he decided to record this memory.

“Arly,”I say when I finish kissing him,“we can’t change the past. We can only shape the future.”

My words sound nothing like my own. All I want is to change the past. To change it so that we can be together, so that my mother is alive. Maybe if I’d immediately reported my suspicions to my father, everything would be different.

Or would it? Would fate still have torn us apart?

“Marry me,”Arluin gasps. In the vision, he clasps my face.“Please marry me, Reyna. I can’t bear the thought of ever being without you—”

I don’t wait to hear my response.

I slam the locket shut, and the delicate metal shudders from the force. My shoulders tremble as I stare at the silver heart in my palm. I squeeze my fist shut, and the locket digs into my skin.

I fall into the silk sheets. The mattress reverberates with the impact. Dust fans into the air and swirls in the moonlight. I gaze up at my hand, the locket concealed within. I let out a heavy breath. It leaves my lips hoarse and uneven.

I wish for him to return, even if that’s a selfish wish. If he’s caught here in Nolderan, no amount of pleading will save him from my father’s wrath. But I need to know the truth. I can’t spend the rest of my life with a gaping hole ripped through my heart.

I need to know that he’s alive. That he didn’t die to save me.

I refuse to believe I’m the reason he is dead.

I bring my knees up to my chest and stare at the fine silk drapes hanging from the mahogany bed frame. My breaths reach them and they ripple slightly. I squeeze the locket tighter in my hand and cradle it to my heart in a silent prayer. To whom, I’m not sure. The gods certainly aren’t listening.

We swore a promise to one another, and I’m clutching the proof of it in my fist. I can’t help the foolish hope that he may come back, as impossible as it may be.

My eyes flutter shut. The ghost of Arluin’s face drifts through my mind, gently lulling me to sleep.

That night, I dream of passing my Mage Trials and him returning to Nolderan.

To marry me, just as we promised.

Twenty-One

Relentlesswindswailinmyears.Theytearatmyhair,andthestrandsbecomelong,slenderbladeswhichsliceacrossmycheeks.OverheadtheAetherTower’senormousorbofenergyhums,poweringallofNolderan’smagicalneeds.

I pause on the very top step leading up to the tower and scan across the city beneath. The cobalt rooftops appear even smaller than they do from Archmage Gidston’s office in the highest spire of the Arcanium; the Aether Tower is at least thrice its size. I can see all the waves as they tumble across the sea and the dark silhouette of Talidor’s coastline crowning them.

While I’ve never known myself to have a phobia of heights, a dizzying bout of fear crashes into me. The city below spins. We’re so high up that we must be within the clouds.

My breaths are labored from the countless steps leading up here. I’m certain Eliya and I were walking up the spiraling staircase for at least an hour, though it feels an eternity. My legs are numb from fatigue. It’s hard to believe ascending the tower isn’t part of the trial itself.

And it’s even harder to believe that Eliya is undeterred by the strenuous climb. She bounds ahead to the edge of the platform. The way she leans over and points below makes my stomach lurch. All I can hope is that a sudden gust of wind doesn’t blow her off before the Trial of Heart begins.

“Look!” she exclaims. “I can see my house from all the way up here. Even the pond in our garden!”

How she can see such details from this height, I have no idea. Even when I squint, I can’t make out much more than rippling cobalt roofs and the streets weaving through them like a network of spiderwebs.

I take a step nearer and force a smile. “How wonderful.”

She’s too busy marveling at the world below to notice the dryness in my tone.

We aren’t the first adepts to arrive. The Trindell twins are already present, and they both lean against one of the tower’s curved stone spires. Blake is also here, along with a few others.

Koby appears behind me. His cheeks are bright red, and he seems even more out of breath than I was. When he reaches the last step, he doubles over.