Eli chuckled, blinking once, and the men started back into action, looking around in confusion.
“The game’s finished,” Eli drawled, waving a hand. “The lady won.”
He stood, pulling at his starched collar. “You and I need to talk in private.”
She rose, smoothing her dress as he looked around the room. Elara spotted Merissa and Isra still watching her, their eyes burning into the corner of the room. She gave them a sharp nod before following Eli to a small wooden door. It led to a plush office, and he closed the door gently, muffling out the sounds of the band and the drunken crowd as he paced around her to a desk. She admired the deep green furnishings, the black carved desk, its legs twined with snakes. He took a seat in the bottle green chair behind the desk, motioning for Elara to sit opposite him. She did, folding her hands in her lap.
“So, Elara, what is it you came to ask me?”
“You know the answer I need.”
“Then ask the question.”
Elara took a deep breath. “How do I wake Enzo?”
He paused, all arrogance replaced by severity. “You seek out Ariete. Only he can help break Enzo’s slumber. I’d have thought you’d already guessed that.”
“I did, you silver-tongued—” Elara stopped herself as Eli raised a brow. “But I didn’t ask for the answer to be so vague.”
“You didn’t ask for it not to be. Be specific with your words, Elara, you know us Stars like to trap you with them.” He grinned then as she thought back to her old prophecy.
She pinched two fingers to the bridge of her nose, breathing deeply. It would not do to lose her temper here.
“Can you give me any further information as to how Ariete will help?”
Eli sighed. “Fine. Do you know how a death blow from a Star works?”
“No.”
“The last blow that Ariete gave to Enzo should have killed him. That was the law of nature, the way fate was to play out. And yet you, with your power, tipped the scales, pulling him into an endless sleep. As of right now, Enzo’s only two options are the state he is in now or death.”
Elara’s heart drummed as nausea swept over her.
“I’m not finished,” Eli warned, seeing her pale. “Ariete was enraged by this, by the fact that you had cheated death.”
Elara’s eyes grew cold. “Well, I was enraged when he plunged a sword through my soulmate’s stomach.”
Eli averted his gaze. “So in punishment,” he continued, “Ariete stole Enzo’s tether. That magick string that keeps a soul tied to this world?”
Elara nodded, she was familiar with what tethers were due to her dreamwalking, had known that was what the god had stolen.
“Since you have put Enzo between worlds, his soul is floating in your dreams, his comatose body still here.”
Elara winced although Eli showed not a drop of remorse as he leaned forward.
“Elara, you are on borrowed time.”
Every part of her stilled. “What do you mean?”
Eli huffed impatiently. “What do you think happens to a person whose soul isn’t connected to their body after a time? Whose mind is wandering the dreamlands? You think Lorenzo could just stay like that forever?”
Elara swore she felt the blood drain from her. “How long?”
Eli shrugged. “Time is warped in the dreamlands, but I’d guess about a month from when he was put to sleep, at most.”
A month. She did the maths. That gave them fifteen days to find his tether. Fifteen days because she had been a selfish fucking idiot.Sleeping. Sleeping and wasting time in her own pain instead of doing everything in her power to help Enzo. She hated herself, had never hated anyone more in that moment, not even Ariete.
“A month,” she repeated. “A month before what?” she asked, trying to still the shaking of her hands in her lap, letting her thoughts spiral into the darkness.
