Kestrel leveled her with a dubious grin. “Your touch is lethal though, isn’t it?”
Bad example.
“Fair point. But it’s not malicious. It’s—it doesn’t matter what it is, because there are other types of magic too. The Animali, for one. They can shift into their animal form at will—at least, before the curse impeded their ability to do so. But there are magical items all across the lands, some that grant wishes, others that block magic. There is magic all around us, Kestrel. You are only just discovering it, but you will start to see its signs more and more now that you are becoming aware, and I’m sure you will find that most of it is not nearly as violent asthat.”
The longer she spoke, the more she watched Kestrel perk up, and there was something so beautiful about the hope that was igniting in her eyes. Beautiful as well as fearless. There was a fire inside this woman, one that Elora hoped the queen, nor anyone, would ever extinguish.
“You’re right,” Kestrel said, bouncing to her feet. “I felt it before, when the prince shoved me in that fortress. I swear I felt something awakening inside me. No sacrifice needed. It was just…there. Like it had been waiting. Like it was ready for me to call upon it, but I didn’t know how.”
Elora nodded, rising to stand beside her. “Well, sounds to me like you have additional study material for tomorrow then.”
Kestrel beamed. “Thank you. Thank you! I can’t thank you enough!”
Her arms went wide. Elora barely had time to brace herself for what was coming.
She tried stepping back, an impulse meant to keep distance between the two of them. But there was nowhere to go.
Elora’s heels bumped against the edge of the fountain. Her balance lost. But Kestrel was right there, ready to save her.
Her arms looped around Elora’s waist. Suddenly she found herself floating, caught between the mercy of gravity and the surprising strength of the Caeloran princess.
Kestrel was holding her. Touchingher. An Ashen. And there was not an inkling of fear or doubt within those dazzling green eyes.
Kestrel smirked, her freckles disappearing behind the red tinge of her cheeks. “That was close. You almost went for a swim.”
Elora was grateful for the dark shade of her skin, for it hid her own blushing.
She squirmed in Kestrel’s grasp. Fuming. “Yes, well, if I had known I was going to be mauled, perhaps I would’ve kept my distance.”
Finally, she broke free, Kestrel righting her away from the fountain before letting her go.
“Right,” the lost princess said, tucking a loose, untamed curl behind her ear—and cursed sky, if the pained look on her face didn’t make Elora regret her sharp tongue. “The no touching thing. Sorry to have overstepped—” But then Kestrel paused, her face twisting with consternation before blurting— “Actually, no. I’m not sorry.”
“What?”
“You didn’t have to comfort me tonight. Or listen to my complaining. But you did. And I’m grateful you did. But I won’t apologize for wanting to express my gratitude—I mean, unless being touched is something you really don’t like. But I was under the impression it was more of a rule forced upon you, yet another shackle, another way for them to make you feel like a monster among humans.”
Everything Kestrel was saying made Elora feel on the brink of shattering. Like the contents of her heart would spill all over the garden like a weeping maiden.
Because Kestrel was right. It had never been what the Ashen wanted, to be treated like vile, untouchable monsters. It had just become the way things were. And after so many years, Elora no longer questioned it.
“I don’t understand it,” Kestrel confessed, chancing a step closer. This time Elora fought the urge to step away. “You’re wearing hailstone anyway; your magic is blocked. So why can’t I touch you?”
Eyes as verdant as the Eynallore forests crept up to meet hers. They locked Elora in place as Kestrel’s hands floated closer. Hoping. Asking.
Elora had a choice: she could continue the way things were, the way things always had been, with her maintaining a status quo that was never meant to serve her, only sever her.
Or…
She could take a chance.
Leap into the unknown.
Her fingers twitched at her sides. The pull between them was palpable. Intoxicating.
One hand shook as it drifted up to meet Kestrel’s, hovering but a breath away?—
When the castle front doors burst open.
