Page 18 of Joy Guardian
“You mean not the apartment that I shared with my husband?” she finished for me with that smile she used to put people at ease, not to express happiness.
“Yes.”
“I do,” she replied simply. “I miss the people I left behind the most.”
“Who are they?”
“I know what you’re thinking.” She exhaled a short laugh. “I left my friends and family years ago to move in with Dylan. What right do I have to miss them now and blame it on the shadow fae, right?”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking.”
“Well, you could be, and you wouldn’t be wrong. I left my town and everyone who lived there, but I thought it was only temporary. I believed I’d come back for Christmas. Then when Dylan said that money was tight for traveling around Christmas time, I thought we’d make it in the summer for sure. In the end, it added up to years, but it never felt as final as it does now, when I know I’ll never return.”
Her throat moved with a swallow, and she glanced aside, hiding her eyes from me.
“You miss home,” I stated, and she didn’t argue. “But what ifit wasn’t final?” I lowered my voice, leaning closer to her, lest anyone overhear us.
She snapped her gaze to me. “What do you mean?”
“What if there was a way for you to return to your world?”
“But…” she blinked. “The portal is closed, isn’t it?”
I darted a cautious glance around thesarai,to make sure no one was listening to our conversation.
Always a bit of a loner ever since her arrival to Alveari Kingdom, Ciana had been keeping away from the others—the humans and the Keepers alike. When expecting my visit, she always chose a bench by the fountain with the fish statue that was tucked behind one of the buildings of the Joy Vessels’ bedrooms. Here, the occupants of thesaraitended to leave us alone.
Lately, it’d been discovered that drinking wine elevated humans’ emotions, increasing many pleasurable ones. By the directive of the Royal Council, the Joy Vessel Keepers were serving wine to humans now, and many of the Joy Vessels appeared to enjoy drinking it this morning. They laughed and even danced with the nobles of the court attached to them by their tendrils.
In the happy commotion taking place in the main gardens of thesarai, no one seemed to pay us any attention.
Still I hesitated how much I could or should reveal to Ciana about her future. She had the right to know, but the secret wasn’t entirely mine to tell.
“What if there was a possibility for another portal?” I asked, carefully choosing my words. “Would you be happy to go home?”
She bit her bottom lip in contemplation, and I waited for her reply with bated breath.
I hadn’t realized until now how much her opinion mattered to me. I knew what I had to do. But if it was also something she wished for, it would make my mission even more important to me.
“They say it’s impossible to return to the same time whenthey took us from,” she said. “That if we try, we could arrive centuries into the past or decades into the future.”
“But it could also be just days away too. Or even minutes. Would you like to have a chance to rebuild your life back in your world?”
Her brow furrowed as she worried her lip between her teeth, pondering my words. I watched her, afraid to miss a single change of her expression, but I had no idea what it was that I wished to see.
As a Watcher, I needed her to leave Alveari. But as someone who’d grown fond of her company, I dreaded to think what this world would be without Ciana. Or what my life would be without her.
“Is the queen planning to send us back?” she asked.
“No. The queen will never do that. Helping you get back would be against the royal orders, which is a treason punishable by death.”
She looked at me closely. “Yet you’re offering it to me?”
I mimicked one of her placating smiles. “I merely asked whether you’re missing home, Ciana. That’s all.”
“I do but?—”
A woman erupted in a loud laughter, interrupting Ciana and bringing our attention to the wine-fueled party in the central part of the gardens.
