“Now? Today?” My words come out as little protests because, well, I want to explore other ideas right now, even if it makes me sound desperate. Everything that’s been building in my mind—in Ten’s mind—on top of what we started last night, is ready to crack open something inside of me.
Ten doesn’t stop, continuing to walk us out of the training area, towards the bridge, then over, and still, his hand hasn’t loosened in his grip, nor does he offer any explanation, content to let me simmer in my frustrations.
I’d already said I didn’t want to go into The Court, and my heart drops a little as we grow closer to it. But he skirts the area around the entrance, taking me north.
People are louder than usual, and music drifts out from around the stalls and smaller establishments. Laughter andcheers tumble out in waves, and despite myself, I feel a pull to go and see this side of Kirrasia on the one day it’s no different from Estereah.
Ten slows, as if able to see my attention is drawn, but keeps walking, taking the same path towards the site where the Transference ceremony occurs. That wasn’t a place I wanted to go back to in a hurry.
“Ten,” I start, but he just squeezes my hand a little harder.
“Just a little further.”
He takes a narrow path, partially hidden, skirting towards the Jet Mountains. With the sun now low in the sky and the night clawing forward, the rocks leading up to the peaks look alive with shadows.
“Hey, I did not sign up for a hike today.” I look up and see a path weaving into the foothills. No, in fact, I’d hoped he’d have stepped foot inside my bedroom so we could finally see what would happen between us with no barriers and no power. But he stayed on the wrong side of that door, I grumble to myself.
He continues up the incline, and the path gets rockier as we reach the base of the mountains. The greenery and foliage clings to the slopes as if climbing their own path up the sheer sides and jagged lines of the mountains.
“I wanted to show you something.”
“You’ve said that. But you haven’t explained why you’ve waited until today to do it.” I pant in shallow breaths, already weary from the incline.
“Because,” he pauses as he rounds a particularly jagged rock line that juts into the path, “this wouldn’t have meant anything a few days ago.”
He steps aside and lets me see, finally releasing my hand.
And it stops my breath.
It’s the waterfall.
The vision we saw.
Two lines of water cascade down through the greenery, falling from hundreds of feet above, winding their own path, with others joining on the way, spraying the air as they go, dampening everything around us with icy droplets.
It’s beautiful. Mesmerising.
Just like it was in the vision.
Ourvision.
The darkness continues to close in around us, cloaking us in our own world, allowing the first stars to light up the sky above us.
“You recognised it in the vision we saw,” I murmur, still taking it all in, listening to the rush of the water as it pours down.
“I did. I knew the moment it flashed in my mind.”
“I… I don’t understand. Is this because you saw it and made it happen? Or would we have found our way here regardless?” My head starts to spin, thinking over every single vision, everything I’ve seen when I touched him. Were they all possibilities? Or had every step of my future already been decided and planned out, just waiting for me to walk into it?
Panic creeps within the darkness, quick to strike and attack the happiness of a second ago.
Does this mean what Ascella saw would come true? Would I die in the snow with Ten? My hands run through my hair and squeeze my eyes shut, desperation choking me. It’s like waking up on the floor at home all over again, in the dark, not knowing. Terror slips between the stuttered breaths I take, growing stronger with every one.
If this is real, then everything will be real.
“Hey, hey, look at me, Ever. Ever!” Ten’s hands grip my shoulders, angling me towards him so I have no choice but to look at him.
His eyes find mine, and I stare into them: chestnut and warm and kind.
