4

King Dom paced his study. The steady aching in his nose had died down over the preceding days, but time had done nothing for the throbbing hurt to his pride. Of course, the humiliation he’d been able to wreak on Eli had almost been worth it. He’d taken great pleasure in making sure that the pompous daddy’s-boy had had plenty of training to do, where plenty of eyes could witness his shame.

But something was missing. Eli’s humiliation was incomplete. He’d thought Lady Ana would have no more reason to associate with Eli. Eli had been stripped of his dignity. Why should she continue to prefer him?

Dom had been to visit the Eltana since the sacrifice—she’d given him even more power, as much as his quaking limbs and inundated mind could withstand. He was approaching the marriage age, the heavily-shrouded goddess had said, and would need to take a wife soon.

So, with his newly-replenished power, he’d gone to ensnare Ana in his net—and put the final nail in the coffin of Eli’s pride. But just as her conflicted mind had been ready to cave in to his spell, a hint, a mere memory of a glittering aura had filtered through the web of her thoughts and broken the spell.

To admit whose aura had yanked Ana’s heart away from him would be giving the former Guardian one last victory over him, and Dom writhed at the thought.

He sighed and charged out onto his high balcony overlooking the Palace Circle, bright with red and blue lights that twinkled up at him.

“They taunt me,” Dom muttered. He stepped off the balcony and kicked himself up toward the Threshold cavern, which emitted a soft light from the sun in the human world.

He stepped onto the bare cavern floor and sniffed.

“Musty place, this is.” He peered out through the Threshold; the water glowed with the blazing orange light of evening. He could chance an adventure now. Anything to purge the melancholy from his mind.

He plunged through the Threshold, balking at the sun-warmed water of the river. His mind reached out to find any nearby human auras.

He found several close. One in particular caught his attention— its colors darted and flashed like fire, and it spun an enchanting melody.

And she was close. He was certain it was a woman— the voice rang high and clear in his mind.

A shadow passed over him where he hovered at the bottom of the river bed. He looked up as the long silhouette of a boat passed over the surface.

That was it. That was the one.

He kicked up and darted among the shadows near the bank. His mind latched onto the melody the girl spun, and as he breached the surface, among the roots and growth of the Claw, tender notes fell tinkling and soft on his ears.

He batted away the dangling ivy and peered out. A glimpse here, of hair like flame tumbling wild and free, and there, of a pale face shining in the sun, and Dom was frantic.

He shoved through the detritus collected in the Claw and dove beneath where the roots could reach him. He found an open, shadowy place near the bank and lifted his head just above the surface.

Now he could see her in all of her glory.

The boat drifted past, not ten feet away, and he took in the sight of her all at once, even as her presence flooded his mind with an almost painful radiance. She sung, and she loved it well. Her eyes were closed in the rapture of the song, but when they opened, they shone emerald green, mirrors of his own. Her frame was long and petite, graceful.

As she ended the song, her aura bloomed with rosy joy, and she pulled paper from the bottom of the boat. Her hand gripped the pen tight as it moved across the lines, and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

“That’s it. That’s the one,” she whispered to herself. Her triumphant smile was infectious.

A steeled will rose within Dom, a fiery determination bubbling with catastrophe and glee. He hurried to touch the surface of her thoughts.

She looked up, as if someone had called her name. Her aura rippled with indigo unease.

Dom pressed on, despite her fear, inching in a bit more until the information he sought flashed like a rare jewel in front of him.

Amelia.

He left her mind carrying that precious treasure with him.

Amelia blinked. Her wide eyes cast furtive glances all around her.

“That’s the one,” he repeated to himself as he sunk beneath the surface. “And I must have her.”