I know this face as well as I know the treacherous river lurking in the corners of my mind. My stomach knots, my fists clench—just like they had when I’d pounded on the door of our shared dwelling in another life.
The man I wished never to see again stands before me, appearing like a cruel phantom.
“Daniel,” I grit out.
He smiles, and my heart twists around the strings suspending it in my chest. The dimples on his cheeks had once been my favorite place to kiss. He was rugged, robust, and popular.
And many times, he had been heartless to me while the others smiled. He’d broken my trust and left me wounded.
“Arlet, they told me I’d find you here,” he starts. “You looked beautiful tonight.”
A cold chill coats my skin. I had no way of knowing he was lurking somewhere in Enduvida—not with the thousands of humans and enduares that joined us last in the year. I was alsojustappointed to the council, making me easy to locate. Easy to see.
This is my fault.
I move to shut the door on him. Normally, I’m not this rude, but he didn’t hesitate to throw me away after I endured one of the most brutal losses of my life. He doesn’t deserve my kindness.
Even as I think it, a small part of me aches.
“Not so fast,” he quips, shoving his hand between the door and the jamb. “Arlet,mi solecita,I’ve been looking for you since I got to this stinking cave. Imagine my surprise to see you shine once again.”
I shove against his hand, relishing the yelp he lets out.
Then… I sigh and pull the door open fully, revealing the lit street behind him. The spell lights cast a golden glow over the council district, their warmth blending with the eerie blue radiance oflumikaps—towering mushrooms as tall as men. Their bioluminescent caps pulse like a slow heartbeat.
Jutting from the cavern walls, massive veins of quartz catch the light, scattering faint rainbows across the streets below.
The homes surrounding us are built from a blend of stone and the enduares’ signature gold-like metal, their rounded structures gleaming even in the dim cavern light. Some houses hum softly, their mechanisms still in motion.
The sight should be familiar by now. But something about it, standing here in the threshold, staring at the man I once thought would stay, makes it feel distant.
Feelings aren’t things that can be neatly placed into drawers and tins.
“I’m not yoursolecitaanymore,” I say. “I don’t want to see you again. Now, leave.”
He frowns, and a part of me—it’s instinct, really—wants to ease his discomfort. I don’t know if it’s out of habit or because of the way he treated me before.
His jaw clenches. “You want me to go? Why? Are you fucking one of the monsters?”
My buzzed mind plunges into icy water, gasping for a response. Any response.
“What are you?—”
“Someone told me you were fucking one of the monsters before I got here.”
My heart leaps into my throat. My lungs seize.
He doesn’t get to do this. He doesn’t get to act like I belong tohim. He let me go—threw me away like a broken tool crusted with filth.
One breath. That’s all I get before I step forward and slap him with everything I have. The sound cracks through the quiet night. Daniel staggers back, eyes blazing with fury and shock.
I have never hit someone before. It feels…good.
“Arlet—”
“Is something wrong?” a new voice interjects.
Behind him, two figures step into the golden glow of the lanterns—one human, one enduar. Biren, with his dark curls and stocky build, stands beside Faol, an enduar hunter on the nightly patrol.