“Kaelia.”
I whipped my head around, my eyes darting across the sprawling obsidian spires, but only caught the restless glint of lanterns in the distance and restless wildlife darting through the stream.
Not a single person was near me.
I huffed and turned back around, searching for the white-haired woman amongst the emerald hills but seeing only a marble wall amongst greenery.
I blinked and the marble slab seemed to crack beneath my stare, the stone warping as a vision tore through my mind.
Two lanterns casting dancing shadows across the rain-slick cobblestone, held in the hands of a woman in a green gown and a male in a black cloak. They stood by the marble, hushed giggles echoing, their free hands tightly clasped.
I could not blink as the familiar head of white hair turned, flashing the cloaked figure a wide smile that was almost sinister.
Her eyes danced with hunger, a predatory greed the male could not see as he reached for her bent elbow and tugged her petite frame to his chest.
She rose onto her toes to kiss him, and like a lightning strike, a foul, emerald light exploded between them, swallowing them whole.
Shadows dove toward them with shrieks, followed by an animalistic roar and then darkness.
I gasped, the phantom smell of rain fading as my vision blurred. I pressed a hand to my racing chest, frantically swinging my head to rid the dots dancing across my sight.
“Kaelia.”
I turned over my shoulder, my eyes narrowing at the voice tickling my ear. It was close enough to send a shiver down my spine, but when I looked, nobody was around me.
“This is not real,” I whispered, taking a step down from the rocks.
Vesuva followed closely behind me, her tongues lapping at my boots with every hiss.
“Kaelia.”
The whisper was closer now, a caress of freezing air against my neck.
I did not turn. I knew no one was there.
I squeezed my eyes shut and advanced forward, away from the river, my boots striking the stone in a frantic rhythm. I walked along the obsidian fence, heading toward the grand gate.
In the distance, Talon stood, a god carved from shadow.
His eyes were closed and his face was tilted toward the sky. Oily, black ribbons of power poured from his upturned palms, weaving together to build a wall of darkness across the gaps in the iron bars.
Bater stood beside him, barking out instructions I could not hear, his thick finger jabbing at a minor gap in the defence.
“Kaelia.”
My feet froze as I slapped both hands over my ears, squeezing my eyes shut against the sudden blur of the world around me. My name pulsed through my veins like a brand, a summons that vibrated in my marrow. The ground swayed beneath me, tilting and spinning until I had to stagger to keep my balance.
“Kaelia. Kaelia. Kaelia.”
Dozens of whispers began to thread together now, overlapping and rising in a cacophony that drowned out the rush of the river. There was no market noise, no sound of Vesuva’s scales, only the sound of my own name being claimed by voices I did not know.
I opened my bleary eyes, my gaze latching onto Talon. He looked so steady, so untouchable.
I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to drop his magic, to stride across the stone and scoop me into his lap. I wanted him to pat my hair down and chase the voices away with the sheer force of his presence.
“Talon,” I croaked.
My voice was not audible over the choir of my name.