FOR THE UNKNOWN KINGDOM | BOOK 1

CHAPTER 19

I felt a tangle in my magic urging me to move, to run away as quickly as I could. Here I was unwelcomed, even though Jersen had told me otherwise. I didn't even want to stay here any longer. Forever guest to a castle, not fighting for something, just staying in, waiting for everything to magically change.

And the saddest truth was that life wouldn't unfold itself gently in front of my eyes for me to catch up with it. I was the one to decide how I wanted everything to be, from the way I looked to the perspective I had. In Lantra, I could do neither of these things. My eye color would always have to be blue, my mindset artistic and creative. But here . . . I could take the contacts off, like Denfer had advised me to do from the very first day.

So I kept reading the titles of every book I found, putting into the bag the ones I considered interesting and helpful, trying not to be heard by Amanda or Jersen.

When I was done, I looked for one and final time behind me. At the long corridor and the dark golden walls, the ceiling and the carved waves, the open doors and the stairwell. A castle tinted with the bittersweet feeling of mystery and delicacy. A castle I could have lived in if the time had been right—it hadn't. So for now, I descended the stairs, mentally reminding myself to take some food with me to get me through the next day, and thoroughly ignoring my thundering heart.

🔱

I chose the path I hadn't taken before, the one with the most lights and the soggy ground, the one with the most houses and the fewest people walking in the streets. The wind plastered my hair to my head, but the ankle boots I wore made my steps steadier than ever, the gravels, the rain and the mud not another obstacle I had to overcome.

I swept a cursory glance at the sky above me, at the clouds that painted it the most miserable shade of black. Not only this place was sunless but also starless, moonless. Maybe that was the reason the Castle of Sunlight was a golden paradise; to remind its people of the hopeful color of the sun and the stars.

"I'll carry the bag." A male voice came from behind me, deep and gentle, a voice I could easily discern by now.

At the sound of his words, I halted and turned toward his side. And there he was with the sleeves of his dark green shirt pushed up to his elbows, his weary eyes looking in mine. Denfer. Within a second, he'd freed me from the weight of the bag and all the books I'd put inside, his eyelids constantly opening and closing, as if his vision was blurry, as if he thought of me as a ghost.

"You took them off," he whispered, unbelievably shocked by the fact that I'd gotten rid of the contact lenses. If I was being honest, there was an equal dose of shock in me because of the realization that I wouldn't have to worry about someone executing me for not having blue eyes.

Focusing my stare on his face, I caught him off guard and took my bag away from his grip. He let out a sound of annoyance but started walking next to me, his hair shimmering under the dim light the few lamps radiated. His presence felt natural, expected, anticipated even, as if I'd known I was going to meet him again. If it were for Amanda or Jersen, I wouldn't have liked to have them next to me right now since I'd gone out of the castle to get some time of solitary. But the look on Denfer's face screamed distress and it felt good being near someone who didn't have everything together or pretended to be that way, like Amanda did.

"Did you actually send the letters?" I asked, the words lingering in the air, making him crack a faint grin.

"As you can see," he replied and showed me his hands that were once again wrapped in bandages.

If that was the cost of sending the letters, he shouldn't have done it.

"Why every time you open a portal to go to Lantra you get hurt?" I asked. "It's getting predictable."