A Court of Sunflowers and Stardust

•chapter 32•

"She was born with the world in her palm, but she would throw it all away for him."

Stray

~

Kaleb awoke in the dead of the night to a gentle, soothing voice that echoed inside his mind. Sleepy and dazed, he listened to the voice talk as he stirred in his bed.

You might be asleep right now, and I hope you aren't sleeping too fitfully. I will return to you one day, Kaleb. You hold my soul and heart, but my brother holds another part of me and I can't abandon him. Yet, I can't abandon this world and allow it to perish in his clutches. I love you.

He jolted upright in bed, as if he'd imagined the feminine voice that filtered through his dreams. But he knew this wasn't a dream, as a pulse of love went down the bond and he felt his heart collapse into his rib cage at the sheer force of it.

Please come home, he whispered through his mind. She didn't reply and he drooped back into his pillows, waiting for an answer that would never come as he stayed awake the rest of the night.

~

Sweat trickled down my brow and the mere thundering of my heart alone could've woken him. But my brother remained fast asleep in the armchair as I continued sneaking around, listening to his heartbeat and breathing as I went.

I found my daggers and sheath, silently praising myself as I strapped them to my waist. After the message I'd sent my mate, he'd replied with three words that had broken my heart to the point I wanted to crawl back into the bed and cry.

I refused to lose focus as I reached into that pocket of nothingness that Fae could access and allowed my hunting leathers to replace my current clothes. My father had taught me to be silent enough that that only sounds I was emitting was my steady breathing that only one with Fae ears could detect.

I snuck up to the door, pausing on the threshold with a painful look behind my shoulder. Alakai hadn't even stirred, and he looked so peaceful. He looked young, without the usual tense harshness to his face whilst he was awake. Perhaps after all of this, he could see some sense, I only hoped.

There were no doubt wards in place that would alert him if somebody came or left. So I mentally thought of an escape plan, and what to do after. I didn't know where I was, or what Court I was in.

Panic started to flood my body, but I remained calm as I clenched my clammy hands, silently walking out of the bedroom I was kept in. There was such a silence in this house it was eerie, no chirping birds outside or the sounds of the wind bristling the trees.

I reached out through my mind, my body, to grasp some sort of part of nature. There were definitely trees outside, and their leaves shifted at my calling, brushing up against each other in anticipation. Bushes, plants, flowers, they all began stirring, but I couldn't hear them, couldn't call the winds to filter in through the windows that were closed.

The wards were strong, and meant to prevent me from hearing or sensing the nature outside. But I was stronger than these wards, and I could feel the forest this cabin was inside.

A stupid move on his part, to isolate me from the world but to put me in the heart of my power. I breathed quietly, stepping down the stairs that lead to a door.

I urged for help; help me, help me. I could feel the winds pick up, begin swirling and growing irritated. There had to be a way for them to get in, for them to steal me away into the woods. But how long would it take for Alakai to find me?

I'd have to disappear.

I stepped off of the last step of the staircase, my acute training helping me remain agile and quiet in this foreign place. I opened the door, slowly and cautiously, poking my head inside the room.

It was the living room I'd once met Alakai in whilst he connected to me through my mind. I blinked past the light that filtered in through the windows, ignoring the glamour he'd no doubt thrown in place of the false world outside.

There was no other soul in this house, nothing. It would make this easier then, make the guilt hurt a little less at what I would do.

I continued riling up the outside world, preparing it for what would soon happen. But a scent suddenly hit my nose and I whirled.

Alakai stood at the top of the staircase, awake and blank faced. He leaned against the bannister, "trying to escape?"

I remained quiet, eyes hard as I subtly positioned myself into a fighting stance.

He snorted dryly, "I thought you wanted answers?"

"I won't find them from you." I responded, my voice painfully emotionless, even as much as I wanted to shake him and scream at him to snap out of it.

"You can't leave here." He declared, standing tall as he crossed his arms.

There was an ache in my stomach, nausea roiled through me and I knew it was time. As if sensing my sudden change, Alakai flared his nostrils and frowned.

Before he could react, the house exploded.

Tree roots, branches, thorns, they all exploded from underneath the ground below the house, ripping upwards and destroying everything in its path. The winds began howling, tearing away the debris as I watched Alakai scream.

"Acacia!" His voice rang out, fear and panic laced in his tone as he tried diving for me.

I was grappled by the waist, branches twining around my body as they ripped me from that house, stealing me away.

The last thing I saw was Alakai screaming, trying to avoid the debris and logs that narrowly missed him.

He would not die, he would not be killed, under my orders.

But I hoped I wouldn't see him again until I sorted out this mess he'd caused.

A/N: there's going to be slow updates, as I've started college again and assignments are literally being shoved down my throat.

Please remain patient, and I hope you enjoy this chapter that was hugely unedited. Hopefully things start getting more exciting from here.