Page 116 of Heavenly Bodies

‘I feel that if I reached over the side, I’d be able to pluck a cloud like candyfloss,’ Elara mused.

‘You can, you know.’

Elara halted, looking at him incredulously.

‘Stars’ honest truth.’ He placed a hand solemnly over his heart. She looked to him again, hesitating, then reached out tentatively. Elara gasped as her hands wrapped around the pink cloud. She pulled a wisp off, marvelling at how it settled on her palm. She looked to Enzo again who nodded, grinning.

She stuck her tongue out and delicately touched the tip of the cloud. It dissolved immediately, the taste of sweet spun sugar coating her lips. She gasped, placing the whole wisp in her mouth.

‘Told you,’ he said, as they continued walking. ‘Want to see what else Aphrodea has to offer?’

‘Hadn’t we better get back?’ She looked uneasily behind her.

Enzo shrugged. ‘Isra bought us some time.’

It dawned on Elara then why Isra had said ‘you’re welcome’ earlier.

‘I suppose we should enjoy our last night of freedom,’ she sighed. The smell of popped corn floated towards her as Enzo led her out of the clouds and into the palace gardens. She hadn’t realized how large they were earlier. Hedgerows grew in tall lines, forming different paths and clearings to get lost in.

They delved into the maze and, turning a corner, found a large clearing with stalls waiting. A few people milled around, others walking down the paths further into the maze. She walked with Enzo in tow past the stalls, eyeing the offers. One stall sold wishes, glass jars trapping the swirls of gold within. Another sold protection crystals and coins. Another,siren’s tears—just a few drops to sway even the most cold-hearted of souls.

Elara and Enzo continued, swaying to the upbeat music in the background as they delved further into the hedges. The commotion of the crowd seemed to grow quieter and quieter, the courtiers around them none the wiser of the events that had taken place in the ballroom. Elara’s tension slipped from her as she realized how well Merissa had disguised her. There was still a restlessness, yes, but the visitors who hadn’t given chase seemed to be trying to enjoy the remainder of the night too.

They slowed in another clearing with some more stalls, by some candles that, when lit, snuffed out all surrounding light.

‘What a cheap party trick.’ She grinned as the tiniest wisp of shadow curled around his wrist.

They reached the middle of the maze, a large space where white twinkling glow-worms were suspended through the air, making them resemble a constellated sky. Couples dressed in all shades of the kingdom danced in the centre as a band played in the corner.

‘Come,’ Enzo said, looking over the dancing couples. ‘I want to show you something.’

She hitched her gown, giddy, as she followed him down the twisting paths.

‘I’m starving,’ she said as she smelled fragrant food on the night breeze.

‘Shocking,’ he replied and tugged her into an opening in the hedgerows, the area full of food stands. Baked cakes filled with honey and nuts were piled high, sticky with sugar. There were oven-charred breads laid next to them, hot and flat, smeared with a tomato paste and melted cheeses.

‘Now this looks interesting,’ she said to herself, gesturing for one for each of them. The man behind the booth smiledat them and cut them each a triangle, as Enzo passed him some coins. Elara bit into the slice and moaned with enjoyment, the warm salty tang of tomato and baked dough dancing on her tastebuds.

‘You take pleasure in everything, don’t you?’ Enzo asked, amusement dancing on his lips.

‘I do now,’ she replied, taking another huge bite. ‘I’m trying to live every moment of my life as though it is art.’

They reached one of the maze’s exits, which verged on to the beginning of a slope paved with rose quartz.

They wandered up it and Elara gasped. Ahead, cherry blossom trees bowed over the path, their petals covering the quartz in every shade of pink imaginable. Enzo gave a small smile as he pulled her on to the flower-adorned trail that twisted higher and higher around the palace.

‘Go on,’ he said.

She looked around in awe as they continued to walk up the incline. ‘I promised myself, after that conversation on my balcony, that I would find something to give thanks for every day. The smell of a flower…’ She stooped down to scoop a handful of petals, inhaling deeply.

‘The way that the Light dapples through my window when I wake; the way words in a book can transport me to another time, another world.’ She took a breath and turned to him as she said in barely more than a whisper, ‘The way your eyes look like molten gold. The way they look as if they’ve trapped the Light within.’

Enzo’s face softened as he took both of her hands in his, pulling her closer.

Dragunflies and glitterbugs flitted and flickered, glints of silver in the heavy air. She looked around and realized they’d halted on a rooftop, the winding, steep path landing them right on a palace terrace. She looked around wildly,but she could not see anything below them. They were in the clouds.

She gaped at Enzo, who only smiled. The cast of the Light laying over the clouds sprinkled them with rose and lavender, and the scent of sweetness hung in the air.