Page 112 of Shadows of Stardust

“Savvie?”

Roslyn pushes past me, and I don’t have time to regain control of the situation, to pull her back and assess before she steps closer to the male and Savannah and the rest of the villagers.

“Ros,” I mutter, but she’s beyond hearing me, and I hardly blame her.

She takes a step toward her sister, then another, until the male steps out in front of Savannah and pushes her behind him with a growl rising in his throat.

I open my mouth to growl right back, but don’t get the chance.

“Arrik,” Savannah murmurs. “It’s alright. She’s my sister.”

She lays a hand on his forearm, squeezing gently before brushing past her to approach Ros.

A long-awaited reunion, and one I assumed would be met with joy.

Only… Savannah is not smiling.

Her brow is furrowed, and there’s a frown on her lips. Every inch of her radiates the same kind of anxious, wary tension Ros always used to have around me.

My gut tightens with the first faint stirrings of dread.

What exactly did Roslyn and I just walk into?

32

Roslyn

As Savvie and I walk away from the crowd gathered at the riverbank, I feel like I’m in a dream.

Or maybe a nightmare.

Because whatever this is, it’s certainly not reality.

In reality, Savvie would be overjoyed to see me. She would have launched herself into my arms just like she did whenever I came back to Severin on leave.

She wouldn’t be so damn unreadable, and the air between us wouldn’t be charged with this awful tension, with the sense that I’ve done something wrong here.

“Savvie,” I start, unable to bear it any longer.

“Not here,” she cuts in, nodding to a villager who’s stepped out of one of the houses rising from the hilly terrain beside the river to watch us pass. “I know a spot where we can talk.”

We make our way through the village, and on any other occasion, I’m sure I’d be staring in awe at all the homes around us.

Magnificent, truly, the way they blend seamlessly into the environment, like they might have sprung right up from the Eritin soil.

But I barely have time to admire, or even register it at all around the worry that sinks deeper and deeper into me with every step.

I’m here. Savvie’s here.

She’s safe. Living and breathing and thriving in this remarkable place.

This should be the happiest day of my life.

And maybe in some distant corner of my mind, it is. Certainly, the crushing fear that I was never going to see her again has fled, but the despair that crept in to take its place is nearly as awful.

It’s been there since the moment Savvie laid eyes on me.

She looked at me like I was a ghost, like the very last person in the universe she wanted to see.

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