Page 95 of Cosmic Soul

There was no one.

I chased after Fyn as he raced down the hall. “Stop! Where are you going?”

“Come on, Mate,” he ordered.

We wound through the palace, not seeing anyone. When he stepped outside, barefoot, he turned to the glass building I'd entered when I first came.

“Where are you going?”

Fyn didn’t respond and charged toward the towering structure.

A hulking form appeared in front of him. Monty’s hair was ruffled and his clothes were haphazardly yanked on. He was the one family member who was here and available. Edith must have gotten him.

Monty planted a palm in the middle of Fyn’s chest. “I know what you’re intending. Don’t do this. It will cause you great agony. I know this, Bloom.”

“Well, I don’t know what he’s planning,” I shouted uselessly.

“Caleb is my mate. I will not spend my life and afterlife without him,” Fyn yelled, slapping Monty away. He stalked to the glass wall, which opened seamlessly, and strode in, leaving me to follow him.

The early morning sunlight streamed through the cathedral ceilings. Plants covered every inch of the building, but the glowing Crystal in the center pulled all my focus.

Monty swiveled in front of Fyn. “You need to stop. Please. I beg you.”

“He is my mate. I will be bound in life and death to him.”

“Who defiles the Grand Sanctuary?” a resounding voice demanded.

Monty shifted to the older drakcol. Fyn did not waste a single moment and dashed to the throbbing Crystal. When I was here before the rock appeared harmless, but I was getting some seriously bad vibes from the thing. Like a supervillain, destroy the world vibes.

“Sunshine, I don’t know if we should do this,” I said. Whatever this was.

He placed his hand on the Crystal; it began to throb faster and faster. The priestess and Monty gaped at him.

“Prince Zoltilvoxfyn, step away. Now,” she ordered.

“Please,” Monty begged. “You don’t understand, Bloom. Do not do this.”

“Caleb, do it now.”

I slowly approached, glancing at Monty, who kept pleading for Fyn to step away. “We shouldn’t do this.”

“Touch the Crystal,” he shouted, his voice breaking. “I can’t lose you. I won’t.”

“Fyn.” I glanced at the throbbing Crystal, then Monty and the priestess who ordered him to move away. “This isn’t right.”

“Touch it. Now,” he snapped, eyes glassy. “The Crystal shall connect us as mates, binding us together forever.”

“Don’t, Caleb,” Monty said, not looking even close to where I stood. “Don’t touch the Crystal.”

“I already tried this, Sunshine,” I said. “I touched it when I first came. Nothing happened.”

He shook his head. “Please. I need you to try. I need you.”

“Nothing will happen. You need to accept that I'm going to disappear.”

“No. No!”

I placed a hand on the Crystal to prove my point, and it vibrated beneath my palm, alive and angry. My eyes fluttered closed of their own volition. Hundreds of voices reverberated in my mind.Why do you try to reaffirm what has not been forged? We sent you on the path, Caleb, seeker, wanderer, most faithful soul. Yet you chose to not forge what we set in motion?

---