Page 49 of The Stone Curse
“Why a Storm and not one of the five bloodlines?”
“Balance,” Palia replied. “The five have enough power. They weren’t even on the council until over a decade ago.”
“Ulrickson?”
“Yes,” Palia said. “My sire told me it was a shock to everyone, and there was some debate and friction with the other families when he was appointed.”
“Welcome, brothers and sisters,” Terinin said. “Today we gather to say farewell to Varsa Orbrin, our brother of over acentury. A male of great purpose and great resilience. He did not bow to the graynites when they bent his mind. He did not allow them to steal our secrets despite the cost to himself. Varsa was a true guardian. A true warrior, and today we gather to send him into the arms of the spirit, where he will sleep until it is once more his time to awaken.”
Terinin gave the sleepsinger a nod before stepping back into the circle.
The sleepsinger pressed his lips together, and a low, resonant hum filled the air. He tipped his head up, mouth parting to let lose a melody—an echoing light sound that made something inside me tug, drawing me to the precipice of a larger comprehension only to pull me away again.
As his voice rose, the timbre changed, becoming higher and higher until it was a whisper on the edge of my consciousness, slipping into a range that my ears couldn’t register.
On the dais, gray matter rose from Varsa’s body and dissipated into the air. He was disintegrating, his stone form breaking and rising until he was gone.
The sleepsinger dropped his chin and closed his eyes. “And so he shall rest. And so he shall find his way home. And so he shall return to us once more when the spirit permits.” He stepped down, and everyone began to move away.
“That’s it?” I looked across at Palia, who nodded sagely.
“That was…beautiful,” Derek said softly. “He will return one day? Reborn?”
“That’s the theory,” Sharniza said.
“I like that theory. It means…it means that nothing ever dies.”
My mind flashed back to my dream of Serath. It had felt so real. The way he’d looked at me, the things he’d said…I could almost believe he’d been reaching out to me from beyond, butthe fact that we’d suddenly ended up in bed proved it was all a dream.
“You okay?” Curi asked me.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Ready to get out of here?”
The look on his face said he was more than ready to leave. “Yeah, let’s go.”
The gardens had emptied out, and the expanse of water that had been blocked off to me was now visible. I zeroed in on a bench, the wood painted red while the other two benches either side of it remained brown. My blood went cold.
“Cameron?” Curi said.
I tore my gaze from the bench. “I dreamed of this place. That bench…It was in my dream.”
“What? When?”
“Last night, I dreamed it and…Serath was there.”
“Is everything all right?” Orix joined us. “What are you looking at?”
“Cameron says she dreamed of this place last night,” Curi said. “That bench and Serath.”
“Maybe he told you about this place?” Orix suggested. “It was his favorite spot. His mother used to bring him here as a child.”
“There are no ducks…”
“What?”
“He said he used to feed the ducks, but there are no ducks here.”
