Page 111 of When Sisters Collide
She’d imagined this moment a thousand times, and still, the sight of him knocked the air from her lungs.
He wore ceremonial finery, all gilded edges and Tirynthian amber, looking so impossibly regal she almost didn’t recognise him. The colours were wrong—too warm, a stark contrast to his usual Megarian blue. Leukos was ice personified—his smooth, controlled exterior masking a lethal power within. The Tirynthian amber clashed against his hair, dark as the winter’s longest night.
He stepped forward, his intense gaze fixed on her, those dark eyes flecked with shards of ice-blue that had haunted her dreams for months. The sight stirred a deep ache, and memories surged—standing on the mountain, screaming his name into the wind—it all came rushing back. For so many nights she’d longed to see him, and now, standing before him, an overwhelming rush of emotion threatened to undo her.
The relief in Leukos’ eyes was unmistakable. He drank her in, gaze sweeping over her riding leathers, the braid down her back, the short sword strapped to her waist. Every detail seemed to soothe something frayed beneath his composure. The flicker of emotion across his features told her everything she needed to know.
He had missed her. Just as fiercely as she’d missed him.
But then something glinted above his brow. She took in the circlet of gold woven through his tousled hair—like a king.
Suddenly, everything stopped. Her heart plummeted, cold and heavy.
Leukos wasmarried.
She was too late.
Across the courtyard, Leukos’ expression shifted the instant he saw her face fall. His brow furrowed, alarm sparking in his eyes as he stepped forward, hand outstretched. “Alena?—”
But the world lurched.
The ground shook violently. Gasps turned to screams as members of the court staggered, clutching one another, struggling to remain upright. At the top of the grand staircase, a marble statue toppled, crashing to the ground.
A sharp voice sliced through the chaos. “What have you done, foolish girl?” A man in flowing amber robes stormed down the steps, his face contorted in rage. “You disrupted the ceremony before the vows! You’ve angered the gods!”
So Leukos wasn’t married yet. Relief surged through her, as sudden as a gasp of air after drowning—but it didn’t last.
The nearby fountain—once a gentle trickle beneath a statue of the Sea God and his nymphs—suddenly roared to life. Water erupted in violent waves, overflowing the basin in spirals. What had been serene and decorative now twisted into something wild andalive.
Dread shot through her.
She sent the wolves scurrying back towards Phoebe at the gate with a quick, wordless command.
The magic in the air, potent and furious, chilled her to the bone.
Guards stumbled back from the fountain, blades half-drawn, fear plain on their faces.
The queen descended a few steps, eyes fixed on the chaos, disbelief stiffening her expression. Her ceremonial robes shimmered with threads of gold, catching the light. She looked less like a ruler and more like a beautiful offering—a sacrifice laid at the feet of angry gods.
“Charis!” a voice barked.
A high-ranking guard—so familiar Alena thought for a heartbeat it was Nik—rushed to the queen’s side and seized her arm, pulling her back.
But it wasn’t the queen who held Alena’s gaze.
It was the dark-haired woman lounging casually on the lip of the opposite fountain, untouched by panic.
Reclining on her hands, she watched the chaos unfold with a bemused smile. Her simple linen clothes were those of a servant, but Alena wasn’t fooled.
There was a hum to her presence that didn’t belong to mortals.
Leukos spotted her, too. “What are you doing here?”
The woman winked. “You invited me.”
Before Alena could react, the fountain behind her erupted. Water surged violently over the basin, slithering down the stone path like a snake hunting prey—headed straight for her.
“Uh oh,” the servant chimed in a sing-song voice. “He’s not happy…”
