Page 34 of Skyblossom
“I met someone—a brief chance encounter at the station—and I realized I don’t care, I could have celestials open up the sky and sing in holy chorus, I don’tcare,I wantCadence.Where is she?”
“Oh, god, I don’t know. How would I know?”
“Lumi, you’re a diviner.”
“Oh! Oh my gosh, I am.”
“And her friend! You could just text her if you don’t want to scry her location.”
“No, I love scrying people’s locations. She’s… she’s in Marveille District. I think she’s heading for the station too.”
“I’m concerned how fast that was, and I’m now forever assuming you know where I am at all times.”
“Good luck! Iknewyou’d get your true love today!”
Huh. I guess she had.
The Citadel opened up below me as I flew in low, slowly getting steadier, and Marveille District was easy to find—not just for how busy the station was right now, but the way the beautiful brick streets and ornate buildings were alive with magic lights right now, and I felt like my chest would explode when I saw her—Cadence, small below me but radiant and unmissable even from up here, in the plaza in front of the station, the fallen pink-and-gold leaves of the passionoak tree scattering under her boots as she walked.
I’d never felt so sure about something before.
I slowed to a stop just above the plaza, steadying myself with a nervous breath out before I let the effect drop, pulling up a surge of magic to cushion my fall as I dropped, and I touched down on the cobblestone path just behind Cadence, who turned back at the sound and gasped, her hands up over her face at the sight of me.
“What—oh, saints and—Summer?”
“Hey,” I said, this impossibly happy feeling in my chest like everything was just the way it was supposed to be, and I held up my hand, Knot coiling around my wrist. “Got a little runaway snagweed if you’re looking for him.”
“Oh…” Her gaze softened, and she took a nervous step closer, holding her hand out to mine. Knot reached out past my hand, coiling around her wrist, and he held onto both of us, locking us together just like he had on that first day, and she sniffled, her eyes shining. “Oh, Knot, you can’t do this right now.”
“Cadence—I didn’t just come to bring him back to you, I—I met someone. I think. Maybe that was supposed to be my chance encounter, maybe not, but I realized I don’t care, I don’t care what kind of encounter it is, with who, where, when, why, how, anything. I just want to be with you.”
“Summer…” She clasped a hand over her mouth, eyes quivering. “You mean—”
“I get to decide who feels like my true love to me. And if you’ll have me, I… I want it to be you, Cadence. I—”
Something slammed into my back like a missile. I grunted, staggering forwards, and Cadence shrieked, moving to catch me. I felt it like a bloody thrasher had just tackled me—I looked back, and I laughed breathlessly when I saw my luggage, sitting on the ground.
“Shit, I forgot it was following me.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just a little—just a little hurt—”
“Hold on, I have something for that—” She had a stem of magic plant in her hand before long, the Galyr’s Tooth she’d given me on that first day, holding it out to me with her hand that wasn’t tied to mine. “If you ball it up and—”
“And bite down on it with my back teeth,” I said, taking it. “Thanks.”
I put it in my mouth, doing as she’d said, and the moment I bit down, I felt a shimmer of magic—not just inside me, easing the blunt pain in my back, but around me, as the plaza and the flowers around the edges of it stirred with a magic light, and a swirl of movement rustled from around us as a flock of luminis rose from the bushes, chirping and calling to one another as the magic shone off their glowing wings, and Cadence’s eyes softened as she looked up at it all, where passionoak leaves swayed above us, a symbol of love.
Here under the passionoak tree at Marveille Station. I guess Lumi’s vision hadn’t specified it would be myfirsttime meeting someone here. Just that I’d had a dramatic encounter with the love of my life under this tree.
And here, in front of me, her hand linked to mine, her eyes shining as she looked up at the luminis around us and slowly swept her gaze back down to meet mine, was the one and only woman I wanted to find here.
“Summer…” she started, taking a step closer, lowering her gaze for a beat before she met mine again, stronger this time. “I know it wasn’t my place, but I came here to find you. To see if… you know. Hoping you hadn’t left yet.”
“Cadence,” I said softly.
“Hoping I could ask. Vision or no. I love you, you know. Can we… can you give me a chance?”
