Chapter 138 Crystal Sized Memory

Chapter 138 Crystal Sized Memory
MIRANDA -

Miranda barely remembered falling asleep, but when she awoke, she smiled at the soreness that now ached between her legs.

She was curled up against Cory, and the weight of his arm felt heavy as it lay across her waist.

She looked around his room, but somehow it felt different than it had last night. The lanterns had dimmed to faint embers, but the crystal veins in the walls still shimmered, casting gentle rainbow flecks across the stone walls.

Music from outside drifted in through the open balcony doors. Pipes and drums thrummed like a heartbeat, and stringed instruments played a playful tune.

Cory stirred behind her, and his hand slid up her stomach with slow and lazy fingers that traced idle patterns over her skin. She couldn't stop the smile.

He didn't disappear. The thought filled her with warmth. She hadn't realized how scared she was that she'd wake up and it would all have just been a dream.

"Please be real," he said as if he could once again read her thoughts. His voice came out rough from sleep as he pressed a kiss to the curve of her shoulder.

"Good morning," she said with a smile as she turned in his arms until she faced him.

His hair was mussed, and she could still see dust from the cavern clinging to his skin. He looked softer somehow in the light.

She reached up and brushed a thumb across his cheek. "You smell like the mine. What were you doing down there, anyway? All by yourself."

He had men he could send to do the hard labor. She hadn't understood why he was doing it himself and alone, for that matter.

"It was the only thing to quiet the anger. I've spent more time in the mines over the last ten years than I have in my entire existence." He went quiet as his eyes danced between hers. He breathed in a deep sigh before he continued. "I had you for less than a blink of an eye, and what I'd found mattered more to me than anything else. I don't know what calls me to you, but something does and the pull is strong."

He reached up and pushed hair behind her ear. "When I could do nothing to get you back, I felt useless. Powerless." Sadness settled over his features, and his voice was a whisper when he spoke again. "Alone in the mine, I can block those emotions out. Bring a semblance of sanity back to my mind."

Pain sliced through her chest.

She knew exactly what he was speaking of. The pull had nearly driven her to insanity before Jelina arrived.

He pressed her into the mattress and crawled on top of her so that his arms encased her head and the weight of his body made her feel complete.

"I'll wash. Eventually. Until then, I want another taste."

They stayed like that for a while. Tangled together, trading slow kisses and quiet touches.

The years apart had carved deep grooves in them both, but the night they'd shared had smoothed some of those edges out.

They walked down the hall, hand in hand, as the castle hummed with life. Servants bowed as they passed, eyes bright with curiosity, and a knowing Miranda wasn't sure how to take.

They found Jelina in the open courtyard just outside the great hall. She was sitting on a low stone bench under a canopy of living crystal vines. Her red hair had been pulled back into a long braid and caught the rays of the sun in pretty highlights.

She looked up as they made their way to her, a smile slowly creeping up her cheeks.

"You're glowing." she said.

Miranda laughed. "We're filthy."

"Filthy and glowing." She corrected on a laugh. "I was beginning to think you'd sleep the whole morning away."

Tempting. Miranda thought as she moved over to the bench to sit beside her.

She followed Jelina's gaze that looked out over the city below them. The castle sat high up on a hill, so the view was breathtaking.

The streets wound between crystal spires and people moved in colorful clusters as laughter and music played on the air.

"The celebrations have begun." Cory said as she stood beside them.

"What celebrations?" Both Mirands and Jelina asked in unison before giggling. Thousands of years together created a bond not easily broken.

He nodded at the people down below. "They celebrate the end of the Red Queen. I celebrate you." He said, squeezing her shoulder.

"How do they know already?" News couldn't have spread that fast.

"I let the servants know last night, as you slept. I plan on celebrating things for quite some time."

"You did!?" she asked, lifting her eyes to him.

A pair of servants approached then, carrying wide silver trays. On each tray lay piles of purple, glowing crystals no bigger than a thumb. Each of them held a light that glowed faintly, shifting between lavender and rose-gold.

Cory leaned over and plucked one from a tray and said, "These are why I've been in the mines every day." He held it out to them, its hum barely audible. "I've been digging new veins, hoping to find more. We've gone deeper than anyone has ever gone. Deeper than Mordant ever dared. We needed something to turn the tide. Something to stop the madness that the Red Queen was causing."

Miranda watched the crystal catch the morning light as he held it up. It thrummed like it was alive and breathing.

"We aren't sure exactly what they do yet," he continued. "Except that they enhance memory. They bring forgotten things to the surface and let healing happen." He glanced between them. "They were going to change everything for the people who've gone mad from the weight of their memories. For anyone who's lost pieces of themselves through the Soul Spin."

He bent down and placed it into Miranda's palm.

The moment it touched her skin, it flared bright and warm. Light blossomed and shot out like a small sun, and she couldn't help but gasp at its beauty. The heat sank into her hand and up her arm until it reached her chest, and she felt emotion well up strong and powerful.

Jelina reached out and slid her finger around the crystal as it lay in Miranda's palm, and instantly it pulsed brighter. The lavender and rose-gold flared, and the two lights seemed to dance together as if they were weaving threads of light together.

Miranda pulled her eyes from the crystal to look at Jelina, and the moment their eyes met, everything went black.

The courtyard vanished, and the music faded along with it. The sunlight disappeared and nothing but the two of them sat on the bench as the glow of the crystal intensified.

The surrounding darkness pressed in, and the weight of it forced the breath from her lungs. Miranda looked at Jelina, and she was having a hard time breathing as well.

There were no walls or sky, only the cold bench beneath them and a silence so deep it hurt.

They were in a memory.