Since Esmera was abandoned on a stranger's doorstep as a baby, the only person who has looked out for her is herself.
Until a lark starts visiting her, leaving behind exotic flowers and iridescent pebbles that the internet doesn't recognise.
Esmera...
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The sun had deserted the Earth. Only the snow capping the surrounding mountains remained to touch the sky, spreading their iciness into the air brushing against Esmera's cheeks.
The only thing protecting the rest of her from the wind's nip was a cosy coat she had scavenged from the wardrobe in the bedroom she had found refuge in. It smelt feminine, like light, fresh flowers, but unmistakably Milatanuran. Esmera hated how it kept her from escaping the last place on earth she wanted to be, even in her imagination.
She leaned over the edge of the balcony, staring out at the white-topped mountains and asking the stars for answers. There was none unless the mocking breeze that tugged at Esmera's curls as it blew past was a message she didn't understand.
She didn't want to be here, trapped with two insufferable men who thought so little of her. To think she had been proud of the living she had eked out after she left Stephan when stupid Tauram and his stupid friend had found it so laughable.
Esmera clenched her fists at the memory. Maybe she was ridiculous. Maybe her problems were amusing, but they'd had no right to judge her. They knew nothing about her, and they never would.
Esmera didn't want to be stuck in Milatanur, but the only portal to Arkosara was guarded by King Ruagu's men. There was no escaping through that, not unless Esmera wanted to pay with her life or a limb or two.
The goddess Jilhari had the power to transport Esmera between realms, but she had made her terms known. Esmera had no way back to Arkosara. Not unless she wanted to defy a king who was also a sorcerer who had betrayed his best friend, threatened the life of said friend's fiancée, and taken a whole palace hostage to secure a throne that didn't belong to him.
Esmera sighed. Whether she was in Arkosara or Milatanur, her life was equally hopeless.
Maybe it wasn't the place that was the problem. Maybe it was her.
She closed her eyes to ward away the thought, and the night came alive around her.
The wind sang as it dashed between the mountain peaks. Flowers Esmera couldn't see whispered all around her. There was the soft thump of a nocturnal predator's feet on the dirt as it sought prey not too far away and the spinning of a carriage's wheels as it hurried along a distant dust path. The starlight sounded like a sword being unsheathed.
Esmera went still at a sudden discordance in the night's melody. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end at a creak behind her. It was closer than the big cat she had heard hunting his next meal.
Esmera could've sworn the whole house had fallen into a restful sleep when she came out onto this balcony. That was why she had dared to do so. She had no interest in seeing either of her rude, entitled housemates ever again.
She glanced behind her, but there were only the glass doors framed by wood, reflecting the night at her. She narrowed her eyes. The door she could've sworn she had closed behind her swung in the breeze with an ominous squeak.
