(Rigel)

Something is wrong with her. The bond I share with her is quite, too quiet. I can’t feel her emotions.

Sentinels are scavenging the grounds as I stand there, holding her necklace. The large amethyst pulses in my hand as if recognising my touch. A warmth it radiates, glimmering with a rhythmic light.

"Master Alnilam gave strict instructions to find the necklace. We must hurry," I hear one of the sentinels say. They discuss how the twins have left along with the girl they came here with.

It means they have taken Amaia back to the Academy. I need to return. Clutching her necklace tightly in my hand, I pocket it.

Turning, I throw a longing glance at the palace looming in the distance.

Returning to the dark place where Jamina has opened her portal I used her ring to open it again. A vortex appears and I walk through it.

My body is hurled back, making me land in the empty classroom. Jamina is not there and her portal disappears behind me.

Clutching the necklace in my hand, I make my way out of the classroom. An instructor on patrol spots me.

"Return to the dining hall," he strictly says. I glare at him. The urge to grab his neck in my hands and pierce my nails in his flesh swirls in my head but the thought of Amaia pushes it down. She wants me to do better.

I need to find her.

Returning to the dining hall, I stand in a corner observing others. Jamina is busy with her guild. Spotting me, she approaches and asks.

"Did you find her or see anyone else?"

I shake my head. Taking out my hand from my pocket I remove her ring and return it.

"Thanks!"

She quietly accepts it but her expressions remain grim as she walks away. She must be worried.

In a few hours, we are instructed to return to our rooms. The breaches have been sealed. Instead of returning to my room, I go straight to Amaia’s. Opening the door, I find it empty. Her bed is made, and her faint scent lingers like the fading aroma of a drying rose.

My gaze wavers towards the bird house. I don’t want to interact with her pet, which seems to hate me. Thankfully, it’s empty. A new bird feeder has been placed alongside the wooden birdhouse.

She cares for her pet.

I smile at her care.

Quietly I turn and approach her bed. My hand reaches for her pillow, rubbing the soft fabric. Her essence lingers there, and I just want to lie down and curl up in her bed.

Not today, I have to find her first. I open her drawer, and to my surprise, the white rose I have gifted her lies there on top of a diary with a pen alongside it. It’s wilting but she has kept it.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I take everything out. Placing the flower back, I pick up the pen and roll it between my fingers. It’s a green pen with a gold cap on one end and some kind of light at the other. I press the cap and a blue light is emitted from the other side. I wonder why the pen has this light.

Turning my attention back to her diary, with as much gentleness as I can offer, my fingers open this purplish feathery thing with unicorns and hearts. I didn’t know she was into this stuff, she didn’t appear like someone who liked such girlish stuff.

I need to get to know her better.

With a faint smile, I open her diary. I don’t know what I am looking for, maybe her inner thoughts?

What she feels. How she sees the world.

But I am met with blank pages. The tips of my fingers graze against the soft page and the texture is not smooth. It seems like something has been written but can’t be seen.

Then it clicks—the pen. I press the golden cap and the blue light turns on. Tilting the pen, I focus the light on the paper, and to my utter surprise, words reflect back at me.

Every point where the light shines, the words appear.

Smart girl.

Her handwriting is cursive, she likes to style her words, bend her fs, gs and ys.

Curiously, I began to read. But it’s not her personal ramblings. These are elaborate notes on Faes and Fae magic.

Why would Amaia keep notes like these?

I understand why she has written these in a cryptic hidden way. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Why is she reading up on Faes?

The necklace thumps in my pocket, going warm against my cold skin, as if trying to inform me of something.

I take out the necklace again and a memory buried underneath all my trauma surfaces. One of my mother’s powers was to enchant crystals. Could this be enchanted? Meant to hide something or someone? Or a whole identity?

The very thing hidden under her skin which my shadows seek?

She never takes off this necklace, maybe there is a reason for that.

I am going to find the truth and her.

With so many thoughts, I close her diary and place it back, along with all her stuff.

Leaving her room, I shut the door behind me.

Where could they be keeping her?

Is it possible she is unconscious and they have taken her to the infirmary?

I stop by and stand just outside, listening in but I can’t hear anyone, nor can I scent her.

Disappointment washes over me as I madly wander the corridors in search of her, until I see that big, muscular guy, and then Alnilam comes into view.

I hear him ask Alnilam. "Did you find her necklace?"

There, I know they are hiding her, and the necklace is somehow crucial. So I swiftly move and go stand in front of them both. Taking out the necklace from my pocket, I dangle it in front of them with my fingers.

"This one?" I sarcastically ask them, watching their foreheads crease and anger creep into their eyes.

"Where did you get it? Hand it over," Alnilam demands, stretching his hand forward. Annoyance etches on every inch of his face.

The other one becomes alert behind him, getting ready to attack me if necessary.

"Not so fast. Tell me where she is." I clasp my fingers around the necklace and withdraw it.

"That’s none of your concern." Alnilam takes a threatening step forward.

"Oh! It is my damn concern every second of my existence. She is my mate and no force can stop me from seeking her out."