I’d heard stories of the temples high in the Aboria sky, but I’d never actually seen one. They said the wisest of wise men lived and worked there, devoting their lives to the study of peace and higher ascendance. Once in a while, some of these wise men arrived in court with messages for my father, always so calm and centered compared to the city-dwellers of Mosa.
As soon as we stopped moving, I launched off Alizeh’s back and stared at the temple as it glistened, my soul feeling calmer already.
I held my hand out to help Veda down. She gave me a nervous smile and accepted then jumped the rest of the way to the ground in front of me.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Yeah. Of course.”
She nodded and started off toward the temple. I reached my hand around her waist and tugged her back.
“Before we go though, I wanted to say thank you. You could’ve left me, miserable on the side of the street, but you didn’t.”
“I haven’t done much yet. We’ll see what my father has to say first.” She tapped me playfully in the chest, her hand lingering just below my neck. The warmth of her touch burned against my skin.
I peeled her hand away and held it by our sides linking my fingers between hers. “I’m serious. I owe you a lot.”
“We’ll work out a way for you to pay me back later. Let’s just deal with one problem at a time.”
“Okay, but I always pay my debts.”
She laughed, light and playful and I laughed along with her, letting the feeling take over and ease some of the dark thoughts still running through my brain.
“You’re a prince, remember? I doubt you have many debts.”
“Which means I have no reason not to make good on them.”
Her head leaned slightly to the side and I suddenly saw nothing but her deep, red lips. The way they curled when she laughed and quivered when she breathed. I ran the tip of my finger across the bottom one. The softness tickled against my skin. She gasped and I tried to pull my hand away, but I couldn’t, I just froze wondering how those lips might taste.
She puckered and placed a kiss on the end of my finger, then tugged my hand away. “Not here.”
I shook my head, the spell finally broken, although my hand still burned from her touch.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” She slipped out of my arms and headed towards the temple. “I’m not sorry.”
I followed behind her as the magnificent temple came into better view. Intricate markings etched the outer walls, an ancient language or maybe a magical protection of sorts, while statues of golden eagles perched proud on all four corners of the building. A babbling waterfall ran from beside the grand staircase, surrounding the temple with a small creek of brightly colored fish. Pinks and greens and blues of the most vibrant shades slithered through the cool clear water, and I had to fight the hypnotic call to stare at them all afternoon.
“I wasn’t expecting company. Veda, why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I would’ve planned time for you.” A man in a long, sweeping robe appeared at the top of the staircase and started to descend. He seemed much taller than I expected. Broader. But maybe Veda resembled her mother more.
“Sorry, Father, it was a last-minute trip. I know you’re busy, but there is someone I want you to meet.”
He reached the bottom of the staircase, and scanned us over, absorbing every detail and making me feel very exposed.
Veda nudged me forward. “Fallon, please meet my father, Edwin Macario.”
He marched toward us, his crimson red robe dragging just above the ground. For a stranger, he seemed familiar. The bold line of his jaw or the haphazardness of his salt-and-pepper hair maybe? Or maybe the calm serenity of the temple played tricks on the mind?
I folded one arm behind my back and bent forward, extending my open hand. “Hello, sir. I’m--”
“I know who you are, Prince Fallon. Few people in Aboria live their lives without knowing of you and the royal family.” He took my hand and shook it, abrupt and tough, his grip pinching my knuckles together.
“I’ve never been to the temples before. It’s an amazing view, it must be very relaxing.”
“Few people have, especially those of noble blood.” He headed back toward the temple and sat in a large wicker chair his hands crossed in front of him, hidden by the wide sleeves of his robe. “So why would someone like you venture this far to see me? I doubted the castle even thought of me anymore.”
Veda ducked around me and stood by her father’s side, the resemblance between the two immediate. The same thin nose and thickness in their cheeks. “I told him that you might be able to tell him about before he was born. About the curse. About where he came from.”
The man’s face soured. “And why do you think I would know about those things?”
“Because of your journal,” I said. “The one you left at your cottage. I want to know if the things you wrote were true.”
“No,” he said.
I waited for a minute, two, maybe three, the silence doing little to help the confusion.
“No, it’s not true?” I asked.
“No. I don’t want to talk about it. That was many years ago, many long years that I would much rather forget. I’ve devoted my life now to wisdom and quiet contemplation, I don’t need to raise such demons.” He shook his head, fierce as if convincing himself instead of just me. “Besides, the curse has long passed. There is no reason to speak of such things. Unless--” he raised a steady finger across his lips and the tip of his nose, “--it is no longer in the past.”
His stare narrowed, reading my face, waiting for a sign
