Vera

At first, I thought I was dreaming again.

The air shimmered like sunlight through water, and the marble beneath my bare feet hummed softly, alive somehow.

But dreams didn’t hurt.

The pulse in my temples throbbed; my body ached as if I’d been torn in half and sewn back together wrong.

And then I saw her.

Vanessa.

She stood at the far end of the great hall, dressed in flowing white, her small hands clasped before her. Behind her, golden light spilled from high archways carved with ...