Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
I take one more look over my shoulder and smile when I find Finn looking over his shoulder taking one more look at me. Then he winks, looks forward again, and walks up the stairs that lead to the heart of the Extraction District.
A moment later he has disappeared around a corner and another long sigh leaves me. But I gather up the skirts of my gown and head towards the bridge that will take me across the cyan-blue canal and deposit me into the Maiden District where my duties as Maiden-in-Waiting number nine await.
I resist the urge to stop in the middle of the bridge to enjoy the view. It’s late afternoon now and I’ve always liked the way the light bounces off the tower and shimmers across the canal at this time of day. But the smooth, sandy beach awaiting me on the other side of the canal is a whole other temptation. One I don’t have the strength to fight.
Once in the sand I kick off my slippers and carry them as I walk parallel to the flagstone pavers that lead into the Maiden District.
Even after ten years, sinking my toes into the sand on my way home every evening is a luxury I don’t take for granted. There are other beaches in Tau City, of course, since there are miles of canals winding through the districts. But none of them are like the one reserved especially for the Maidens. It’s groomed twice a day and the sand is so white it sparkles.
Another ache fills my heart when I have to step back on to the rocks and leave the water behind. Which is silly. I’ve lost nothing. There is no reason for the ache.
But logic doesn’t seem to apply when it comes to matters of the heart. Finn and I are soulmates, but so far, we’ve been denied our full love. And even though we’ve managed to sustain our attraction and longing over the past ten years, I feel like there is always a limit. That even the love of soulmates can wobble when the star-crossing goes on for too long.
Three more months, Clara. That’s it. Just three more months and the stars will align instead of cross.
Hopping on one foot, then the other, I put my slippers back on as I approach the Maiden gate. I am waved through with a nod by a guard and then hurriedly make my way through the entrance and towards the stairs that will take me up into our tower.
Haryet Chettle—Maiden number eight—and Gemna Hatley—Maiden number ten—also live in the upper levels with me. On floors eight and ten, respectively, because those are their numbers. Imogen Gibson was Spark Maiden number one in our group. She went into the tower on Extraction Day itself, of course. The leftover nine all came to live here and this is where we’ve been ever since.
Each Spark Maiden gets her own floor filled with rooms. All kinds of rooms. Dining rooms, and dressing rooms, and bathrooms, and bedrooms, and entertaining rooms. In the first year, every floor had a different party going on in the evenings, some loud and exciting with lots of drinking, others calm and meant for dining and stimulating conversation.
But the parties ended years ago now. After Lucy Fisher, Spark Maiden number four, was Extracted. That’s when it kinda hit home that something was wrong in that god’s tower.
Haryet, Gemna, and I still live up on our assigned floors at the top. It didn’t even occur to us that we might move down. Or maybe it did and we just didn’t want to tempt fate by lowering our numbers, even in this small, silly way.
We have been best friends for ten years now. Not a single night has gone by since we moved into the Maiden Tower that we didn’t say goodnight to each other. It’s crazy how much time I’ve spent with these two women and I’m not gonna lie, I think I will be a little lost without them once I move in with Finn.
Though it will be the good kind of lost. The kind that comes with brand-new beginnings.
The other Maidens who came before us are gone, of course. We are the last ones left after all that crazy bell-ringing in the middle of the night. This is how our god in the tower lets us know that for whatever reason, he needs another Maiden to keep the Spark flowing through Tau City.
So all the floors below us are empty now. And since the communal rooms are so massive, and the ceilings so high, even the soft steps of my slippers are enough to cause an echo all around me as I climb the stairs.
I hate the silence, but it’s as if the god himself is listening to my thoughts, because suddenly there is a commotion of noise coming towards me from a hallway.