“I’m here to find the king.”
“Stone.” She shook her head. “When you’re done lying, let me know.”
“Can’t both things be true? I want to find King Desmond and I want to see if what I’ve been reading about for the last fifteen years is true.”
He looked tired as he slipped his glasses back on and she didn’t blame him. The night was seemingly endless and her body was exhausted from the injury and the adrenaline from the Strix. The sun would be up soon and the idea thatastracould grow from the earth was something she couldn’t wrap her head around. Not with her leg and the memory of her brother being dredged up.
Not with Stone watching her so closely and Nora in the other room questioning her entire existence and everything they served.
She would need to see it first hand. She needed proof. Going off of some book Stone got in a drug deal when he was a teenager seemed impractical at best, so she’d compartmentalize. Put the crew’s safety first, finding Desmond second, and then she would deal withastra.
“What happened to Ramses?”
Stone cleared his throat again and she thought she saw a flash of hurt behind his eyes.
“He died. Overdose. I read the book from front to back every week for years. Whoever wrote it claimed thatastragrew wild, a long time ago. The world was overflowing with it. Not to mention the claims that dragons and humans lived in harmony, providing a balance to each other. Soo was the only other person I trusted to show it to. She made me keep it hidden. Keep it safe. So, when the queen brought me those maps and journals from the king claiming the same things, that Ravki was real, there was no question as to whether or not I’d accept.”
He watched her through his glasses and she wondered if he could see her entire world shattering behind her eyes. Everything she worked for and trained for and killed for. Celestria and the men who put Her on such a high pedestal.
“So Naming Day…” She bit her lip, cutting off the rest of her question because she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear it. If Stone was telling the truth, ifastragrew from a place and was not a gift from the stars, there was no reason to continue an ancient ceremony that ended in blood. Why would Celestria allow it? Unless the goddess would demand it either way. Would see their lackof sacrifice as rebellion and punish them. Unless…a sick thought twisted in her mind.
Unless there is no Celestria at all.
“Commander.” Stone’s hand slid into hers and she was so caught up inside her own head she hadn't seen him get up. He squeezed her hand and watched her, like he could see she was slipping deeper and deeper into her thoughts. “I don’t have all the answers but I want to find them.Andfind King Desmond.”
His thumb swept over the back of her hand, and that tiny movement was enough to raise the hairs on her arms and neck. “Do you think Desmond knew about this? Knew that findingastrain Ravkiwas a possibility?”
Pieces of his disappearance began to click into place. The notes and journals. The obsession with Ravki. The mention of dragons.
“Maybe he left to find Ravki to stop Naming Day. My sister said he had opposed it many times but the council–”
“If the king knewastrawas something that could be harvested from the ground, and he spoke of it, chances are he never made it out of Vargah. Rulers succeed by holding power over their people, not giving it away. This kind of news would threaten to unravel an ecosystem centuries in the making.”
Murdered.
Stone was implying someone may have murdered the king for such knowledge. She couldn’t fathom what they would do if they found out someone like her, someone like Stone, knew of it.
She closed her eyes and all she saw was Kamari. Alone and broken in a city that never welcomed her.
Stone’s hand slipped from hers, leaving her floundering for a sense of grounding. Her entire world was teetering on anunbalanced scale. Celestria and her blind eye. The men she served and their power-hungry needs. Her sister, in Vargah with no one to lean on.
“I should go.” She needed to lie down or to cry or to be pissed off, but mostly she needed to be alone. Her emotions were too big, too raw, and she’d be damned if she let anyone see them take her over.
Stone nodded but said nothing as he helped her to her feet. His hand was warm and even though it wasn’t necessary, he wrapped his fingers around hers and led her to the door. “I know it’s a lot,” he said, pushing the door open. “Astra, Ravki, dragons…” He glanced down to where their hands were still knitted together. “I don’t know what waits for us on the other side of the mountains, but if there’s a chanceastrais in Ravki, it could get us home safely.”
“Goodnight, Stone.” She didn’t wait for him to reply before she headed down the hall.
Back in her cabin, the window was dark, and Nora’s breathing was heavy. Aesira crawled into her bunk but kept her eyes open. She was afraid to close them. Afraid of what waited for her when she did.
She didn’t know what was worse, the memory of her brother and the Strix or the fact that her entire world may have revolved around a lie. She wouldn’t know until they got to Ravki but the pit in her stomach told her what she couldn’t admit to out loud.
That it all made too much sense.
That Vargah was lying to their people aboutastra, forcing a sacrifice, holding power over their heads, and in turn, so was Novaria.
“If there’s noastrain Ravki, we’re fucked.” Birdie tapped her pencil rhythmically along the table as she spoke. Aesira had come to learn that Birdie was definitely a morning person. Not in a positive, slow start kind of way, but in the“let's get our asses on the move the sun has been up for five minutes already”way.
“Bird.” Stone tsked. “Have faith.”
