“Mercurial!”
The star on my chest was gone. The skin had burned off, and it was just flames now, just fire, roaring from inside of me.
“Mercurial!”
“The red shard. The Red Ray of Light. Asherah swore to protect it. Until she didn’t. And it was whole, and it was pure, until Auriel fell. And then the light was crystal. And it could have been whole still. But Auriel took something from it. He took the last bit that existed, the last piece of pure light, pure power, pure Valalumir, and he put it inside you.”
“I know, I know!” I pleaded. “Please. Mercurial! It’s so hot! It’s … fuck!” I looked to the door, contemplating calling out to Dario.
“You think he can help you? He can’t even hear you. Now you look at me because I made a deal with you. I returned the light. I gave it back to you. And all you had to do was the very thing you said you would do. Give me your word. Fulfill the oath of a Goddess born over a thousand years ago. And if you didn’t, this would be your punishment. I would burn you from the inside out.”
“But I’m not done!” I shouted. “I swear. I will claim the red shard. I will! Once I get Jules out. Once I get her back … I’ll leave the capital. I’ll figure it out. I swear! I’ll fulfill my oath. But please,” I cried. “Please.” I fell to my knees, tears rolling down my face, a scream trapped in my throat as the flames grew out of me.
Mercurial snapped his fingers.
The heat vanished, the flames gone. Instead, there was a red light flowing from my chest—far too bright for me to look at it. But as I looked back at Mercurial, he’d fallen to his knees, his posture mimicking mine.
A seven-pointed star, a Valalumir, was glowing on his blue body. A reflection of the light exploding out of me.
“That was a reminder,” he said. “Not a punishment.”
My chest rose and fell in rapid succession, the light shimmering against his own heart as my body shook.
“Could have … fooled … me,” I gasped.
“I warned you that you wouldn’t want to know what I’d do if you failed. That wasn’t it. That …” His violet eyes locked with mine, “was simply a taste of what theRakashonimcan do to you. Or to others if you push it out. When you call on Asherah, you’re calling on a Goddess’s power. On a Goddess’s strength. You’re taking it inside of you, and using it. But you are in a mortal body.” Mercurial shook his head. “You’ve done well so far. You’ve survived each call on her power. On your power. The true power of your soul. But … you are not strong enough yet to sustain it. And even worse, you don’t even know when you’re calling on it. You think you can heal now? That you can take your sister’s visions? Remove your lover’s exhaustion, and pain?” He clicked his tongue. “Youcan’t. That’s the light. Not you. That’sRakashonim.If you do not claim the red shard, your body will fail and the light inside of you will either destroy you, or it will destroy everything, and everyone around you.”
He said you had the potential to unleash more power and destruction than anyone in the Empire ever has.
My lip trembled. “You … you handed me the chest plate. The very thing to unlock this.”
Mercurial’s eyes narrowed to snake-like slits. “I did.”
I threw my head in my hands. “Why?”
“Someone had to do something. The Valalumir was never meant for this world. And as long as it remains shattered, broken, and unreturned … you’ll be cursed. In every single life. The Council has ensured it. So, play your little gameswith Imperator Hart. It matters not to me. I have made several arrangements now, been forced to renege on several promises, all because of you. I will come to collect my debt. And you better pray to your Gods,” he laughed, “you are successful. I told Lord Rhyan a month ago, you’re running out of time, my remembered Goddess. You are the fire. Act like it. Remember it. Control the flame before it consumes you. Before it consumes all of us.”
And he vanished, leaving me gasping for breath, my entire body still aching and hot, as I fell to the floor.
THE THIRD SCROLL: VALABELLUM
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
LYRIANA
I stared out the window of the gryphon carriage, Glemaria finally fading from view. My chest still ached from Mercurial’s visit hours ago. I could barely handle having the bodice of my dress touch my skin. It felt raw and burned, though in appearance everything was soft and unblemished. But despite a strange, questioning look from Dario, I said nothing about my encounter as we left Seathorne.
I’d been forbidden from making eye contact with Rhyan in the courtyard as Artem readied and prepared each gryphon for the journey. I was, of course, separated from him. Meera, too. But I was glad for the isolation. I wasn’t ready to talk to Rhyan yet, to discuss that there was yet something else he’d been keeping from me. I’d climbed into my seat quickly, with Dario and several other soturi who would make up our guard in Numeria, and I watched the mountains and the pine trees pass by. The rain finally stopped an hour into our flight, and the weather began to warm considerably as we continued south.
A few hours later, I could see the Emperor’s Palace in the distance. I’d seen pictures of it in scrolls, and paintings in various places, and I knew the map of its interior inside and out. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the sight of itin person. The Palace seemed to cover an amount of land too immense for my mind to comprehend, dozens of courtyards full of suntrees, glittering blue waterways running through them. There were endless rows of columns painted in jewel tones of ruby, moonstone, and onyx. Golden Valalumirs sparkled above entrance ways, and on the roof of the Palace purple flags waved in the wind. I couldn’t stop staring.
I’d known that the Palace wasn’t particularly tall, only three stories high. It reminded me in some ways of the Grey Villa, Tristan’s ancestral home off in the countryside in Vertavia. Not impressive in height but incredibly long in structure. We landed in a kind of courtyard that could only be reached via flight. There were no doors in or out. A white dome of protection was cast, trapping us within the walls. I was led off the gryphon onto a white marble surface in the shape of a circle. In the center was a golden Valalumir, and behind us were ruby-toned columns. Purple tapestries hung from the top of the walls.
Three ashvan horses pulling golden wagons appeared above us, descending into the circle through a small opening in the dome, their glowing blue hooves landing in the center on the painted golden star. Then three soturi, all with golden Valalumirs tattooed on their cheeks climbed down from the ashvan, and circled us.
“Weapons presentation,” said the first soturion. He had strikingly thick, blond hair, and began walking around, looking us all up and down. He paused before Imperator Hart and bowed. “Your Highness, Welcome to Numeria. His Majesty, Emperor Theotis, is most eager to see you.”
“As I am him.” Imperator Hart waved at us. “Go on. Remove your weapons.”
