Ramia’s eyes flashed. “You should. She did same to you— no?” She shook her head, wrapping her ashvan’s reins in her hand.
“She didn’t have a chimera last time,” Auriel said. “Where the hell did she get one?”
Ramia rolled her eyes. “We have procurer of rare animal who travel. Farther than Lethea.”
“Mercurial,” I said, and shook my head.
“Bastard,” Auriel cursed.
“Bastard who convince my mother to give what you want. Red shard.”
“Because Mercurial wants it for his own Godsdamned purposes!” I snapped. “And your mother had no choice with Auriel’s bargain. Not in the end.”
“Hmmm,” Ramia said, sounding unbothered. “Why else do anything other than get what wanted?” The shadows darkened with every step we took. The foothills of the mountain base rose higher and higher. Leaning against a hill were three golden lamps, the kind we used in the Great Library. The rods towered above all three of us, the tops curving into hooks from which an amethyst hung.
Ramia handed one to me and winked. “You do magic now, yes? Light lamp.”
Despite it all, I laughed. I’d been looking forward to doing this for years. I still remembered the absolute humiliation I’d felt when I’d returned to the library after my failed Revelation Ceremony. The lead librarian, Nabula Kajan, had been so excited for me to finally light my own.
Of course, Ramia had known that.
I swept my hand over the stone three times, just like the librarians, and chanted the spell for light. “Ani petrova vala.” Purple light shimmered across the crystal, and then I spread it to the others. Auriel grinned proudly. Ramia winked again.
“Come.” She continued forward, the Yara Vale coming to an end as the bases of Anessi and Vrenya both met. “Through here,” she said. “Vault inside.” She held up her hand and pressed it against the mountain. A door formed against the rock. Silver with golden etchings, again showing the phases of the moon.
Ramia pressed her hand to the door. The etchings began to gleam, radiating with light, and with a slight groan, the sound of rock shifting, the door opened, and we were led inside.
I held up my lamp, casting the room in a faint purple glow. The ceiling was made up of a series of arches that appeared to have been carved straight into the rock of the mountain. Eachone glittered as we walked past, heading toward another pool in the center of the room. Beneath our feet was a waterway made of glass. Luminescent blue water ran beneath us.
As we got closer to the pool, I realized there were dozens of waterways, each one jutting out from the room’s center, leading into darkened caverns.
“Each a locked vault,” Ramia said. “Many secret.”
“Where’s mine?” Auriel asked.
“Straight ahead,” she said. “Put hand in pool.”
“The pool?” I said warily, already having too much experience with pools in the Moon Court.
But Auriel shook his head. “It’s okay,Meka.I remember this. The water takes my hand print.” He kneeled over the edge, and dipped his hand inside. The water sparkled and stilled, and when Auriel pulled back, an imprint of his hand remained.
One of the waterways lit up. “Follow path.”
Auriel swallowed roughly, and rolled his shoulders back. “The last time I was here,” he said, “I was grieving for you.” He smiled sadly, and walked forward. The vault led us down a dark corridor. Our only source of light was the amethyst lamps which turned the waterway purple as well. Finally, we came to another silver door, rounded, and designed in the same style as Ereshya’s shield had been. But instead of a crystal at its center, there was a hand print. Auriel’s. Just like there’d been at the tomb.
He pressed his palm to it, a perfect fit. A silver light glowed, and the door dissolved, revealing a small stone room, a rounded quartz in the center, and sitting atop was the red shard. My shard. It had been shaped into a sword.
“You designed it yourself,” Auriel said, clearing his throat. But his voice was coated in emotion. “You wanted it to be effective. To cure as many as possible.”
“What do I do?” I asked.
“You stab the akadim,” he said. “In the heart.”
I stilled, my throat dry, chest pounding.
Auriel urged me forward. “Go on. Take it. Claim it. It’s yours. It was always yours.”
I approached the quartz, my eyes fixed to the sword. Carefully, I reached for the sword, and lifted it off the table. My fingers wrapped around the hilt, settling on the handle like it had been made for me. Made for this body, this incarnation. All at once, golden light poured out from my chest, bursting from my armor, illuminating the vault. Flames erupted down the length of the red blade.
