“Auriel’s Valya,” they all repeated. “All copies of Auriel’s Valya were destroyed. Every last version per your agreement.”
“Yes. Except for this one—hidden and locked away until all knowledge of it faded. And you all know there was only one way to get a hold of it. Only one way to obtain the last copy.” His biceps flexed, his shoulders tensing. “To open the tomb where it was concealed.”
“It should have been destroyed,” they hissed. “Not buried.”
“I made sure it passed out of knowledge. No one could access it, no one remembered. I kept my word. Will your queen keep hers?”
Ramia’s eyes flashed in anger, her expression clearly saying, “Shut up.”
But the three seemed to go cold with a quiet fury burning through them. “We shall inform her at once,” they said in unison.
“Thank you,” Ramia said. The three, and their water dragons flew off. Ramia shook her head, her red hair shining in the silver light. “Meeting off to great start!” She huffed, as she rolled her eyes and turned away from us.
My heart began to pound. I didn’t like that we were starting on the wrong foot with the Queen, the Afeya who had possession of the red shard, the one thing I needed most in this world.
But a second later small islands began to appear on either side of us. Afeya lounged across them. Some were dancing. Others were drinking, and diving into the waters.
Our water dragon reared back its head, and huffed.
An ashvan ran past us. But this ashvan wasn’t like the ones I was used to at home. It was completely silver, just like the Afeyan triple guard. And instead of running only on a step of magic, an entire bridge had formed beneath its hooves, reminding me of a rainbow, but made entirely of shades of blue.
Another blue rainbow appeared right over us. And then another.
Every ashvan was made of silver. As we moved closer to the shore, I realized there were riders on the ashvans’ backs. They were leaping off them and sliding down the bridges into the water.
“Is that how they used to be? A whole bridge beneath them?” I asked Auriel.
He nodded. “Before the Drowning, they were all like this. The bridges would appear all over Lumeria, crisscrossing through the sky. You could even run on them without an ashvan. You had to run before they vanished from beneath you, of course—but you could do it. The small steps that appear now are a sign of thebreaking of the Valalumir. The Drowning. And the weakening of magic.”
“How do they still do it here? They’re close to the water, but so is Bamaria. If anything, we’re further east, closer to Lumeria Matavia and surrounded on more than one border by the ocean.”
“There’s no more magic here than anywhere else in the Empire. Not this far west at least,” Auriel said. “It weakens in this direction. I remember that. But the Afeya, at least from my understanding, chose to keep things as they were. To pretend the world wasn’t broken, that their magic wasn’t cut off.”
“But don’t they need permission, or a request to do this?” I asked.
“They do. And they have it,” Auriel said. “It’s a thousand years of small bargains made over tiny increments of time. They’ve made the maintenance of their world part of the deal. It’s not hard for them to keep things going, not with so many Lumerians to bargain with. And honestly, my guess is that it’s been this way for so long, very little is needed now to maintain the illusion.”
“Mercurial didn’t ask me for anything like that,” I said. Then I frowned. “He actually—he never told me what he wanted in exchange. What the full price would be.”
Auriel frowned, glancing at Ramia who was being offered bouquets of water lilies by Afeya who’d come out to greet her. Most were floating nearby in the water, and those too far to approach were tossing single flowers up at her. She smiled, gathering the bouquets, and letting the petals fall into her hair.
“Whatever it is,” Auriel said, looking back at me, “Whatever Mercurial wants from you, it’s not good.”
I looked up at the moonlit sky, feeling disoriented. I was fully aware it was only midday as my eyes followed the glowing blue bridges that crossed back and forth. It was mesmerizing, the way they formed and dissolved as silver ashvan raced across.
And for a second, I felt my stomach tug, like I was traveling and my vision blurred, replaced with a flash of memory.
A blue bridge rolled under me as I rode a golden ashvan beneath the sun. Red hair in a thick braid had fallen across my chest, and I flicked it back over my shoulder. Auriel rode on a twin ashvan, sweat beading his forehead, his curls damp, his eyes hooded, and green, and full of desire. For me.
A desire I matched between my legs. My core was molten lava, hot and consuming, coiling inside me.
His lips curled knowingly into something dangerous and seductive, a promise of later, a promise of pleasure when we were alone.
My breath hitched and I was back in my body, blinking rapidly, determined to ground myself in the present. But my heart was still beating fast. I took a deep breath. We were nearly at the shore. The Moon Queen’s Palace lay ahead. I’d seen renderings in scrolls. Paintings hanging in the pyramid that were devoted to the Afeyan texts. But it was even more mesmerizing in person. The palace soared into the sky, and I had to crane my neck back to see even just a hint of the opened roof. I counted about eighteen levels, and each one seemed to be without any walls. From every angle, every floor was completely open to the night sky. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Each floor was held up with gleaming columns bordered in silver. Rows upon rows of them. And zooming in and out of every level, were pure white seraphim. Afeya began to emerge between the columns, appearing on every level. They all paused before white marble banisters, leaning over on their elbows and watching our approach. I was in awe.
A dock of white quartz took form, leading to the palace’s promenade. Our water dragon came to rest before it.
“Lyriana,” Auriel said, his voice suddenly nervous. “Um, I should tell you something. Before we go.”
