I frowned. “What?”
But Ramia shook her head, water lilies flying from her locks. “No time. Come. Now.” She stood up with surprising grace—even for her, carefully walking across our dragon’s back, and down onto the quartz of the dock. She dropped her flowers slowly, leaving behind an aisle of petals.
My nerves jumped again.
“Tell me whatever it is later?” I asked Auriel, while also hoping he’d offer me some reassurance as my heart thumped. But his gaze was distant now. His features were taut, and his eyes seemed filled with worry. He shifted me forward, and slid off to the side before coming to stand at the dock. He reached for me, pulling me up to my feet, and lifted me off the dragon, settling me down beside him.
“Sure. Later,” he said, and took my hand, our fingers linking, and together we followed Ramia to the promenade. I could feel at least a thousand pairs of eyes watching, even if I couldn’t see them all.
Three more water dragons emerged from the palace, miniature in comparison to ours. They were followed by a dozen silver ashvan, each one carrying a rider. They were all adorned in silver dresses, but no two had the same skin tone. The entire rainbow seemed to be represented. My eyes kept jumping, unsure where to look next. While they all had human bodies, only a few of the riders had human heads. The rest reminded me of Mercurial. One rider had the head of a ram, another the head of a bull. One rider even had the features of a lion, their skin orange, a majestic mane falling to their feet. And they were all stunningly beautiful.
Ethereal music seemed to call my soul back to another time. Another life. Not one I could put my finger on. Many of our songs now were originally sung in Lumeria Matavia— the compositions only slightly changed over the centuries. But thisfelt like something new—a different time, maybe even a different world. More instruments joined the melody, and then voices. I couldn’t see where any of the musicians or singers were, or if they were even real. It felt like the music had been summoned from the ether.
The song grew in volume, the music coming to a swell, and on the same note, everyone fell to their knees, including Ramia. She sank down like she was dancing, and gestured for me and Auriel to follow.
Mist swirled at the edge of the palace, changing color with every second that passed. It began as a bright, vibrant violet that darkened to indigo before brightening back to blue. It continued to shift through the rainbow, every color of the Valalumir. Much like the eternal flame we kept in our temples. When the mist turned red, it vanished, leaving in its place the figure of a tall, beautiful Afeyan woman.
“Queen Ma’Nia,” Auriel whispered.
I’d never seen her before—nor seen a single rendering or picture. I’d heard she held an otherworldly kind of beauty and like all Afeya, she was capable of changing her appearance, glamouring herself to fit any mood that befell her. But for some reason I couldn’t explain, I had the distinct sense that she was in her natural state—because her resemblance to Ramia was startling. There was no doubt they were related. Had they not been Afeyan and immortal, had their ages not been impossible to determine, I’d have guessed they were sisters before mother and daughter.
But slowly, I began to take stock of the differences between them. A small tweak of the nose, a shift in the plumpness of the mouth. The main distinctions came from the fact that Ma’Nia had startling violet eyes. Her hair was a vibrant red I hadn’t expected. But where Ramia’s red was something closer to minein the sun, the Moon Queen had a purple sheen to hers, one I suspected was a perfect match for her irises in the right light.
She stepped forward, wearing a dress made of thousands of pearls strung together. They jingled with every step she took, swishing back and forth across her body as she approached us. She wore nothing beneath them. Every step revealed new expanses of skin, while simultaneously hiding other parts of her. You could see everything and nothing all at once.
She stopped walking, taking her time to look us over. Her head tilted to the side as if she were considering her next move. Something flashed in her eyes, and then she straightened, gesturing for us all to rise.
Ramia stood first, and walked slowly to her mother. The Queen pulled her into an embrace, then drew her daughter beside her.
“Mother, I present Lady Lyriana Batavia of Bamaria. The reincarnation of?—”
“Asherah,” Queen Ma’Nia said, her voice melodious and soothing. “Asherah again.” Violet eyes roamed up and down my body. It felt like she wasn’t looking at anything physical, but rather that she was seeing my soul. Seeing Asherah’s essence. The thing Auriel said made me her. The thing that he recognized.
I lowered my chin. “Your Majesty,” I said.
She held up a hand, and I closed my mouth, suddenly unsure what to do.
The queen turned to Auriel, and storm clouds appeared above the palace. There was a heart-stopping clap of thunder, and lightning struck. Her violet eyes burned.
“Auriel,” she drawled, her voice low. “In the flesh. An impossibility. You had your life and you lost it, never to return here again. And yet you stand before me now.” She shook her head. “After all you’ve done,” her eyes darkened, “you have the nerve to return to my lands.”
“Your Majesty, I beseech you,” Auriel started, but Queen Ma’Nia held up her hand again, and Auriel’s mouth closed at once. As if she controlled him.
“You are not welcome,” she said. “And you never will be.”
“Be that as it may, we made a bargain,” he said. “A thousand years ago we made an agreement. I’m here to honor it.”
“To break it,” she snapped, stepping forward, her eyes zeroing in on Auriel’s Valya. The true Valya. The one that contained the truth about the cure.
“How do you suppose that? I kept my word,” Auriel said. “I broke no vows. Only one copy of my Valya remained, and it was buried with me. Untouched, unread, and forgotten. All knowledge of it faded, dying with my body.”
“Until today,” the Queen said. “It’s so rare for something or someone to return from the dead. But it seems we have not one, but two resurrections before us.”
Auriel’s jaw clenched, his eyes boring into the Queen’s with an unbridled anger I hadn’t seen from him before. An anger she seemed to match.
“You are lucky I have not thrown you into the playground with my monsters,” Queen Ma’Nia said. Her eyes sparkled. “I may still do that.”
Auriel’s nostril’s flared. “You said that last time, too.”
