"It is not written in our Chronicles."
"The Red Moons free Haerland," he said simply.
There was a pause where Nyssa thought he would go on, but he didn't.
"That really didn't help," she said.
He chuckled under his breath. "Perhaps I'm hesitant to give you any ideas."
The words made her arms cross over her chest. "How crazy is the idea?"
"Completely mental," he told her. “Each of the rituals requires sacrifice. Aydra’s raven, sacrificing itself for her safety, it’s what that particular ritual required.”
“How barbaric.”
“Safety precautions,” Nadir said with another shrug. “Making sure no one stumbled upon it and completed the entire thing. That is another level of security.”
“So… how did Draven know the phoenix would bind with us?”
“Probably didn’t. I’m sure he didn’t know if it would work.”
“Drae told me he wasn’t surprised,” she said. “That he looked at that phoenix as though he’d been expecting her.”
“Don’t think his releasing the Sun had anything to do with him truly wanting her free,” he said, rubbing his neck. “I think he released her for Aydra. To have her feel such a bond with a creature and a mother that truly appreciated her. The Sun is healing and serenity for the children born of her trees. She is also a trickster. Now that she's at least partially free, I imagine you might see or hear some things you may not understand.”
"Like what?"
"Images of future Sun children, memories you may not recall because they aren't your own. Perhaps images of the past, depending on what she feels you need to see."
Aydra.
The hug.
But it wasn't just that.
Nyssa thought to the images from the banquet that her mind had been filling with. The vividness of the memories and how they took her out of her own reality. Not like a daydream, but as though she were back in the middle and reliving it.
"Might explain what was happening to you the other day," he said, the same thought apparently going through his head.
"Why did Haerland curse her?” she wondered.
"Actually, all the Architects have been imprisoned by her—each for different issues. The Sun, specifically, tried to break the bond with Arbina,” Nadir said. “She didn’t like the person her eldest had become, what with how brutal and manipulative she was after Duarb gave his Hunter. The Sun wanted to put her daughter in her place and show her consequences for what she was doing. But Haerland didn’t want that, took Arbina's side. So, she cursed the Sun and forced her into a prison deep within the depths of this land. The black phoenix is the form the Sun chose to roam the land in.”
“Can she not form into her womanly self?”
“Not until the full ritual is performed. How exactly Draven got his hands on that scroll, I'm not sure. Probably on one of his journeys to the mountains. All of our most sacred scrolls are in a cave beneath the Mortis Lunar Pass at Lake Oriens." He paused and eyed her again. "It's not to be played with."
"But what exactly does the Red Moons ritual do? What do you mean by the 'curses'? Which curses?"
Nadir sat the crate he was holding on the boat. The playful expression that had filled his features just moments before had vanished. "No,” he told her.
"Nadir—“
"I don't want you to get any ideas," he snapped.
She was taken aback by his harsh tone, and how he spoke made her weight shift. "I think I should have a working knowledge of this. This is our history. Would you rather I continue being blind?" she argued.
His jaw clenched. A low grunt emitted from his throat, and he glowered at her. "That's really not fair, Princess.”
