The Tempest queen waved a lazy hand. “Seek the wild cliffside overlooking the Crystal Sea.”
“Yes, my queen.” I didn’t have a clue where to start looking for that.
“Look at him, Forest,” Celanea crooned. “You’ve done such a beautiful job crafting him to be so compliant and responsive.”
Forest grinned, pride on display through his raised shoulders. “It wasn’t without its struggles along the way. Just makes it that much more satisfying.”
“Oh, he went through his little rebellious stages, didn’t he?” Celanea said as if I weren’t standing there.
I clenched my fists at my sides, remembering the torment he’d put me through when I’d been younger. Had I been an Infernal then, detached from my emotions, none of that would’ve ever happened. Forest would have died years ago. So that was my mistake for giving him and my dead stepfather the leverage to torture me the way they had.
Forest hummed in agreement. “He did. But thankfully, his little temper tantrums worked out in our favor.” Leaning down, Forest cupped Celanea’s jaw and tilted her face up to meet his. “They led us back together again.” He pressed his lips against hers before she shoved her tongue down his throat in a public display of revolting passion. Or whatever it was they shared.
I rolled my eyes as I waited for the awkward moment to pass. The two other Tempests stood stoic, appearing unbothered by their queen’s love affair with a half-Celestial fallenking.
I cleared my throat, bored and ready to leave if we were done here.
Celanea pulled back, turning her attention to me, annoyed by the interruption. “Where have you been by the way, my pet?” Scrutinizing me, she added, “I’ve noticed you’ve been away.”
“I’ve been searching for any information about the Seraphite Stone, my queen,” I answered, clearly bored.
“Mhmm,” the Tempest hummed, stroking a finger along Forest’s exposed neck with her elongated nail. “Pray tell, where?”
“I snooped around the Elemental Hollow to see if Orion had discovered anything. Spoiler alert: he hasn’t.”
“Oh, you’ve been paying visits to your silly little friends, have you?” The air chilled with her mood shift.
Fuck.
Forest studied me as if trying to find any fault in my words. “Did my daughter happen to be there?”
Clenching my jaw, I said, “She was.”
“Ah! Are we any closer to having your Twin Soul join us, then?” Celenea asked, her tone perking up. “She must’ve been so thrilled to see you again.”
“She will be.” I’d learned that the shorter I kept my responses, the better.
Truthfully, the only reason I wanted Gray to join me now was so she could help me kill Celanea, then get the revenge kill on her father that she’d been robbed of two months ago. But then I remembered the deep, soulful longing I’d felt for her not even an hour ago at the Hollow. I would have gouged my hands and knees on barbed wire and broken glass, if that’s what it took, for her to spare me a glance that harbored the love it once had. And a part of me still would.
Internally, I shook it off.
“Bring her,” Celanea ordered, using the bond she forced on me to demand it. Rising from her throne, she swayed toward me, her black lace dress flowing behind her. She was lethally attractive now, but every time I saw her, I couldn’t help but see the desiccated andsickly version of herself from before she regained her strength by casting Syphon Bonds on the Endarkened prisoners from the King’s Palace. “It’s her turn to join us, don’t you think?”
“I do, my queen.” Celanea ran her fingers through my hair, scraping her nails along my scalp as she did. “Once I have both of you under my thrall, the worlds will be at our feet.”
Chills skittered down my flesh at the prospect. There was no fucking way I’d be subservient to this woman for the rest of my existence, much less allow Gray to be either. No, we were meant to rule together. Celanea was the interloper, and I wasn’t about to concede my power and control to this sorceress.
With a press of her lips to mine, she whispered, “Bring her to me. Let’s break her together, shall we?”
An hour later,I roamed the castle corridors freely, finding old relics left behind from the Goshen Kingdom. From what I’d gathered, Arcadia had originally contained multiple Celestial kingdoms, all presided over by the High King and Queen. Each different kingdom had their own culture that they’d preserved over time, very similar to the various cultures in Terraguard.
The Goshen Kingdom was most reminiscent of Eastern Europe. When I first arrived here, I’d discovered the forgotten library, which contained thousands of tomes covered in centuries-old dust. The books held not only the ancient history of the Goshen Kingdom, but all the other Celestial kingdoms, too. Long ago, there had been wars fought among the Celestials over trivial matters such as disputes regarding trade, as well as rivalries sparked by jealousy. Once, there was a war between the Tanki Kingdom and the Erewon Kingdom over a love affair that had occurred between the prince and princess. The two kingdoms had been at odds when the two successors were teenagers. The lovebirds had hoped their love would bring the two kingdoms together and stop the quarreling, but once thenews reached their parents’ ears, they were both imprisoned for treason.
I learned that Celestials weren’t the only magical beings that existed within Arcadia, either. Mystics had once lived here and worked hand in hand with Celestials, helping them achieve their highest enlightenment. The higher the Mystics evolved spiritually, the more the gods trusted them with their powers. According to Celanea, the spiritual witches had disappeared after the Celestial purge and continued to evade Celanea’s persistent efforts in finding them.
Druids existed as protectors of Arcadia, working to preserve the aether from which all magic derived. They served to maintain the balance of light and dark within the realm. Too much of one, and it would be thrown off, tainting the magic and the entire ecosystem. It seemed they’d failed at their job.
The Druids were known to be fierce, magical warriors who held very strong boundaries and were willfully isolated from the rest of Arcadia. Like the Celestials of old, Druids were divided into multiple kingdoms: the Kingdom of Storms, the Kingdom of Flames, the Kingdom of the Sea, the Kingdom of Wind, the Kingdom of Stone, and the Kingdom of Everwood. Each one was dedicated to the element of their kingdom’s namesake.
