“And then my sister will never,everknow how deeply you feel for her. See? You are proving my point. I am right, and you shouldn’t waste time.” Such smugness could only ever come with a cheeky smile.
“I am busy, okay? Trying to concentrate on finding a part of a heart, and figuring out how to Rule this Petal I acquired way sooner than I ever expected.”
“You are busy,” he agreed, “loving her.”
She shushed him as her heart drummed against her chest. Even if Nina couldn’t hear her dead brother and only Ayla’s necroseer senses could, those words—her sacred secret—said aloud so, so close to this precious woman…
“I’m trying to go back to sleep,” she replied. She had fallen asleep very late, listening to the final chapters Nina had read aloud for her fromOf Northern Petals and Bloody Generosity.It was interesting to hear such an in-depth analysis of her people, the Giving power, and the Cardinal who had created the North House and said magic. As for practical help and guidance to find the hidden piece of heart…that was a whole other story.
There had been pages on relevant locations in Borealia, the capital of the North Petal, and an entire chapter on the creation, structure, and architecture of the North House. But, as a North-born and member of the North House Ruling family all her life, now turned North Ruler, nothing had clicked.
There had been only one place she thought of from the moment Hope had explained the Cardinal Queen had hidden a piece of her heart in the North. The only place Ayla would hide something valuable if she wanted no one else to find it. This place, though, was not mentioned once in the book the courtrade had written, which partly made sense.
Regardless of how long the courtrades had scoured the North, only one truth endured: the only thing that had to be given freely for it to be real was generosity.
Ayla had only been in front of this part of an abandoned, out-of-use corridor on the ground floor of the North House once before, over ten years ago.
On the day Lenna and Ayla turned fifteen, their mother had brought them here, after making them swear on the Fifth that they would never tell Father, under any circumstances. Lenna had nodded quietly with lips pursed and narrowed eyes as sheexamined the blank wall. Ayla had sworn on the Fifth and all the Cardinals she would keep that special moment secret.
For the first time since she had killed him, Ayla felt the soul of her father next to her. As a sweet reuniting message, he spat, “You aren’t worthy of being here. The North deserves better than you.”
Ayla turned to where he stood, with her metal eyes aimed at his skull, and swallowed all the words she wanted to tell him. She flicked her hands, making him vanish forever and not allowing his presence near her ever again. She wouldn’t waste another second with him.
Like her mother did ten years ago, Ayla placed her palm flat on the wall, and sent as many silver sparks through it as she could. She felt the door materialize under her touch, and Nina gasped next to her.
Her fingertips traced the fine details carved in the yew wood. The specialized artwork was breathtaking, and that barely anyone had ever been here to appreciate it, devastating. A part of her wished she could see it again.
Carved in the wood were birds of multiple species sitting on a yew tree, many of them protecting nests holding multiple eggs. Instead of leaves, the tree had feathers of different sizes coming out of its branches, some of them carved mid-air as they fell to the ground, some of them falling on the floor.
“I might need your help here,” Ayla told Nina.
“Of course. What do you need?”
“I need you to find the Cardinal, please. It changes position every five hours, and is usually hiding amongst other birds or in the nests. With my fingers, and so many birds, it might take me a while to identify it.”
After a while, Nina said, “There.” She grabbed Ayla’s hand gently and brought her index finger to the beak of the only Cardinal on the door.
“Thank you,” Ayla replied, caressing Nina’s cheek with her spare hand before she could reply.
Nina leaned towards her hand, so Ayla let it linger, savoring her touch as Nina said, “One of its wings has missing feathers.”
Ayla nodded, goosebumps trailing up her thighs. “Which means the Queen was here.” She Gave silver sparks, feeding them one by one to the beak of the Cardinal, and when the House verified she was indeed a Northern panom, the door opened widely in front of them, revealing the most impressive view Ayla had once seen in her life.
Nina was frozen on the spot, no doubt taking in what lay in front of them. Both Lenna and Ayla had been completely mesmerized and astonished when they had seen it too.
The most majestic and ominous yew tree lay strong and wide in the middle of a protected area no one else knew was there, its thick roots trailing all over the ground and under the confines of this space, disappearing under the North House. Where leaves would normally be, Cardinal-red feathers of different sizes richly filled the dark branches. Unlike the carvings of the hidden door, there weren’t any birds she could feel or hear, and if nothing had changed since the last time she was here, there was only one nest at the very top of the tree.
Ayla removed her shoes and started climbing, relying fully on her hands and her feet to guide her through the branches, with utmost care not to make a single feather fall to the ground. She was careful with her breathing, taking in the distance of the nearby branches towards every inch of her skin as she climbed.
When she reached the top, her hand found nothing but emptiness inside the nest. She wasn’t fully surprised, as that would have been too easy of a place to find a slice of a heart just sitting. The problem, though, was that it only left the alternative option she had deeply feared. She opened her hand, Giving a silver egg, in which she condensed her new, most powerfulmagic, and placed it inside the nest—an egg no one should ever open. Her gift to the North House—a radical measure to protect her House now that she was the Rule—should she ever need it.
When she climbed back down, Nina was waiting for her.
“Any luck?” she asked.
“The nest was empty, which I sort of expected.” She walked barefoot over the roots, feeling where the dents were, every knot and crease that had sat here for millennia.
“Years ago, my mother took us here, and told us a tale she believed true. When Thyria was created, the North Cardinal found herself lying on this ground. She felt alone, separated from her sisters, desperate because life was void of meaning and she had nothing to rely upon. She craved a place to call home, but the North was an empty land, full of wind and desolation. On the Fifth of May, the North Cardinal lay on this ground, and from her tears under the red moon, a tree grew overnight. When she woke up, red feathers inundated her heart and sight. Upon this ground and the roots of this tree, she built the North House.”
