This Tower didn’t have all the windows and open air views that the Tower of the Moon had. Instead, it was a dark, windowless enclosure with a winding staircase. At the center of the room was a burning altar. The smoke billowing up from the altar seemed to sparkle like the night’s sky. All around them, priestesses clad in black robes and wearing star-kissed masks chanted in a steady rhythm.
The sound of their unified voices made an enchanting and eerie echo across the walls of the enclosed space. Avery looked around for Kyla and noticed she was gone.
“Do you not plan to show your supplication before the altar?” Selene asked. Avery twitched as Selene’s breath brushed against her neck. She was far too close for comfort.
“I don’t know what to do,” she answered honestly.
“First you must be deemed worthy by the pool. If you are not, you will be expelled from the temple. After that you will throw stardust on the fire and chant the song of intercession to the Goddess of the Stars. As Althea’s second-born daughter, she holds great weight with her mother, but surely you know that if you are here?”
Avery lifted her chin, giving false confidence as she replied, “Of course I knew that. I wouldn’t come in here without knowing how to show my respect.”
Selene pursed her lips and began walking to a stream welling up from the ground. “Then wash. All of you,” she said, pointing to Rue, Susan, and Morgan. “It does not go without notice that Kyla is missing.”
As Avery approached the flowing water, she hoped with everything in her that she wasn’t about to be caught for her sacrilege or lack of faith. She took a deep breath and rolled up the sleeves of her tunic as she prepared to plunge her hands into the water. Maybe the expulsion meant that she’d be thrown out of the temple, but things weren’t typically that simple in Aeritis.
As her hands were about to touch the water, a sharp clang rang through the temple. Avery looked up to see hundreds of fist-size glowing balls tumbling toward the ground below. The chanting priestesses gasped and cried out as fireballs struck the hard rock floor of the temple. Cries of agony rang out across the tower, growing louder and more anguished.
Kyla was frantically running down the stairs as a glowing woman, so bright her essence burned Avery’s eyes, chased after her. “Run! Now!” Kyla shouted as she hit the rock floor, skiddingto the ground. Priestesses were closing around her as she pushed herself off the ground and ran towards their group.
Avery didn’t need to be told twice. She sprinted toward the door, Morgan just beside her as she ran out of the Tower of Stars and into the crisp autumn evening.
They didn’t stop as they made their way over to the waterfall. Without speaking, Selene scooped Rue into her arms and flew across the river, setting her down before she came back with two other Nepheli fae to grab Avery and Morgan. She didn’t even seem winded as she set the sisters down. The two other fae landed with Kyla and Susan beside them.
“I should have let the goddess have her way with you,” Selene said to Kyla. “I know you’re keeping something from me.”
“It is nothing concerning you,” said Kyla, as she gritted her teeth at the other woman. It was possibly the harshest words Avery had ever heard Kyla use.
Selene rolled her eyes and spread her midnight wings wide. “It does not matter if you tell mewhyyou left us. I know you were up to something, and I’m not keeping it from King Rylo.”
Kyla kept her expression neutral, and Avery admired her dedication to keeping the information from the Nepheli Sage. Selene kicked off the ground and began flying up toward the Tower of the Moon. Once Selene was out of sight, Kyla turned to the others and began talking.
“She was unwilling to meet me,” Kyla said, shaking slightly as she looked across the river. Avery reached out a steadying hand to support Kyla as she continued.
“I showed her the Goddess mark, and she became furious. She threatened to kill me for my sacrilege, for daring to imitate the mark, although I tried to explain that Althea placed the mark there herself. I tried to ask what the Divine Five were, but the Goddess of Stars slapped my face. When she struck me, thestars from the prayers began colliding and falling to the ground. That’s when I ran. I’m sorry, the whole journey was a failure.”
Avery pulled Kyla into a hug, knowing that Kyla needed comfort this way, before they began making their way back to the Tower of the Moon.
“We’ll figure something else out,” Avery suggested as they walked, arm in arm.
Chapter 10
Savine
Savine’s stomach flipped in anticipation. He’d begun recognizing the landmarks and trees along the road nearly four hours ago. By his calculations, they must only be an hour’s ride from the outskirts of Orofine—his former home and more recently the site of the loyalist stronghold. Fuck if he knew how he was going to convince his former enemies to faithfully pledge to serve him as the crowned King of Latiah.
What gave him encouragement was the response of the villagers and nomadic groups he’d encountered over the last few days of riding through the river valleys and woods of Latiah.Crowds of folk had come to see the procession of the new king, throwing late-season flowers and autumn leaves at his feet.
Many of the village folk were thinner than they should be, with the approaching winter, but it was the nomadic groups that made Savine grip Jari’s reins tight, fighting the urge to lash out at a man that was now dead. Their essence was faded, even younger fae looked aged beyond their years. Many were wearing rags and begged his warriors for help. Raikin and Garnel spread the message that Savine would hold court in Orofine. All would be welcome and heard if they came.
Despite their condition, men and women had cried out to Savine, calling him the True King of Latiah, and prostrated themselves before him. Gifts of all sorts, from harvest produce to elk, and even inexplicably, furniture were brought forward. Not wanting to offend anyone, Savine quietly accepted all the gifts, knowing also that some of these gifts were all these folk had to offer. It left him with an uneasy gratitude.
Raikin insisted that Savine ride in the front of the procession, dressed not in his leather armor, but in an outfit of Latian green, reinforced with cleverly stitched protections from a particularly powerful Nepheli seamstress. On his back was a bear skin cloak, attached to his neck with a golden leaf clasp. The clothing was itchy and stifling in the mild autumn weather. Worst of all, he wore his shoulder length hair down, woven with beads and small braids that were constantly getting tangled in the crown of boughs and antlers. This, Raikin insisted on as well, stating that his hair down and crown displayed gave a more kingly image. When Savine had suggested that this wardrobe may bring about an attack by angry loyalists, Raikin argued that they would be attacked whether he was dressed in splendor or not, and as crowned King of Latiah, nobody but a fae with a death wish would dare assassinate him and risk an eternity of horrors in the Abyss.
As they grew nearer to Orofine, Savine felt his own anxiety about this moment rise. This was what he’d been fighting for. For over twenty-five years, he’d worked to free his folk from the tyrannical rule of his father and bring peace, unity, and order to all of Latiah. And now that it was happening, he felt a sense of dread. He should have liberated Latiah sooner. How could he be worthy of such praise when he had contributed to these folks’ hard lives? Their sons and daughters had fought bravely against the rebels, even though many had been forcibly recruited. Most of the lower ranks of the loyalist military didn’t have a choice to serve Jasper, and Savine had pardoned any loyalist deserters willing to join the rebel cause. Yet, he was still responsible for their poverty and their poor health. He had caused this war and sent the nation into a twenty-five year tailspin.
“Savine?” Garnel called out. Savine turned his attention to his general, riding slightly behind him and to the right. Raikin had stayed to his left through the long journey. Neither man had mentioned how they felt about being separated from their soulmates, but if they felt anything like Savine, they were torn in two at being apart from Kyla and Jay.
“You can come up here, Garnel,” Savine replied.
