“This crescent moon represents the Silverspun family,” he says. “And these are the rays of the sun, which is the symbol of the Solas family. Together, they are united. This is my wish for your family, Asha.”
Mother turns to Aksel, and I can finally see tears glistening on her cheeks. She presses her lips together as if she’s having trouble speaking.
Aksel’s voice is a deep rumble. “You have honored us with this gift, Thaden Kane Ironmeld.”
Thaden Kane Ironmeld.
My eyes widen. The dragons whisper about him. How he once killed a dragon and how Mother punished him by making him human.
Mother and Father rarely speak of the time before the darkness was banished, but Mother certainly didn’t greet Thaden like an enemy just now. He certainly doesn’t seem to view her as one, either.
“Thank you for accepting my gift,” he says, and that’s all before he turns away.
Mother jolts forward as if she’ll stop him, but then her hand drops back to her side.
She lets him go, her head tilted to the side, watching him as he makes his way carefully along the path the other guests have cleared for him.
Within minutes, he disappears once more into the forest.
I’m left with an oddly hollow feeling in my chest. A pang in my heart, which I can only put down to what today’s event means for my family.
Aksel will start a new life today.
Change is happening.
Stepping back toward the opening into the tower, I enter a large alcove that’s large enough for a thunderbird to shelter inside if the weather is bad.
At the rear of the alcove, a long, wide corridor provides a direct line of sight to the second platform situated on the other side of the tower.
Now that I’m inside, I’m sheltered from the wind, and I attempt to pat my hair back into place as I quickly descend the stone staircase to the next level.
Torches spring to life around me before I enter the next corridor down. At the far end is the next staircase, but I pause halfway along.
I stop at the doorway to the room where Mother keeps the eternal flame. It burns in the middle of the floor, casting light all around it.
The walls in this room are white, but one side of them is covered with golden lettering that flows across the surface as if it were alive.
It’s the rule of law.
At Graviter’s request, Mother has started writing the laws that will allow supernaturals and humans to live in peace.
The first law they wrote together was theLaw of Championsso that a fight to the death can never again be used as a ploy and only ever employed as a last resort.
Reading the laws written on the wall is like trying to catch one’s own thoughts. They’re designed so that the law someone might need is the one they will first see when they enter the room.
I haven’t dared step foot beyond the door.
I’m fully aware of the darkness in my heart and I’m not sure that any of these laws would ever help me.
Walking on, I pause again, this time at the room to the left of the staircase.
The air inside this room always feels heavy.
Four statues stand at intervals in a circle. Their backs are to each other.
Mother didn’t use her power to make the materials from which they are carved. She spent years looking for the right white stone, the darkest crimson wood, the heaviest gold, and the smoothest black onyx.
Then, she spent years carving and molding them.
