The sound takes root in her essence and blossoms like a flower, petaling around a bright Ionian melody. Claudia is the nectar—the sex in the center of the blooming song. She’s the light, glittering, syrupy sweetness pooling at the heart of an incomprehensible symphony.
She’s so fucking high.
Then comes Dolericym’s voice, clearer and hungrier than it was before. The god takes a deep breath, sucking up the sustained resonance from the air, and she sings.
I see all that you wonder,
Your nightmare and your lover.
How ever will you choose?
Truth lies in Cassius’s stars.
Read and see where fate is scarred.
Either way, you will lose.
Falling too fast, Claudia crashes back into herself, suddenly sickened with the burden of her corporeal form. She was so light, so free, and now she is back to flesh and meat. It’s crushing. Suffocating. She would give anything to get back to that feeling of utter weightlessness.
Is that what ascension feels like? Do gods feel that way all the time?
When she opens her eyes, she gets one look at the purple candle before it snuffs itself out. Dolericym’s presence leaves the room.
Claudia sits in lonesome darkness for a moment, dazed. Her body doesn’t feel like her own. It doesn’t feel like she should have a body at all.
Hands pressed to her chest, she counts her heartbeats andtakes slow, steadying breaths. Sinking back into herself, she wiggles her fingers and toes just to remind herself how to move. How to feel. How to be a human.
Centered, she processes what she needs to do next. Dolericym wants her to read Cassius’s stars, but how can she do so safely? Her celestial magic and her lessons are meant to be a secret. Besides, Cassius doesn’t believe in Astrologia at all—not even as an academic discipline, and much less a magical one. How can she convince him to let her cast a spell on him? Does she even want to?
She stands, groaning, knowing she’ll have to do this whether she wants to or not. Whether it’s safe or not. Whether it’s truly, deeply, maddeningly foolish or not.
Dolericym tempts her. Curiosity compels her. She has to know the truth.
The door creaks open behind her, signaling that it is time to leave. She walks out of the chapel to find Cassius leaning against the wall, waiting for her. As soon as he sees her, he takes her into his arms.
“What did she say?”
Claudia is still disoriented from everything. She sighs, hating the taste of her breath on her tongue. Hating the ability to taste at all. She misses the freedom of nothingness.
But she loves Cassius’s touch. Instinct pulls her closer, and she revels in his warmth. “She told me how to find the answers you seek, but…”
“But what?”
She looks down at the floor. “If I say it, you’ll think I’m a fool again.”
He hooks her chin and lifts her gaze to his. “I promise I won’t, Claudia. I never truly did.”
With a hard swallow, she says, “She wants me to read your stars. And I know what you’re going to say. I know how you feel about Astrologia and I simply don’t want to hear it, so please don’t—”
“Let’s do it,” he says quickly.
She pauses. “But you don’t believe in the stars.”
He leans down, touching his forehead to hers. “I believe in you.”
His words send shivers all down her body. He believes in her. He trusts her. He’s willing to put his pride aside and listen to what she has to say. She could melt into his arms right now.
She’s decided she’ll do it, but now she needs to decide how and, more importantly, where.
