The sorceress tilts her head, looking more intrigued by the second. “What else did she tell you?”
“She mentioned Revenants.” I watch her face for any reaction, finding none. “She said they’re creatures that shouldn’t exist and that they’re hiding in the academy, but I don’t know anything more about them than that.”
“Revenants,” Circe says slowly, as if savoring the word. “To understand them, you must first understand what came before.”
She moves to a table near the loom, pours four glasses of golden liquid from a pitcher, and gestures for us to sit.
I don’t want to sit. I want answers. But Kieran’s already lowering himself onto one of the cushioned benches, setting his blade across his knees. Evie follows, her notebook in hand.
Fine. I sit, but I don’t touch the drink. Neither do Kieran and Evie.
Circe simply smiles and begins to explain.
“Long before your academies, your covens, and the supernatural world organizing itself into the hierarchies you know today, there was the first vampire, Ambrogio.” She settles across from us, her eyes distant as she speaks the name I already know from the book Thad gave me. “He was cursed by the gods, betrayed by the woman he loved, and banished to the Underworld for crimes against the divine order.”
Evie leans forward, her eyes lighting up like they do in class when she’s learning new information. “The woman he loved was the moon goddess Selene,” she breathes. “I’ve read fragments about her story with Ambrogio, but the texts are incomplete and always focus on her love story with Endymion instead.”
“Most do.” Circe’s lips curve into a half smile. “Selene wanted nothing to do with Ambrogio after his transformation. She had him banished to the Underworld, although he never knew she was the one behind it. Selene then fell in love with the shepherd Endymion and asked Zeus to make him immortal. Zeus’s solution was to put Endymion in an ageless sleep, and Selene visited him every night in his dreams.”
Evie opens her notebook to a fresh page and begins to write.
Circe gives Evie an approving nod. “Selene grew tired of not being able to see Endymion whenever she wanted. So, she assigned four of her daughters to rule the celestial domains in her stead—moon, sun, stars, and storm—and stayed with Endymion in his world of dreams, sleeping eternally with him in his cave. Ambrogio, however, believes Endymion stole Selene, and that she needs to be rescued from Endymion’s cave and brought out of her eternal sleep so the two of them can be together forever.”
“What does this have to do with the Revenants?” I ask, wanting to get to the point.
Evie gives me a look that says I need to be more patient, because of course she does.
Circe’s gaze sharpens. “Ambrogio doesn’t just want revenge. He wants an army with enough power to tear through the barriers between realms, locate Endymion’s cave, and wake Selene from her eternal sleep.”
“The Revenants are his army,” I realize, the pieces clicking together.
“Yes. They’re a new kind of vampire, since while vampires are powerful, they’re limited.” Circe traces a finger along the rim of her glass and looks around at our full ones, as if daring us to drink. “Traditionally, supernaturals turned vampire have air magic, but they lose the abilities they had before transformation. A witch turned vampire loses their fire. A shifter loses their affinity for earth. A fae loses their connection to water. But Ambrogio has discovered a way around that limitation—Revenants. They’re vampires turned by Ambrogio who retain their original magical abilities. A witch-turned-Revenant would have both fire magic and air magic. A fae would keep their water magic along with their new air magic, and a shifter would keep their earth magic along with air magic. But more than that, their abilities are further amplified because of being turned by Ambrogio, which means even a traditional vampire benefits from becoming a Revenant.”
“He’s creating an army of Revenants to storm the heavens.” Kieran’s hand rests on his blade.
Circe’s gaze tracks Kieran’s multiple weapons—daggers at his hips, throwing knives strapped to his forearms, and twin swords across his back. “I see war is in your blood,” she says. “You carry it well.”
“It’s training,” he corrects her. “Not blood.”
“Either way, you’re right—Ambrogio wants to storm the heavens with his Revenant army.” She gives him another once-over, then turns her attention back to all of us. “He believes that with enough power, he can kill Endymion in the realm of dreams and free Selene, so they can be together forever. From there, he wants to start a new order where supernaturals are no longer forced to live in hiding, so they can reign over the mortal realm.”
Evie circles a paragraph in her notes. I’m glad she’s a good note taker, because there’s no way I’d remember all this.
She places her pencil down, refocusing on Circe. “Do you know if Ambrogio has created any Revenants yet?”
Circe tilts her head, considering. “When the star goddess Celeste’s chosen champion and her winter prince visited me this spring, Ambrogio was still recovering from his resurrection. Whether or not Ambrogio has regained his strength to where it needs to be to create his first Revenants…” She shrugs and spreads her hands. “I’ve had no visitors from the outside world since then. I can’t say what’s happened in the months between.”
Months.
A lot can happen in months.
And given that Constance warned me that Revenants are hiding in the academy… then Ambrogio’s already created them.
JADE
“So,Tempest chose me to stop Ambrogio and destroy the Revenants?” I ask Circe, the words coming out steadier than I feel.
“Yes.” Her golden eyes meet mine. “The cosmic goddesses cannot directly interfere in mortal and mystical realm affairs, because their responsibilities to the forces they represent are too great. So, they chose champions—young women blessed with their celestial magic called the star touched, who’ve been gifted powers of the moon, the sun, the stars, and now, the storm.”
