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I said nothing, fighting back tears, feeling weak. As if I were breaking my own promise. As if I were collapsing beneath my armor of ice.

I was a bad mother. Without a doubt.

Silvar made a quick hand gesture, and the gates to the temple opened.

I didn't look up when she let go of me, trusting that I wouldn't run away.

I was unable to flee.

Where would I go?

If I couldn't leave... then I had to fight.

I raised my head.

It was a miracle that my knees didn't give way when I saw the crowds of Quatura gathered in the temple. Not only those standing in a circle on the ritual area, as was customary, no... Also on the spiral stone staircase winding its way up around the entire temple – with stone shelves carved into the stone facade, filled with old books and candlesticks, located behind the ornate columns – Quatura stood in rows wearing black, gray, and gray-blue robes.

Some had traveled from New York and Chicago because they had heard the news. But I was unable to look at them, which would have been pointless anyway, as no one could be recognized under their hoods.

These Quatura wanted to come to Blairville, to stay here once the chosen one had destroyed the other species. They were here because of my baby. And they would exploit her, use her powers to make the other species suffer, turn her into a monster...

Fear. That must have been what shot through my veins when the idea that they would hurt her flooded my mind.

“Step closer.”

I looked at Amara, who was moderating the ceremony but not leading it.

A water Quatura in a dull gray-blue robe and Silvar would lead this one. And both women stood beside the huge in-ground stone ceremonial pool, located where the large stone altar usually stood.

It was embedded in the floor. A one-meter-deep part of the temple that could be transformed with Earth Quatura energy if needed, depending on the type of ceremony.

The ceremony awaiting me was one of four purification rituals. The first.

They planned this ordeal four times, with all four elements, to purify me so that the child inside me would be legitimized by the gods.

Each of these rituals required the Domini to guide, a Sacrifici of the element that was central to the respective purification ritual, in order to establish a connection with the gods, and a Servus belonging to the same element as the expectant mother, to contain any potential reaction, since the mother was not allowed to wear a control stone, but her element could react to the high energy around her.

Ritus Purificationis. Alos called Agnitio a Deis. A tradition that had been performed on every pregnant Quatura thousands of years ago. In times when the Quatura bloodlines had been purer, more powerful, more traditional, and blessed with more male offspring. The way the Councils wanted it to be again for Quatura society.

They were currently working to reintegrate all the ancient mandatory rituals into the Circle’s official practices. Globally. So that young Quatura could reconnect with the traditions and a more structured order could prevail within the society. Not least to appease the gods, so that they would send the Lucillians back to us.

I forced myself to take one step, then another. And somehow, I made it through the temple, past the columns, past the strange and familiar Quatura who would revel in my suffering.

It was quiet, but the flickering flames of the stone torches on the columns blazed wildly. The massive, gigantic metal rings with elemental rune-shaped cut-outs, which were located ten to fifteen meters above the pool, scattered in the air on thin steel ropes, reflected the unbridled flickering.

My gaze lingered on the runes. Ancient, geometric-looking elemental runes with many strokes and lines, their meaning known only to Scriptrix, members of the High Council or a Domini. A secret language to protect against those who had practiced Umbra in dark times long past.

And then I spotted it. On one of the steel rings, barely noticeable... An Umbra rune.

My heart skipped a beat. But before I could inspect my discovery more closely, two women stepped up beside me.

I tore my gaze away from the steel rings and met... Gloria's.

She stood, as always, offset behind Amara, her eyes glinting like those of a predator.

Normally, I couldn't hold her gaze, but as the women opened the silver cord of my robe, I needed something to fix my gaze on, so I wouldn't break down. I needed something to confirm that this wasn't the worst of it. That the worst was still lurking among us.

Royalty