Chapter 32 #2
The pale Geminis rose hand-in-hand and didn’t bother hiding their smirks directed at Tala.
Tarek frowned at his sister. Tala gracefully stood from her seat and curtsied to the twins.
Once the Gemini House departed, Tala turned to him.
The look in her russet eyes mirroring his own should have bolstered his confidence.
Instead, for the first time, he found something that shook him to his core: uncertainty.
Back in Avarice, Tala moved silently through the underbelly of the palace. Arriving at the holding cells, she nodded to the sentinels on guard.
“Has he said anything?”
“No, Adjacent,” a sentinel said.
“I’ll take it from here. Why don’t you replenish your reserves?”
“Thank you, Adjacent,” the pair said, leaving her alone in front of Zosma’s cell. He looked worse for wear. His hair clumped together, and a mixture of sweat and sand formed a grit that tarnished his deep skin.
“Hello, Lion,” Tala spoke into the dim light.
“Should I call you the female equivalent of your House sigil?” came Zosma’s rough reply.
Tala clasped her hands behind her back. “I see your accommodations haven’t diminished your luster… In fact, I don’t recall you being this outspoken with your true feelings regarding my House.”
“No one asked.”
“Hmm.”
“Did you need something?”
“Do you have something I need?” Tala replied.
Zosma grunted.
Tala trailed her hands along the crystalline bars, their bite having long since lost its sting on her skin.
“Need is a funny thing, isn’t it?” she mused.
“Two individuals might desire the same thing but go about acquiring it in different ways. Or the same individuals might be in need of something that is in direct opposition to the other. Who’s to say which need or way of getting it is greater? The Gods? Fate?”
“Go bore your Asters with this; I am no philosopher,” Zosma muttered.
“No, you’re a warrior, aren’t you? Though not an empty vessel like some. No. You’re a true guardian. Like the epocs.”
“What do you want?”
Tala hummed. “The question you should ask is what you want,” she said.
Zosma lunged forward and pressed his dark face against the black bars detaining him. “What I want is to be out of this godscursed cell. I want to be free.” His wrists were unbound, his cell forged from the same crystals as the bands to contain his magic.
“And what would you do with your freedom?” Tala asked as she stepped subtly closer, hovering her hand over the bars.
Zosma’s eyes flickered to where the guards used to be, then back to Tala’s hands, where a subtle glow pulsed.
Tala nodded and stepped away. “Think on it. I’ll come back and ensure you’re treated better.
My sincere apologies for my House’s hospitality.
Perhaps some fresh air might do you good.
I hear the mountain air of Neser in Aries is particularly crisp, not that you’d get a chance to visit them. Perhaps in a future neighboring.”
With a dip of her chin, Tala exited the holding cells and traversed the dank halls, which eventually gave way to the stifled air of the palace proper.
Ascending through the deep levels of the palace, Tala passed by Electra, an Aster within her court who had been vying for a bond with Tarek ever since she rose to her prominent position.
“What are you doing down here?” Tala asked.
The Aster curtsied. “I’ve been visiting the Lion,” Electra replied.
“You won’t find him.”
“He escaped?” Electra gasped.
“Yes. I just finished with the guards who left their post.”
Electra’s face paled, and she smoothed her hands down the front of her blood-red gown. “Well, please let me know if you require my assistance in retrieving him, Adjacent.”
“Thank you for your concern, but your duties and placement in the Asterism are all I require of you.”
Pink stained Electra’s cheeks as she dipped her head, uttering an honorific farewell. Tala remained rooted in the hallway, watching Electra scurry back the way she came. She swiveled her head back to the passage leading toward the cells.
“Use your freedom well,” she murmured.
The bell over Tabitha’s Crystal Shop chimed just before the lock clicked into place. Tabitha looked up from her work repairing a crystal necklace for an Aster on the imbuing counter.
“Zosma!”
“I don’t have much time,” the Leo said.
“Did they let you out?” Tabitha asked, her green eyes roaming over his dingy appearance.
“Tala helped me escape.”
Tabitha closed her eyes.
That’s my lina. Fates, protect her.
“I’m going to Aela,” Zosma continued, sliding past her into the back area of her shop. “You’ll be alright here?” he called over his shoulder.
Tabitha dusted her hands in front of her. “Yes, yes fine. Take what you need. And get yourself cleaned up!”
She returned to working on the necklace. Zosma reappeared some time later, freshened up and redressed in a sentinel tactical suit.
“Where will you—no, don’t tell me. Go get our hope,” Tabitha said.
Flames danced in Zosma’s irises, then he slipped through the curtain to sneak out the back of the shop to go find Aela.
“Fates protect you too,” Tabitha whispered.