Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Aela embraced the following day with renewed vigor.
She felt more settled after spending time beneath her father’s star.
Leaving the saltbox behind in her room along with whatever had transpired between her and Eros, Aela went to meet him for breakfast. As she made her way to the dining hall, she marveled at the ease with which she hovered an orb of water over her palm. She wasn’t blocked.
And neither should Aries be.
When she found the Gods, all the Zodiac Houses needed to be ready.
What would happen if Eros’ unholy war went awry?
Though Eros hadn’t refused her offer to help with the crystal supplies for Neser, he hadn’t given his blessing either, something she intended to convince him of before his next meeting with his advisors.
“Crystal supplies won’t stop the curse from pulling Aries or other constellations into my prison,” he said when she brought up helping the Arieans as they plated their food.
They hadn’t discussed the gift he had left for her, though his golden eyes watched as her fingers dusted salt onto her eggs from the communal container on the banquet table.
The Aries castle had private dining rooms like the Avarice palace, yet all the meals Aela had while in Neser had been in her rooms with Zosma or in the large public dining hall.
Aela and Eros were seated at the far end of a long table upon bench seating that spanned the table’s length.
Aela took in the vaulted room. She was a bit surprised that the Primary of Aries dined so casually, where any sentinel or attendant could approach him.
She supposed they didn’t know he was The Darkness, which made him a bit less intimidating.
Still, the celestials she witnessed in Neser didn’t cower like she expected them to after hearing about the infamous restructuring Eros did early in his reign.
While the castle held the markings of strife born from greed, the dining hall was kept as a central gathering place.
Braziers were scattered throughout the room and held glowing coals, fighting off the chill.
Bloodstone veins in the harsh stone walls of the dining hall vanished into the shadows of the vaulted ceiling where eternal flames burned from dangling raw ruby chandeliers.
Aela fixed her sight on Eros who was eating while simultaneously glancing at a particle screen that hovered over his selenite shard.
“Well, maybe my other magic could—” Aela offered, bringing back her task of convincing him to let her help.
“You have enough to do. Aries will be fine. Nature’s balance, right?”
“But what if I am the balance?” Aela hadn’t fully intended to speak her thought aloud.
An unreadable expression painted his face as he swept his eyes over her.
He didn’t reply, only finished his food, then took his leave, claiming he had House business to attend to.
Alone with her thoughts, Aela finished her simple meal of eggs and a flecked grain spiced to perfection—a delicacy with the shortage of farmable land in the post-war realm.
Another cost of the celestial’s greed. The Zodiac Houses couldn’t go on living as they were.
Crystalline technology only got them so far.
Aela gathered her plate and took it where she saw Eros deposit his by a small open window looking into what she presumed was the main castle kitchen.
She nodded to Bharani, whom she passed on her way back to her room.
She was about to flicker to her asteroid to continue her crystal experiments for Aries.
Instead, she caught sight of the book about Scorpan lying on the chaise beneath her window.
“What if it’s not a bond between the Gods… but to the Gods?” Aela muttered, reaching for the book and turning it over in her hands. Her other magic swirled in her gut. She tucked the book under her arm.
Aela made her way to the main courtyard where the Arieans conducted most of their training. Zosma caught up with her just as she spotted the celestial she was looking for. Mes had his feet propped on a crude wooden table beneath an archway along the perimeter of the courtyard.
“Am I interrupting?” Aela asked as she approached him.
Zosma twirled his crystalline spear he carried whenever they were outside her rooms and rested the long shaft atop his shoulders.
“No, not at all. What can I do for you?” the joint-Adjacent asked.
“I remember you mentioned something about a temple in Neser. How does one gain entrance?”
Mes stared at her, his copper eyes wide, then cawed a laugh. “You want to go to the temple…”
“Yes. I have questions for the priestess,” she said, flicking her braid over her shoulder, then used a swirl of small magic, returning her book to her room.
Mes looked between Aela and Zosma, noting their serious expressions. He ran a hand through his fiery hair, which had grown out a bit since she had first met him and cleared his throat.
“Oh, well, of course. Any are welcome to visit. It’s not like the Trial of the Gods or anything, but the priestess is… well, I suppose you’ll find out, won’t you?”
The Ariean proceeded to give her simple directions to the temple, and she and Zosma spent the better part of the late morning heading into the wasted mountains of Neser. It was strange to imagine that a glowing city like Theora or bustling plazas like in Avarice had ever been present there.
They arrived at the temple, the manufactured light across the warded sky having warmed into midday.
Crumbling stone steps were overgrown with wild vines that sprouted inch-long thorns.
Half of the gabbled roof was falling in, and eternal flames burned in shallow brass bowls between the decrepit entrance of the temple.
Aela shared a look with Zosma, and he shrugged.
“Priestess?” Aela called out. “I would like to speak with you.”
When no one answered, Aela made her way up the steps, avoiding the thorns on the vines that wound up the supporting columns and through the first line of pillars, deeper into the structure. Broken bits of crystal, dried up vines, and dust littered the squalor space.
A lone priestess was on her knees, her robed head uplifted, combing the sky with her milky eyes through a wide fissure in the ceiling.
“Priestess?” Aela inquired.
The priestess hissed as she spun around on her knees toward Aela.
Most of her face was covered by her dirt-stained robe, the original color lost under years of grime.
Dirt caked under her sharp fingernails that scratched into the stone flooring.
The priestess squatted on her haunches and swiveled her head once, twice.
“Another…” Her voice held an otherworldly edge to it, which made the fine hairs on Aela’s nape stand on end. She bared her black teeth and darted her tongue out, tasting the air.
“What other?” Aela demanded.
The priestess only continued to swivel her head in an eerie manner.
“I’m here to speak with you about the Gods.”
The priestess lurched, caving in on herself before shooting her arms out to either side as her next words possessed her. “The Gods will return in the Age of Bedlam!” she shrieked, skittering back on all fours.
“And some called me a witch,” Aela muttered, raising her hands slowly, showing that she wasn’t there to harm the poor creature the priestess had become. “I’m not here to hurt you—”
An ear-splitting wail sliced at Aela’s ears as the priestess clawed at her own face.
“Fates—”
Zosma rushed into the temple, his crystalline spear trained on the threat. Before Aela or Zosma could move to help her, the priestess’ nails carved into her own neck, which oozed with thick blood.
Aela’s stomach lurched.
She darted out of the temple. As she looked over her shoulder, she saw a weak flare of light escape through the temple ceiling, slipping through the wards and onward into the realm. The eternal flames of Aries went cold.
Instead of relying on her magic to flicker them back to the fortress, Aela and Zosma silently used the trek back to the castle to settle themselves over what they had seen.
When they arrived, Zosma went straight for the dining room.
Mes observed her walking toward the staircase that would take her to her quarters.
Her first task was taking a bath after a day spent traversing the wasted starcity and the disturbing encounter with the priestess.
“Aela,” he called. She turned to look at him, and Mes winced. “Gods, you look like you could use a strong drink.”
“You would know. What in all the hells happened to her? A little warning would have been nice,” Aela said.
“She’s an odd bird.”
“She’s a dead bird.”
“Did you…”
“No, I only asked to speak with her, and she started clawing at her throat, wailing about the Age of Bedlam.”
“Ah, well, Gods rest her soul. I wouldn’t trouble yourself with any of that. Arieset fanatic nonsense,” Mes said.
With a lingering look toward the stairwell and the bath that called to her, she followed him into the communal dining area and sat on a long bench.
Bharani was already seated on the opposite side of the table and slid a tankard toward her.
Frothy brown liquid sloshed over the side and narrowly missed Aela’s boots.
“Whoops, sorry!” Bharani slurred.
“By the Unrested, sister. I leave you alone for a moment, and you’re already how many deeper than me?”
“Isn’t it a bit early?” Aela asked with a tilt of her lips.
“Nope,” Bharani chirped.
Aela shook her head. “You enjoy.”
Mes shrugged as he lifted Aela’s tankard to his lips, chugging the drink. Bharani was beside herself with drunken glee, chanting to her brother. “Chug, chug, chug!”
The Aries Heirs were rosy cheeked when Aela congratulated them on their advancement to joint-Adjacent. She asked inconspicuous questions about their work with Eros and what was left of their father’s Asterism. Harmless questions to help firm Eros in her mind as an ally she could rely on.