24. Rahzlyn #2
“I wouldn’t dream of such a thing.” I smiled sweetly at him. “After all, I need you alive, remember?”
“Would you two excuse us for a moment?” Raithe held my stare. “I need a word with this one.”
My revived frustration could hardly contain itself. Every second wasted here was another second closer to something happening to my brother. To my grandparents.
Felaf hesitated before departing, dipping her head again. Letti followed wordlessly, limping out the door. I didn’t have time to ponder her gait. As soon as the door clicked shut, I sprang to my feet. “I’ve fulfilled your request. I’m here now. You promised you’d help find…”
A hot burst of adrenaline rushed from my head to my toes, knocking me off balance. I should have learned my lesson from moments ago. As I prepared to meet the floor, a sturdy arm grasped me firmly upright. Grateful for the catch, I yelped at the contact.
“Sit down before you hurt yourself,” Raithe said, voice cool and detached. It reminded me of when I’d heard him speak for the first time at Serpentine. I scolded myself for liking his voice so much in that moment. It made him that much more annoying to me, and right now I needed his cooperation.
“I’m fine.”
His breath blew across my forehead. “You have no sense of self-preservation, do you?”
“Let. Go.”
His eyes cast behind me before doing as I asked.
I reeled backwards, falling back onto the chaise.
I plopped on my ass, the pain ricocheting throughout me.
Shoving my annoyance aside, I met Raithe’s barely-there satisfactory gleam with one of my own.
“I’m here now. You promised you’d help rescue my brother, remember? ”
“You should be more concerned about yourself right now, Rahzlyn. If that’s even your name?”
“I already told you my real name.” I winced, rising unsteadily. I was by no means short. Still, he seemed to tower over me.
“And your real Zodiac sign?”
His words were like a hammer through a glass window, followed by a shattering silence. “What kind of question is that?”
“The kind an apostate would evade.”
The door creaked open, snuffing my retort.
A middle-aged man with dark skin and a serene face entered.
His head was hairless and smooth. Unlike Raithe and Felaf, his eyes contained a milkiness that faded the vibrancy of their gold color.
Clothed in elegant black robes embellished with gold threads, coupled with the languid grace of his steps, I could only surmise that this was the Scorpion seer.
“I hope you are treating our new guest with respect, Raithe,” the seer said as he neared us. He moved through the room with confident caution.
Raithe retreated a single step, allowing me to finally breathe again.
“Your… Grace,” I said awkwardly. I didn’t know how to conduct myself around someone so revered.
“Please, call me Gregorios.” He raised his hands, seeking mine. “It is an honor to meet you, Roselyn Ariti.”
“Likewise. Now that I’m here, I—”
“Have questions, certainly. Though I will not be able to answer most of them, I am afraid.”
“But I—you summoned me here,” I stammered.
“From a message sent in a dream.” The seer searched his robe for something. Once found, he raised a drawing of a dark, shaded flower. A rose.
A black rose.
Hopeful desperation tore through me. “I’m not her! This is all a misunderstanding. I was just a backup.”
“You are the one who has undergone the Choosing, Roselyn.” The seer leveled his blind gaze in my direction. “This is no mistake.”
The Choosing.
I stared in horror at what had been done to my body. While mine were fresh, the markings resembled the faded ones on Raithe, Felaf, and Gregorio’s exposed skin.
“This is all a ruse,” I breathed. “A trick. It… it must be.”
“I assure you it is not.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “This can’t be happening. I’m not—there are no such things as Geminian queens. Gemini’s power is masculine in nature, and I’m… me.”
“You are correct, there are no Geminian queens,” Gregorios said. “It seems you have been deceived about your birth.”
I reared back. “What are you talking about?”
“Do you have a scar anywhere on your body? A mark that might indicate a travel stone was surgically placed inside you to keep you safe within the borders of Gemini?”
Instinctively, my hand went to the top knobs of my spine. Basil and I had matching birthmarks there. “No.”
“Raithe, there should be a hand-held mirror in one of the drawers of my desk. Fetch it, please.”
Disbelief eviscerated my ability to speak while Raithe retrieved the item. I refused to take it when he handed it to me.
“Look at yourself,” Gregorios insisted. “Your body has been claimed by the hands of Scorpio as her divine heir to this queendom. One day soon you will also bear the primal glyph of water on your forehead, should you successfully wield hudro in a ceremonial trial. For you, Roselyn, are the next Chosen princess and future queen of Scorpio.”
My fingers explored the small indentation on the back of my neck. I never questioned how odd it was that Basil and I looked nothing alike yet had perfectly matching scars in the same location. “There is a mark on my spine,” I murmured in a daze. “All this time… is it truly possible?”