Chapter 16
Aurora
Days passed. Days of white-hot rage, nights of bitter tears, and long afternoons where it was all Aurora could do not to scream and tear out her hair. But the world continued on, and so must she. Drakon still lived and she had been chosen to slay him.
Today was the day Aurora put into action the next step of her plans.
Court was to be held for the first time since the attack on the kennels, and she would not be denied a chance to put Theron in his place while establishing her own.
Because if the past few days had made anything clear, it was that if she wanted Drakon’s head she was going to need allies to do it.
The ones she’d been counting on were being held as prisoners.
Hyllus was chasing the beast, but there was no telling if he would be able to destroy Drakon alone.
They needed powerful friends in Aureum, and Aurora had already made a mess of things with Lady Ino.
That left only one—extremely distasteful—person left. Orithyia.
And so Aurora woke early and penned a short missive to her despicable husband, a lie in order to be allowed to leave her room openly.
I wish to go to the temple district with you.
Princess Aurora of Viridis
Aurora rolled up the missive and gave it to one of her many dozens of jailor-attendants.
Oh, she’d managed to get out a few times, usually in the night when she woke from nightmares of being crushed in the jaws of a shadow cat. But in those times, she’d had to wait until someone opened the door to change shifts before activating her magic and slipping out.
Wandering the halls as the palace slept had been…
peaceful. At least it had been for the few minutes or so she could now speed up her own time, before her magic dried up and she was forced to slip back into her room, weak and drained.
The beast’s attack seemed to have unlocked something within her, giving her access to a deeper well than she’d known she’d possessed.
In the coming weeks, she would need to focus on holding on to her magic for longer and stretching it out farther from her. She’d managed to freeze a few birds perched on the roofs of buildings in the distance from her balcony, but given how high Drakon could soar, she had some ways to go.
“Deliver this to His Majesty.”
She rarely bothered saying please and thank you to the Aureans these days. After all, royalty didn’t thank people for doing what they were supposed to be doing, at least they didn’t if they were to get any respect.
Soon enough, another jailor returned with news.
“His Majesty says that if you wish to join him, then you must make haste.”
Aurora, already dressed for court, merely hopped off her chair and strode through her rooms, the walls lined with bowing attendants. One day she would know blessed, peaceful privacy, but today was not that day.
Finally, finally, the door to her gilded cage was opened.
Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. The one problem with her magic was that while she sped herself up or slowed others down, she couldn’t manipulate objects out of their current place.
Doors had proved to be the most frustrating obstacles.
But today those doors would be open to her.
Theron joined her a moment later, his eyes softening as he took in her Aurean attire. Aurora barely suppressed the urge to spit on him. It must have shown on her face, because he seemed to think better of his momentary lapse.
“All this to visit the temple district?” he asked lightly, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. If only her skin were coated in poison.
“I’ll also be attending court later today.” She snatched her hand back.
“Will you?”
Did he think to stop her?
“Of course. No doubt you’ll receive questions about my soldiers. I intend to be present to answer them. Shall we? Daylight is wasting,” Aurora said, sweeping by him.
Theron quickly caught up to her.
“Aurora, the throne room is no place for you to enact petty grievances against me. Not now. Not ever. I warned you I would bar you from there and I will keep that promise.”
Of course he would. That one at least.
“Just as you’ve kept the rest?” she asked acidly. “But from what I understand, the throne room is where everyone in Aureum comes to air their petty grievances. Why am I the only one denied? It would be a shame if I were forced to write to my adoptive mother about this matter, Your Majesty.”
“Aurora, you—”
It was time he stopped calling her by her given name.
It was time he and everyone else stopped treating her like a nobody and started treating her like the princess she’d sold her pride to become.
If she had to be held to the standards of royalty—never having a moment alone, submitting herself to politics—then she would damn well force everyone to treat her as royalty.
“Your Highness. You may address me as Your Highness. And I will not be denied the chance to defend the Viridians who followed my orders.”
No doubt he wanted to enact vicious punishment on Leukos and the other soldiers who had bled for her. She owed it to them to protect them with everything she had. After all, they were the only ones who had put their lives on the line to do what was right.
“Lord Leukos is more than capable of attending court in your stead and defending his actions and those of his soldiers. By rights, I should have executed him immediately for putting you in such danger. He is allowed to plead his case only to forestall war with Viridis.”
Then it was all the more important that she speak up in his defence.
“Lord Leukos is not a princess of Viridis, merely the attendant of one. Those who follow me are my responsibility, Your Majesty.”
Theron sighed.
“Leave us for a moment,” he commanded their entourages. When they were alone, he tipped up her chin so that he could look into her eyes. “Aurora, you—”
“Your. Highness,” she bit out, stepping out of his reach.
He frowned. That seemed to irk him. Good.
“Do you really think I’ll allow you entrance to my throne room when you so obviously have your daggers set against me?”
She smiled, feeling a jolt of superiority. In this one instance, she was powerful enough to defy him.
“How do you propose to stop me?” She called on her magic to speed up her own time.
Then she took off running, bolting through the palace halls until she made it to the outer courtyard where her palanquin was ready for her.
She released her magic in stages, the people around her moving as if walking through sticky sap, sounds that stretched low and slow now snapping back into recognizable words.
When her magic finally brought her back into the regular rhythm and pulse of the natural world, she was staring at the attendants milling about her palanquin.
She raised her brow.
“Well? Are you waiting for an invitation?”
“Your Highness, forgive us. Please, allow us to help you..”
As they assisted her into the palanquin, she could see their brows rising in confusion. Her regular army of jailors was nowhere to be seen. Better not let them ask any questions. An impatient monarch was one to be obeyed first and questioned never.
“His Majesty will be detained but has assured me he will join us in the temple district shortly. If you would?”
That seemed to prevent questions well enough.
The doors of the palace opened and the attendants carried her through the streets to the temple district.
A large triangular plaza opened up with a fountain in the centre.
Each of the three temples and their buildings formed a side of the triangle, enclosing the large plaza between them.
As the attendants walked towards the red temple nearest this entrance to the plaza, Aurora corrected them.
“To the temple of Knowledge.”
“But His Majesty—”
“Has already given his permission for me to be here. Do you intend to keep me from visiting a temple? Or speaking to a high priestess? If that is so, perhaps we should go to Justice’s temple so that Her priestesses can remind you of the punishment for denying a person access to the Triad and Their clerics. ”
That shut them up. In moments, she was led to the temple of Knowledge, where Aurora did her best not to run into the obsidian sanctuary.
She put a hand on one of the sparkling black columns and breathed a sigh of relief.
Aurora had forgotten just how much she’d missed being in the temple of her patron goddess.
If she closed her eyes, she could imagine she was back in her own time, for little seemed to have changed over the many millennia.
Academics argued over pet theories, initiates taught children their letters, acolytes rushed to and fro carrying out the orders of their superiors, the scent of paper and oil lamps hanging heavy in the air.
But that reverie would have to wait. The sound of a cane clicking on the stone floor forced Aurora to open her eyes to her present dilemma.
“Your Highness?” Orithyia asked, raising a white brow.
“Your Holiness.” Aurora nodded. Anything more and she would be acknowledging the woman’s superiority.
Orithyia laughed.
“It seems you’ve learned some of the ways of your new station. But I don’t suppose you’ve come to exchange pleasantries. Come, we can discuss matters elsewhere.”
Aurora followed the high priestess up the floors and into a cramped room with but a small desk and a few chairs. Her innards threatened to turn to jelly. Every time she’d been in an enclosed space with this woman, she’d been maimed.
“What brings you here, Your Highness?”
Aurora took a steadying breath. Now was not the time to cower.
“You will assist me in court today. The king wants to lock me away and punish the Viridians, which will hamper the search for Drakon. Come to court and help me force him to free them.”
“Oh, does the new princess of Viridis not ask for what she needs nicely anymore?”
“Royalty doesn’t ask, they command.”