Chapter 30
Lorali
V eridian arrived as it always did: received in a riot of colors and hope—new lives beginning to blossom. She kissed the forehead of the first daughter of spring, a baby girl brought into the world with the rising sun. A sign of luck and prosperity for her life ahead. The bundle of fabric was quiet and alert, new eyes seeing for the first time. Lorali couldn’t help but smile at the parents—a fair woman that had labored within the temple since the previous dawn, accompanied by a tall man with muscles hewn from farm work. Though his hair was dark, she could see a glint of red in the scruff lining his jaw and the same bright blue eyes that matched their daughter with her shock of red hair.
“The audacity of babes to come out looking just like their father when their mother did all the work.” The woman chuckled, tired but smiling as she touched her wooden amulet, smoothed with age at the edges. “Ostara has returned to us this day. We know she walks among us with you as her mortal vessel. Blessed Veridian, High Cleric. Thank you.”
Lorali couldn’t help but smile, taking the woman’s offered hand and leaning down to press a kiss into her cleansed palm in blessing. “May everything you touch be blessed, may starlight guide your steps.”
Her face glowed as she received the blessing meant for new mothers who walked through life with freshly barren wombs and an armful of joy. To protect them in the lifetime to come. The woman and her husband bowed once more before heading off, eyes full of love for each other and their newborn baby girl.
Exhaustion swept over Lorali in waves. She had prayed until the candles burned to nothing but dripping wax and low flames, only to be replaced once more to guide the goddess back from the dark reaches of the night.
But when she had emerged from the depths of the temple, guilt made its home within her when the smiles and fervent requests for prayers and blessings came from the gathering people of the city. Her pale tresses and the sunburst halo crowning from her head invoked the goddess’ likeness. She was meant to be an inspiration of hope for the year to come, a reminder that even in the darkest night, there is light. A representation of Ostara among them .
Her throat tightened as she stood freezing in the crisp morning air, trying to savor the fresh scent of spring. She didn’t want to set foot outside. Wanted to turn back, run through its winding corridors to find Eldric. To do anything other than present the image of their beloved goddess before betraying the very temple that had anointed her.
Heinrich stepped to her side, hand touching her back lightly as he cleared his throat. Without a word, he gave her the strength she needed to step forward, as he always did. She was duty bound, and every step through the parting crowd and wave to the citizens of the city was hope given to them. She couldn't take that away from them.
She could hear it before anything else—the city was alive, dancing and singing with its celebrations and pennant banners adorning every corner, painted in different hues of blue and intricately decorated with the eight-pointed star of Ostara. Weaving through its people with city guards parting the way, she stepped into the open carriage that waited to parade her about the city. With every turn and twist of the stone streets, she felt that persistent tug in her chest, drawing her back to a cell deep within the catacombs beneath the city. That familiar pain, a strange comfort, reminding her she was not alone .
Waves of nervousness crashed over her like a storm brewing off shore. She glanced down at the gauze concealing the dark marks of her bond that might reveal themselves from beneath her long, flowing sleeves. Hidden like shame. An unspoken promise that she would come for him.
As the sun rose higher and Lorali had a moment to slip away, she pulled parchment and ink from her writing desk. The scent of ink filled the air as she dipped her pen, small and careful script effortlessly flowing across the parchment imbued with magic. She folded it three times before igniting it with a spark of her power. The letter went up in flames, the fire twisting and turning, resembling a fiery phoenix in flight. The words seared through the air as they traveled towards the recipient;
My dearest Saraina…