Chapter 70
Vaeron dispatched the males guarding the High Priestess and Maariya for me, Commanding them to go to the throne room and aid him in controlling the nobles. A shaky breath fled my lips as my fingers closed around the handle.
They have every reason to fear me. I have to show them why they shouldn’t.
I couldn’t shake the vision I’d had of us gathered around a table like we were friends. Had the Fates offered Kiira a similar glimpse?
The door swung inward on silent hinges. The barest bit of moonlight spilled through a slit of a window at the top of the wall.
The females were on their feet in an instant. I flicked bubble lights into the air, illuminating the space. “I won’t hurt you,” I said in the common tongue.
Both held themselves in tense postures as I approached. I raised my hands—so, so slow—and reached for the High Priestess’s gag. Her nostrils flared, but she didn’t flinch as I tore it away.
I did the same for Maariya, flinging both onto a white sheet in the distance as further proof I meant no harm.
I wished I had a key to their shackles. But until I knew they wouldn’t run, I couldn’t risk either having access to their magic.
“I’m Sylaira.” Because we hadn’t had a proper introduction after Vaeron and Maelsar captured her.
“I know,” Kiira replied, her regard sweeping over me.
I resisted the urge to shift from foot to foot. “I’ve Seen you in so many visions. And I think we both want the same thing.”
The High Priestess’s head cocked to the side. “What would that be?”
“Before I was mated to the Issaraeth…” I trailed off, everything that had happened in the past year flashing behind my eyes. “I was Elessarum. A resistance group in our realm. We have always preached nonviolence.”
“And yet you have killed many,” Kiira replied, circling me like she was measuring my worth.
“Only one by my hand, and it haunts me to this very day,” I murmured, allowing her to take me in. Because I needed her to trust me—to work with us—to end this war.
“But your mate…”
“Is your cousin not the most feared killer in all of Keleti?” I shot back.
She came to a stop in front of me, a wide grin flashing her sharp canines. “He is. In our realm, he is also known for his temper.”
“Which is why I—we—need your help with him.”
“I’m listening.”
I blew out a long breath. “Earlier this night, Vaeron and I stripped Korona Iaoth of her crown. Koron Stadiel rode out to join the Angel army, and we expect him to fall in battle.”
Both Demons’ expressions remained impassive.
“Which means I am the Korona now.”
Still, they offered me nothing. But could I blame them? They were hostages in enemy territory.
“I suppressed my Sight for centuries because of the violent darkness that engulfed me whenever I fell into my power. When the virelthorn was stripped from me, I had a prophecy. In it, the Demons overran Sivy. Flames consumed the trees around us. And there was a stage set with a sacrifice.”
Kiira flinched, so quick I thought I’d imagined it. But her composure returned, smooth and serene. Maariya’s pitying glance at her friend gave away the truth.
“I think you’ve Seen this too,” I said to Kiira, hoping my guess was correct.
She swallowed. “I have. But what—or who—that was has never been clear to me, though I stood atop its expanse.”
I blinked. So the Fates had offered her a different perspective than the Goddess had given me. All the more evidence that we needed to be working together.
“I want to bring peace to our realms. For so long, the priestesses here have preached that Demons are little more than animals, intruders on our continent. And forgive me, High Priestess, but I believe that your faith promotes divisiveness too.”
Kiira’s eyes narrowed a fraction, the burgundy burning in the dark.
“From our power, we know that our deities exist. But what if…” I chewed the inside of my cheek, weighing my next words. “What if the Goddess and the Fates never wanted us to fight at all? What if it was our own biases, the threats to our safety, that drove our races apart in the first place?”
“Do you know who the first Seer was?” she questioned me.
I shook my head.
“She was the offspring of an Angel and Demon couple. The first ever, millennia ago. The records of her were hidden deep in our realm. As were the prophesied endings of the Age of War and the Age of Prophecy.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. How did we not know this among the Elessarum?
We’d built our framework of beliefs off the report of one male who’d gone deep into the mountains and convened with the Goddess.
None of his writings had spoken of a hybrid.
The scrolls uncovered from ancient temples since hadn’t contained this story either.
Or had they, and the monarchs obfuscated this truth to serve their dogmatic new religion?
I reeled myself back in. “So you know how this ends?” I gestured around us.
Maariya cleared her throat, drawing my attention. “For centuries, the High Priestess and I have pored over them. They are too vague to determine anything.”
“And my Sight does not work like yours,” Kiira explained. “Whenever I See something, it is certain and clear. I do not have visions as often as Angels.”
Determination flooded my veins. “It sounds like you need me as much as I need you.”
“Tell me this, Sylaira, Korona of the Angels,” Kiira said, my title rolling off her tongue in a way that sent a chill racing down my spine.
“What?”
“What price would you pay for peace?”
The question punched all air from my lungs. Because it was that very question I’d been asking myself since the Goddess placed Her hand on the back of my neck and forced me to See the end.
“Would you kill your mate for it? Would you kill someone else’s mate? Would you sacrifice your friends, your family? Because if you are unwilling to do whatever it takes, we have nothing further to discuss.”
Ice flooded my veins.
What does she think the sacrifice is? Would she even tell me if I pressed?
“I could ask the same question of you,” I replied. Because could I pay the price if it was Vaeron’s death? Or Lyiasthe’s? Or Maelsar’s? The bond gnashed its teeth behind my ribs, banging at the cage and begging me to let it free and protect us from the possibility.
I didn’t know if I could take my mate’s life—no, it would be impossible. But I hadn’t Seen that end for us.
“I would give my life.” She said it so simply, like it was the only natural conclusion one could come to.
I held her gaze, burgundy meeting ice. The two most blessed colors in both our realms. Powerful females who held influence over a Kral and a Koron.
“If my death is the price, I will pay it so long as that peace is the guaranteed outcome.”
Because if that was what it took to ensure it, if the Goddess and the Fates altered their paths for us, then I would walk willingly along it. Because someone had to sacrifice to bring us all back together.
Someone had to be the mirror that reflected the wrongs that needed to be fixed.
Someone had to be the bridge.
And someone had to be the storm to wash away all past wrongs beneath it.
I held out my hands to her, palms up. She rested her still-shackled ones in mine. “I swear to you, High Priestess, that we will heal this rupture between the Angels and Demons. When the Halálhívó reaches Sivy, do you swear that you will help us sway him?”
“I do.” Her words rang out with conviction.
Maariya came to stand next to her friend, then placed her hands over ours. Three females joined in oath, rather than two. “The males in our realm have too long held all the power. The Szélhámos, Assyria, freed us. Empowered us. And once you meet her, you will understand.”
A small smile tugged at my lips. “If she’s anything like in my visions, I’m certain we’ll be fast friends.”
Kiira and Maariya offered me answering grins and removed their hands, the silver tinkling as they dropped them back in front of them.
“I know the irony of asking for your trust while you remain in chains. But I do not have the key to free you. Once we’ve handled the nobles, I’ll return with Vaeron and we will remove your shackles and situate you in more comfortable accommodations. Until then, I beg for your patience.”
“We will not run,” Kiira promised, her eyes glittering. “And Sylaira? Koronas do not beg anyone.”
I dipped my head to her, allowing her to witness my grin. “Thank you for the reminder, High Priestess.”
“Kiira.”
“Kiira. I promise I’ll be back.” I retreated to the door, steeling my spine for the last piece of our coup.
Until Kiira stopped me with a prayer. “Korona Sylaira, may your thread hold strong. May your gift never fade. And may the Reaper’s eye pass over you.”