Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Tarek remained close to Aela, letting his Majori strategize the following day after Aela had completed Arieset’s Trial.
She concentrated all her effort on remaining passive as Tarek continuously stroked her arms and back, pressing kisses to her temple.
Her mind was no longer hazy. Aela wanted to bite off his fingers and shove them down his throat.
Instead, she clamped her teeth on her tongue.
There was no avoiding what was about to happen, and Aela silently prayed to the Fates that, when it came time, innocent lives would be spared from her actions.
Aela and Tarek led a large procession of the entire Asterism of Taurus, Tarek’s elite guard, and all the palace attendants, flowing out of the main palace doors and down the wide, curving avenues of the Taureon city.
They came to a peaceful garden of sorts, though it gravely lacked vegetation for a House of earth elementals.
The stone ground was intricately carved in swirling patterns of flora, which attempted to make up for the lack of greenery that was prevalent elsewhere in the city.
At the center of the spiral pattern was the Taurus constellation.
Within it, each Asterism star was accented with a smooth chip of selenite.
Tarek never left her side and kept a constant point of contact between them.
He usually made sure their hands were clasped, his arm was around her waist, or he held her against his chest as he stopped to speak to someone. Keeping his bonded, his asset, close.
“Easy,” Seba cautioned within her mind.
There is nothing easy about this, Seba. Aela snapped back. Does Eros know?
“He is prepared. Focus on what you must do.”
They were waiting for the rest of Tarek’s citizens to arrive in the stone garden to begin Tarek’s Ascension. Stars of all classes trickled in from various points of entry into the garden from their places of business and homes, and Aela felt a shift in the energy of the surrounding air.
Aela more than felt it. Tala’s eyes darted around as if trying to prepare for something she couldn’t see. Tarek’s entire body was tense, and their sentinel guards shifted on their feet and adjusted their armor and weapons unnecessarily.
The Taureon celestials filed in without comment and assumed their placements along the spiral design.
Every citizen of Avarice and House Taurus lined up within touching distance of each other.
Elnath came, and Tarek and Aela were ushered toward a temple Aela hadn’t noticed at the back of the garden.
common class and Aster stars began co-mingling as they crowded together until every star was placed.
Energy thrummed from the stone spiral as the Taureon’s linked.
Weak light leaked from the center of the connection where the Asters were, slowly expanding and pulsing faster with each arm of the spiral.
Aela’s dazed expression wasn’t all for show as she looked down at the sheer number of stars gathered beneath her and Tarek from where they stood on the temple steps. Thousands stood waiting. Tala joined them and addressed her constellation, her voice carrying over the vast ceremonial garden.
“Today marks a momentous occasion for our House. Today, our Primary Ascends!”
Tala went on about Tarek’s exemplary leadership and the strength he would continue to lead them with as Primary.
It was all Aela could do not to roll her eyes.
Tarek had found his workaround. The crystal bands allowed him to circumvent the sacred trust a Primary was to forge, to earn with their Line.
He’s not giving them a choice.
Raking her gaze across the gathered stars, it came as a shock that all the celestials—not only the native Taureons—wore crystal bands. Even the Asters. What had happened to the rebellion in her absence?
Fates, Tabitha!
Aela took an involuntary step forward, searching for the crystal shop owner.
As if sensing her distress, Tabitha stepped away from her place in the pattern and caught Aela’s eye.
The surrounding stars near Tabitha grumbled, and the energetic pulses paused.
Then another star stepped out. And another.
Tala’s speech faltered as more and more celestials forfeited their placements, halting the Ascension.
“How dare you withhold power from your Primary!” Tarek bellowed, spittle flying from his lips.
“Treason!” The call came from Electra, the fiery-haired Aster.
“Tarek, you tasked me with rooting out the rebellion. Well, here they are!”
Murmurs broke out amidst the crowd. To the separatists’ credit, they held their ground.
Electra walked away from her place marked with a chip of selenite. “It grieves me to share, but your Third in command has betrayed you, Primary.” As if just realizing Arche wasn’t present at the ceremony, Tarek’s nostrils flared as his eyes darted to his honor guard.
“Tala,” he hissed between clenched teeth.
“I...”
“At a loss for words, Adjacent? Perhaps you are working with the rebels as well.” Electra spat as she kept her stately pace. Then she lunged for Tabitha. She gripped the shopkeeper by the back of her neck and secured Tabitha’s hands behind her back.
Reflexively, Tala jerked forward.
Electra marched Tabitha to the foot of the temple steps. The Aster then kicked the backs of Tabitha’s knees, sending the shopkeeper slamming to the ground. Her head was roughly pulled back, exposing her throat.
“I present to you, their leader,” Electra said with a rabid smile.
Aela pressed her lips into a thin line while her mind raced to formulate a plan that would preserve as many lives as possible. She didn’t know what would befall the celestials if the Ascension link was broken. Could an Ascension be severed once it began? Sweat dampened her palms.
This isn’t right.
Tarek looked between his sister, Electra, and the separatist stars. “Thank you for making it clear where your loyalty lies. Execute her,” Tarek said flatly.
Electra snapped Tabitha’s neck.
Aela and Tala screamed.
Tabitha’s lifeless form crumpled to the ground, and a verdant flare of light sailed through the bright warded air of Avarice and into the eternal night of the realm. Electra turned away without another word, resuming her place in the spiral pattern.
Seba…
“There will be time to feel later,” Seba consoled.
Aela stared unblinking at her friend’s body. Tabitha was gone.
Sentinels rushed forward and wrestled the other rebel stars back to their places where they were prone, unable to resist the link any longer.
The energetic pulses picked up their pace, gaining ground as more bound celestials funneled their power.
It was almost time. Tarek went to grab Aela’s hand.
As his fingers brushed her skin, she snapped out of her frozen state and spun away from him.
Tarek looked down at her in surprise, which quickly morphed into determination.
Aela steeled her heart, barricading her sorrow.
“It is done, Aela,” he said. “You will protect my House as your own, whether you want to or not. I really don’t care at this point.
If I learn you had a part in the rebellion as well, I’ll consume your power and send your husk to Aries for your lover to mourn.
I don’t need you. I only need your power. ”
“You can throw words like ‘treason’ and ‘rebel’ around all you want, Tarek. But the sad truth of it is, you are the only real traitor to your Line.” Aela didn’t recognize her own voice or the coldness that iced over it. The otherness within her lifted its head.
Tarek went preternaturally still as his russet eyes bored into hers. Tala came to his side. Aela kept her eyes locked on Tarek and raised her hands to the torque around her neck, snapping it in half.
His eyes blew wide, and Tala staggered back. Aela then slid the crystal bands off her wrists, letting them fall to her feet. The resounding clang of them tumbling down the steps filled the air. Tarek roared, and Aela smiled.
It was The Games all over again. Tarek was fuming and glowed with light from his selenite-lined suit. His honor guard had formed a ring around him, but they didn’t concern her. Aela prowled closer. Her white dress melted away into her dark iridescent scaled armor.
“You see, the thing with crystals is, intention matters. And one must work with nature, not against it. You failed Tarek. You thought you could control them?” Aela said with a sweep of her hand toward the cowering stars linked for his Ascension.
The pulses of energy quickened and reached the temple steps.
“You may have taken advantage of their power for a time, but it has made you weak.”
Tarek snarled, summoning vines to wrap around Aela’s ankles, but she simply stepped through them; their hold was too fragile to contain her.
“You grew dependent on them as a power source,” Aela continued over the curses he spewed at her. “Replicated crystals until even nature’s power source became poisoned.”
Tarek hurled a beam of starlight for her. Aela caught the crackling rays in her hand and compressed them, smothering his magic. No one in the realm could match her.
Except maybe Eros.
Aela tsked under her breath as her thoughts immediately jumped to the Primary of Aries. Seba chuckled in her mind. Resuming her slow advance on Tarek, Aela said the words that would damn him for the rest of his existence, however short it would be.
“You took too much. And now, your greed has destroyed you.”
A mania gripped Tarek, and he threw his head back and laughed. “Take your places,” Tarek ordered his elite guard. As one, they dissipated and joined the other celestials, slipping on crystal bands and took their placements in the spiral pattern.
A hum vibrated in the air—distracting her—as the linked energy pulsed even faster, racing up the steps of the temple.
In a burst of speed Aela hadn’t prepared for, Tarek gripped Tala by her throat and all but carried her deeper into the temple. Aela shot after him.
When she emerged into the temple, Tala was on her knees outside a ring of selenite with silent tears streaming down her face.
Tarek stood in the center of the floor. His expression was smug, and Aela heard the collective cry of the Taureons as their power was yanked from their cores.
Pure energy thrummed from the ground at Tarek’s feet, lighting the selenite in a blaze of white as magic was taken, not given. Tarek’s eyes rolled back into his head.
“Fates! Seba!” Aela said in a harsh whisper. She hadn’t planned on Tarek getting this far. She had only come for him—she didn’t want anyone else to be harmed.
Oh, Tabitha.
Aela’s eyes burned.
“What is it you want to do, Timora?”
Aela spun around to find Eros leaning against a wall of the temple where the shadows were thickest.
“How did you get here?”
“You called. Now,” he said, his voice shifting to his telltale Primary tone. “What do you want to do?”
“I want to stop this! He can’t force their power out of them; that’s not what balance requires! That’s not what the realm needs.”
Eros stepped closer, peering down into her watery eyes. “Why do you care, Aela?” he said as he circled her. “They’re not your House. You owe them nothing. Why would you intervene? Why fight for them?”
“Because someone needs to. They cannot protect themselves! He gave them no choice in this!”
Eros stopped behind her, and Aela’s breath flew out of her lungs at his proximity.
“That’s not good enough. Who are you to challenge the way a Primary runs their House?”
“And when the Primary is flawed?”
“Does that make you a Goddess? Do you hold yourself above Primaries?” Eros asked and resumed his circling.
“It seems to me that the Gods haven’t done a good enough job taking care of their realm, so why not me?”
Eros went still.
“You think you can do better than the Gods?”
“Why not? I seem to be the only one who gives a damn in all twelve hells about the fate of our existence!”
Eros lunged for her and wrapped a hand around her throat. “You misunderstand me,” he breathed over her face. “I am not challenging you. I am begging you.”
A whimper from Tala broke through the charged moment. Eros held onto Aela’s throat a moment longer before jerking his chin toward Tarek, who had fallen to his knees.
“I will help them, Timora. You take what you need.”
Aela rolled her shoulders back and stalked toward Tarek.
His features were cracked in pain now, her lips curled.
Grim satisfaction lined her insides that he was subjected to the same twisted pain he had mercilessly inflicted on those he was created to protect.
Aela slammed her boot into his chest, breaking his connection to his Line.
Tala’s gasp of relief behind her only spurred her into further action.
Aela leapt onto Tarek and pummeled him with her fists.
She didn’t care that he couldn’t fight back as she straddled his waist, landing blow after blow.
He didn’t deserve an honorable end. Aela screamed as she released her new gift.
Fire tore from her hands that were wrapped around his throat, and she could feel her lightning coiling tighter.
Thunder cracked outside the temple, and cries from the Taureons sounded but Aela wasn’t done.
She stood from his bloody form and shredded more of his flesh with a whip of lightning that she cracked and cleaved over her head.
She could see it now. His fracturing. His weakened power was just beneath the surface of his once beautiful ebony skin.
Molten cracks appeared as his starlight sought the haven of the night sky, but he had lost the honor of looking down on his House for eternity.
She would ensure he bypassed the After too.
Aela calmly stepped over his twitching legs and crouched down beside him.
“You have failed, Tarek. There is nothing waiting for you. I want your last thoughts to be that you could have had it all. You had potential. And that might be your worst crime of all. You knew the right way to honor and protect your House, yet you chose to exploit them anyway. And for that, I will burn you without name.”