Chapter Sixty-Six
ELARA
‘All right, all right, that’s enough,’ Isra teased, trying to pull herself out of Elara’s hold.
‘No,’ Elara said into her neck. ‘Five more minutes.’
Merissa gave a teary chuckle from her right, also embracing Isra tightly.
When she reluctantly pulled away, the usually cool and collected Isra’s eyes were sparkling a little too brightly, and she sniffled before turning and plonking herself at the kitchen table.
‘So,’ she said, ‘much happen without me?’
Elara gave a weak laugh as she turned to the kitchen counter and started cutting the thyme that Merissa had laid out next to her.
‘Oh, not much.’
Isra shook her head, taking a long, stiff drink of the firewhisky they’d found in the cupboards.
Elara let the rhythmic sound of Merissa dicing the onions beside her soothe her worries. ‘Who do you think lives here?’ she asked. The food in the lighthouse stores was fresh, no dust collecting on the kitchen shelves. The place looked lived in.
‘And where do you think they’ve gone?’ Merissa added.
Isra took another drink. ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if it was an innocent old lighthouse-keeper who Eli compelled to leave.’
Elara snorted. ‘Yes, that sounds about right.’
She shrugged off the unease and continued to dice. Whoever lived here, if they even returned, certainly couldn’t cause more damage than Scorpius had.
‘I suppose if Eli deems it safe, that’s all that matters,’ Merissa said.
Elara nodded, flashing her a quick smile.
‘Speaking of—why in the skies are you here with him?’ she asked.
Isra blew out a breath. ‘Much has happened in the time we’ve been apart.
My magick…’ She shook her head. ‘After Elara woke as the Moon, my vision started to shutter. So often crystal clear, these images and glimpses of the future have become shrouded in shadow. I used to feel like I could walk along the path of fate quite well. But now, when I try to scry, or read people, it’s like looking through a forest blanketed in black fog. ’
Fear prickled in Elara’s stomach as she set the herbs and onions to fry. ‘That sounds like the Dark, all right.’
Isra nodded. ‘I thought so too. You see, I hadn’t heard a damned thing about it, especially since I’d been separated from you all. The last few weeks I’ve just been trying to assuage that fucking Helion council.’
‘No good?’ Merissa asked in sympathy as she began to fillet some beef they’d found hanging to cure in the stores.
Isra scoffed. ‘No-good pompous arseholes. The lords and ladies of Helios are so far up their own arses it’s a wonder they aren’t familiar with the Dark themselves.
’ She began to inspect her nails. ‘After Elara’s shadows attacked their king, you can imagine what they began to think of the Asterian alliance.
Any merger between the two kingdoms, or even peaceful co-existence, was scrapped.
The sooner Enzo can get back to Helios, the better.
I’m sure once he reassures them, shows that you’ve been cured, their feelings will change. ’
Elara nodded. ‘And have you heard anything from Asteria?’
Isra shook her head. ‘Nothing since the council stopped returning our letters. Though I’ve heard of an illness sweeping shadowmancers across the kingdom.’
‘A madness.’ Elara nodded. ‘It’s tied to the Dark; I know it.’
Isra sighed. ‘Which brings me to my point. Two nights ago, I had a dream. My vision had been blind for so long, my magick so dormant, that at first I was relieved to be seeing again. Until, that is, I saw what messages were being delivered to me.’
Merissa pushed the fillets of beef into the pan and glugged in some red wine as they seared.
Elara had turned, watching Isra silently as she let her continue.
‘I saw a graveyard beneath a sky of twilight, on the day when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. I saw Stars, fallen Stars, in a temple of obsidian, opening a way back for a darkness—a darkness so vast, so black, that when I felt it touch me it was…it was like nothing I had ever felt before. There was no light to it, no depth. It was not fear, or death—it was the pure absence of anything.’ A harrowed look had taken over Isra’s face, and she swallowed another dram of firewhisky.
‘It was happening in Asteria; I know it. Your kingdom, El. Danger is coming.’
Fear crept up Elara’s throat, and she tried focus on her cooking to overcome her terror at Isra’s words, but she couldn’t.
‘I don’t make bargains with gods—you know that well. But I had no choice other than to call upon Eli when I woke and tell him what I’d seen. It was then that he felt your call,’ Isra finished. ‘And beware, Elara. For you still owe him payment for his favour.’
Elara had forgotten, and the trepidation wasn’t a welcome emotion.
‘Did you see Ariete there—in the temple?’ Elara asked, pushing the feeling aside.
She brushed a thumb against her scar. It hadn’t escaped her notice that she hadn’t seen or heard of the god she was intent on killing since she’d left Castor.
Isra shook her head. ‘I couldn’t make out the Stars who were there in the temple. They were all hooded.’
Merissa bit her lip. ‘Well, enough of this talk for now. To Asteria we’ll go, and we’ll put a stop to anything the Stars try. For tonight, please let’s just enjoy the one moment of peace we have?’
She looked imploringly between the women. Elara forced a smile on to her face, and Isra pushed the bottle aside, her face clearing.
‘Right you are.’ She clapped. ‘Go on, then, get on with your cooking. I’m starving.’
Elara relaxed into the menial tasks in front of her as she helped Merissa finish preparing dinner for them all, while Isra ordered them about from the seat she reclined in.
‘You know, you could help instead of critiquing,’ Merissa said, turning to the peppers next.
‘But judging you both is far more fun,’ Isra said, clapping her hands as she stomped a foot, singing cajoling sea shanties. ‘Now heave-ho, and a bottle of rum!’
Elara chuckled as she slid rosemary into a pan of sizzling oil to fry some potatoes. The quiet comfort of having her friends close wrapped around her heart.
‘Do you think if Adrian is awake, the other Celestes are too?’ Merissa asked as she pushed the vegetables into the same pan.
Isra nodded. ‘I think so. They’re probably searching for you and Enzo right now.’
‘But how do we find them?’ Elara asked. ‘Adrian was a complete fluke.’
‘Adrian was drawn to you because the tide is tied to the moon. Maybe the Earth will reach out to the Light?’
‘And the Air?’ Elara asked. She thought of the promise she’d made to Eli.
Isra shrugged. ‘Well, what do you all have in common?’
‘Great looks?’ Elara joked.
Merissa laughed.
Elara nodded. ‘I think I know what it is,’ she continued, sobering.
She was considering what else she, Enzo and Adrian had in common, and it struck her all at once.
‘It’s the Three. We all know how rare that is.
But maybe it’s just another name, a mortal way to comprehend the power we all possess, trapped in these bodies. ’
Merissa nodded, excitement thrilling through her. ‘That would make sense. You all possess insurmountable power. So all we need is to find two others who possess the Three, then?’
Isra nodded. ‘And in the elemental kingdoms. Let’s see—we have Elara from the Kingdom of Darkness, Enzo from the Kingdom of Light. Adrian is from Neptuna, so that also makes sense.’
‘Verde,’ Elara said. ‘That’s the Kingdom of Earth.’
Merissa nodded enthusiastically. ‘And Sveta, the Kingdom of Air.’
‘And Ice,’ Isra said, tinkling her fingers until a little flurry of snowflakes settled on the table.
‘Is that the plan, then?’ Merissa asked. ‘To find them before defeating Ariete?’
Elara nodded as she tasted the sauce that the beef was cooking in.
‘It was always the plan. It just got…sidetracked a little. Enzo and I tried to defeat Ariete alone. We didn’t succeed.
If we find the others, surely we’ll be able to bring about the downfall of the Stars once and for all?
And this Dark, whoever it is—we’ll vanquish them before they ever fully step into this world.
’ She didn’t know if she was saying it to reassure herself or Merissa and Isra.
‘We’re meant to be together, all of us. I believe that.
Even if the others want to continue living as mortals do, even when the Stars are no longer a threat to us, I can’t just exist knowing they’re out there.
And after that…we can live a simple, peaceful life. ’
‘El,’ Isra said gently, ‘do you really think that will ever happen now? You living a normal, peaceful life?’
Elara’s happiness stuttered out.
‘I only mean,’ Isra said hastily, ‘do you think you’d be content? Knowing who you are now? With what you rule over? Can you really carry on pretending?’
Elara didn’t know what to say. The vision she’d seen in Ariete’s dreams bubbled to the surface once more. It was what she’d begged for. What she’d betrayed everyone for. She nodded. ‘I do,’ she said quietly. ‘I just want a life with Enzo.’
Isra gave a consoling smile before starting up her terrible singing again.
Elara turned back to her cooking, trying to push away Isra’s words.
Merissa hummed soothingly, the two of them working in tandem.
She poured a little stock into the sauce they were creating before seasoning some rice and pushing it into the oven as Merissa took out some honey cakes she’d been baking.
Elara let the sounds of Merissa and Isra bickering about what colour the icing should be wash over her and decided to savour the moment. The future could wait, as could the past. Right now, she was alive, as were Enzo, Merissa, Isra, Leo and Adrian. Even Eli she felt gratitude for.
Smells that reminded her of home and Sofia wafted over her—thyme from the stew she was simmering, rosemary sizzling in oil, lavender and honey from the cakes that Merissa was currently frosting.
She smiled to herself, hearing the deep timbre of Enzo’s voice above as he laughed at something Leo was murmuring to him.
Her family.
She hadn’t allowed herself to dare hope that the day would come when all of them were united and safe under one roof, performing mundane tasks that anyone else might have taken for granted.
Without thinking, Elara yanked the women to her, hugging them tightly.
Merissa and Isra held her in return, Elara breathing in their intertwining scents—Isra’s smoky incense and Merissa’s sweet rose.
Finally, she pulled away, her two friends looking a little bewildered.
‘What was that for?’ Isra asked.
‘Nothing. It’s just, you both make me believe that soul ties aren’t limited to lovers.’