Chapter Seven
Auraelia
“Lady Aesira!” Auraelia beamed at the woman standing in the throne room, deep in conversation with Ser Aeron.
Aesira turned and beamed right back, her smile bright as the moon against her dark skin. “Your Majesty,” she said as she bowed her head.
As the two women embraced, a little more tension ebbed away from Auraelia. Aesira had been one of her mother’s oldest and dearest friends and was like a second mother to her. Having her there, in Emerald, was like having a piece of her mother back.
But when they pulled apart, Auraelia saw heaviness in her eyes. “What is it? As happy as I am that you are here, you never come unannounced. Is something wrong?”
Aesira’s eyes flashed toward her brother before returning to the queen. “I assume you know of Davina trying to infiltrate the other courts? Of her attempting to win them over to her side?”
Auraelia nodded, a small v forming between her brows as they drew together.
“Well—”
“The bitch has decided to try her hand at ours.” A voice smooth as silk, and one she hadn’t heard in far too long, filtered through the space. Effectively cutting off Lady Aesira in the process.
Smiling, Auraelia turned, laughter filling her voice, “Hello, Iridessa.”
“Hello, my friend…sorry, Your Majesty. It’s been a while.”
“A while? It’s been ages!” Piper chimed in from across the room.
Iridessa was Lady Aesira’s daughter and next in line as leader of the Court of Opal.
She was just as beautiful as her mother, with the same gorgeous mahogany skin and amber eyes—and equally lethal.
Having gone through the same rigorous training of their famed warriors, and as far as Auraelia knew, coming out above the rest. Unlike her mother, however, she’d opted to twist her sable hair into locs like her uncle’s.
Locs that were spiraled into a large bun atop her head, minus the few that hung around her face with tiny gold cuffs clipped around them.
As they all came together, the three women erupted into a fit of laughter. Each tried to talk over the other as they attempted to fit years of catching up into mere minutes. It wasn’t until Ser Aeron cleared his throat that they calmed and returned to the issue at hand.
Straightening her shoulders, Auraelia crossed the room back toward where Ser Aeron and his sister stood, her eyes locked on the latter before flicking toward her Commander. “Gather the council. I have a feeling they’re going to want to hear this.”
“How many times has she attempted to cross into Opal?” Mister Aramis questioned from where he paced in front of the bay windows of the council chamber.
Both Lady Aesira and Iridessa rolled their eyes, clearly exhausted from explaining this yet again.
“She has only tried once but has sent others. As you know, our borders are warded and you must be invited to enter them. Try to break through those wards, and well—” a wicked grin spread across Iridessa’s face, and a dagger blinked into existence in her palm, “let’s just say it won’t be a good day for you.
” Iridessa twirled the blade between her fingers a few times before the weapon blinked out of sight once more.
How in the hell did she do that?
Auraelia’s eyes were wide as she stared at where the blade had just been when her friend leaned over and chuckled. “Neat, right? I just figured out how to do it a week ago.”
A small smile pulled at Auraelia’s lips as she whispered, “You’re going to have to show me exactly what kind of magic manifested for you, Dessa.”
Auraelia was only a few months older than Iridessa, so it made sense that she was still feeling her way through her new abilities. And just from that one minor demonstration, she could tell it would make her friend even deadlier in combat than she already was.
Seeming to sense Auraelia’s thoughts, Iridessa winked, then they returned their focus to the conversation-turned-argument in the room.
“Council, please,” Auraelia started, taking a deep breath through her nose before continuing. “Of all the courts in this realm, the one ally that we are certain of is and has always been Opal. I will not stand for you questioning their alliance now.”
“But, Your Majesty,” Lord Harland rose as he spoke, “the courts are supposed to remain neutral. Be a balance to the realm, you know this.”
Before Auraelia could speak, Lady Aesira stood.
Her entire being radiated lethality, and as her gaze locked onto Harland’s, the man swallowed audibly and returned to his seat.
“Her majesty is quite aware of the treaty that placed her court as one of the two monarchies in our realm. As I’m sure you’re quite aware, I don’t give a damn what it says.
Davina of Garnet is trying to wage war throughout our realm.
I will not stand idly by and remain neutral while she runs amuck through the streets of Ixora. ”
Auraelia’s heart swelled behind her ribs.
She knew that Aesira had her back, but hearing it affirmed bolstered her confidence a fraction.
Maybe, just maybe, with their help, she could do this.
She just had to figure out what this was going to entail and how to prevent innumerable, unnecessary deaths.
The meeting continued until the sun began to kiss the horizon, casting the sky in a wash of pinks, purples, and oranges.
Auraelia was exhausted, wanting nothing more than a warm meal and her bed…
and perhaps a hot bath to relieve the day’s stress.
But as her council members filed from the room, Aesira and Iridessa stayed behind.
Looks of uncertainty swirling in the pools of their amber eyes.
When they were finally alone, Auraelia heaved a sigh and turned toward the women. “What is it?”
“We received this about a week ago,” Lady Aesira said as she gestured toward her daughter. Dessa nodded, and with a flick of her wrist, a folded piece of parchment appeared between her fingers.
Auraelia’s breath caught in her throat as a midnight blue seal stared back at her from between her friend’s digits. “How—what?” Words were lost to her. Her brain was a scramble of thoughts and emotions, each warring for dominance.
The two ladies of Opal shared a look before the woman, who was the only mother figure Auraelia had left, stepped forward. Her hand was warm against Auraelia’s skin as she grasped her wrist. “He had his captain bring it to us while they picked up necessities for their priestesses from our port.”
Auraelia nodded as her eyes tracked back and forth from the letter to the woman before her. “Did you—” Her throat was thick like she had tried to drink molasses, and she had to swallow a few times to clear it away. “Did you read it?”
Both women shook their heads. “It wasn’t ours to read, Rae,” Iridessa said as she walked over to hand her the note.
Hands shaking, she took the letter, clutching it tightly as Lady Aesira and Iridessa sandwiched her between them in an embrace.
When they pulled away, Aesira framed Auraelia’s face with her hands.
“You may not have trained alongside my warriors, but you are one in your own right, Auraelia. You may bend, but you do not break. Do you hear me?” Aesira’s eyes narrowed until she nodded, understanding.
Then, after Aesira placed a kiss on Auraelia’s forehead and after a quick embrace from Iridessa, the two warrior women excused themselves.
Auraelia walked over to the cushioned bench along the windows when the door clicked shut behind them. The sun’s light—not yet extinguished by night’s darkness—gave her enough to see by as she peeled open the letter.
The stone floor was cold beneath her feet, biting through the thin soles of her satin slippers, her nightgown trailing behind her as she made her way down the hall to her bedroom.
What am I doing in the hall?
“Hello, my star.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. The voice so familiar, but also…different. Deeper. Rougher. As she turned toward the sound, her face passed a mirror, and she halted.
What the?
It was her face, only…not. Aquamarine eyes shone back at her while a plait of chestnut brown draped over her shoulder and fell to her waist. She raised a hand to caress her cheek, feeling warmth seep through the touch. Real. This was…real?
A chuckle came from her left, from the man who spoke only moments ago.
Only now, he had moved to stand behind her.
His warm hands slid along her waist, his calluses rough against the smooth silk of her nightgown, as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
“I’d look at myself every time I passed a mirror, too, if I looked as stunning as you. ”
Auraelia’s eyes…no, not her eyes, someone else’s…
turned toward the man in the mirror. He looked like Daemon.
Goddess, he was almost a spitting image.
Piercing green eyes locked onto the blues in the mirror, and that same damned smirk pulled on his lips.
But despite the similarities, he was different.
He had no beard, and his hair was lighter and longer, brushing his shoulders as he leaned into her.
It was like she was living through a memory or a dream, only one that wasn’t wholly hers. And one she had no control over.
The woman in the mirror’s mouth quirked up into a small smile, and she melted into the man’s touch. “What are you doing here, Killian?”
Killian? That name…was so familiar. Brushing against her mind like a lover’s caress or a long-forgotten memory.
Killian smiled as he trailed his nose up the woman’s neck. “It’s a…diplomatic visit.”
The woman hummed in response, her head lolling to the side to give him better access.
His breath was hot against her ear, sending chills down her spine. “I need you, Astraea.”
A sharp rap at the door ripped her from the dream, and she sat up abruptly. The movement sloshed water over the edge of her tub to pool on the floor. Her bath had long since chilled, and her skin pebbled as her subconscious faded into her consciousness.
A dream…it was just a dream. Wasn’t it?
Auraelia took a series of deep breaths to still her racing heart.
“Rae? You okay in there?” Piper’s honeyed voice filtered through the door.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just…I guess I fell asleep.”
“Okay, your dinner is here if you’re ready.”
“Thanks, Piper. I’ll be out in a minute.”
When Auraelia entered the sitting room, she found Piper lounging on one of the settees, holding a book above her face. “You know there are easier ways to read, right?” she asked with a laugh.
Piper closed her book around a finger and sat up.
“Yeah, and it started off that way. I just kind of sunk down the cushions.” She shrugged, then gestured toward the table.
“Food’s over there. It’s tomato soup with basil and toasted bread with garlic, butter, and cheese.
Liza has been trying new recipes again.”
They both laughed, but as Auraelia removed the cloche and the room filled with the warm fragrance of roasted garlic and herbs, her laugh quickly turned into a moan.
“Just wait until you try it.” Piper quipped before returning to her book.
They fell into a contented silence as Auraelia ate. But as the silence drug on, her thoughts drifted back to her dream.
“Hey, Piper?” Her friend tilted her head back over the arm of the settee, looking at her expectantly from upside-down. “Want to hear something weird?”
Piper’s eyes widened as she practically flung herself from the cushions and leaped across the space. “Is that rhetorical? Because you know that the answer will always be ‘yes’.”
With an amused shake of her head, Auraelia began to weave together the story from her dream. When she finished, her friend’s face turned contemplative.
“You said their names were ‘Killian’ and ‘Astraea’?”
Auraelia nodded, her head cocked to the side, confusion written across her features.
Piper tore off a piece of Auraelia’s bread, and before popping into her mouth said, “Aren’t those the names of the people who signed The Treaty of Rosewood? Like, your great, great, great, however many greats, grandmother? And Daemon’s, however many greats, grandfather?”
As Piper’s words swirled around her brain, little pieces began to click into place.
The striking similarities between not only her and the woman in the mirror but also between Killian and Daemon.
But why was she dreaming of something that may have happened centuries ago?
And why did it feel more like a memory than a dream? It didn’t make any sense.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have long to contemplate that new information. For the second time that night, Auraelia was pulled from her mind back to the world around her as yet another knock sounded at the door.