Chapter 83
Aeliana froze, the implication of Mayvus’ words rolling through her with a horror far worse than she’d felt for the winex alone.
“What do you mean?” Sylmar asked.
Mayvus took another swig from her flask, and Aeliana wanted to knock it from the woman’s hands.
As Mayvus’ health slowly improved, so did her mother’s.
It would be impossible to give her mother more of the moon’s brew tea with the soldiers so close and watching.
But what if she smeared the valerian root cream on her mother’s wrists?
She let Marnok’s instructions roll through her mind.
One dollop for sleep, two for unconscious, three for death.
What if she killed her mother in her efforts to thwart Mayvus?
“It’s the Stars, isn’t it?” Cyrus surprised everyone by speaking up. “You’re using the Stars to gain immortality.”
Aeliana frowned. “How would that even be possible?”
Mayvus laughed and stepped closer to him, making Aeliana even more tense.
It didn’t matter that they were all as defenseless as he was.
The fact that he had no magic made him seem too vulnerable, like Mayvus preyed on a child.
“I shouldn’t be surprised that a human who worships the Stars would be the one to see the significance of my plans. ”
“What I don’t understand,” Cyrus said, “is why they’re working with you. They have to know you plan to kill one for its power, like King Melchinek did.”
Mayvus stiffened. “My, my, you really are bright for a Lorvandan.”
“No,” Aeliana murmured. “The Stars wouldn’t work with you if that was your plan.”
Mayvus turned her way with eyebrows raised, and Aeliana regretted her outburst. With Mayvus’ attention on her, it would be impossible to give her mother the valerian.
“You would be surprised at the influential state of the Stars. They’ve watched this world break even further over the last thousand years. Their efforts to save the people with the Great Divide failed, and they are eager to reverse their mistakes.”
“It was a punishment from the Sun,” Emeris murmured.
“That’s where you’re wrong, little sister,” Mayvus said, stepping forward and cupping Emeris’ cheeks in her hands.
“It’s where I was wrong, too. All of us have been wrong.
The Stars went rogue and tried to take matters into their own hands.
The starbridges were the Sun’s way of tempering the Stars’ mistake, but even that won’t be enough forever, and the Stars know it.
Their desperation has them lining up as sacrifices for the promise of breaking down the barriers and reuniting the lands. ”
“How can you promise that?” Sylmar asked.
“Haven’t I already united the Ahmranans and the Vendarans?
” She gestured around the room. “Fewer and fewer starlocks are being given—not because they don’t have locks of hair to give, but because that method is no longer working.
It’s putting power into too many hands and causing division as people seek to grow their power. ”
Sylmar snorted. “So they’re trying to stop people like you. Again, I don’t understand why they would work with you.”
“They’d already chosen the Ahmranans, but without the stone, they had no way of reuniting the Ahmranans with the rest of the people. When I showed up, all of that changed. I desire power to make this world a better place. They see that, and they wish to reward it.”
“How could they be so blind?” Cyrus murmured.
Aeliana’s heart broke for him as his last bit of respect for the Stars was crushed.
“They knew that by coming here,” Mayvus said, “we’d gain access to the golden arrow.
And I suspect from the rumors I’ve heard that they’ll also gain access to the silver fish.
All that’s left is the iron cutlass and we can bring down the barriers for good.
Reuniting all of Rhystahn once more.” Her words echoed things Orra had said over the last several months, but there was a wrongness to them that left Aeliana anxious.
She kept silent though, letting the others express their disbelief and frustration, and as Mayvus’ gaze took in their disgruntled reactions, Aeliana pulled out the bottle of cream Marnok had made.
The imprecise definition of a dollop made Aeliana break into a sweat, but she used her dagger to scoop out what she hoped was a dollop and placed it against her mother’s wrist.
“Good job, dear,” her mother murmured, her eyes already starting to flutter.
Mayvus stumbled once more, then glanced back at Emeris.
She narrowed her eyes and took another swig from her flask, her grip tightening on the queen’s council chair beside her.
“I wanted you all to witness the city’s downfall, to see me take the throne before having you hung as an example to the rest of the nation.
But now I wonder if I’m better off ridding the world of you now, before you can do something foolish and try to save the people you claim to love. Like you did back in Myndren.”
She took another swig, and Aeliana’s mother blinked again, frowning. It wasn’t working because the winex fluid was counteracting it, which meant a dollop or two wasn’t going to be enough.
But how much would be too much?
Mayvus turned back to her soldiers, giving instructions to bind them all and take them to the dungeons. They were out of time.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, before using her dagger to smear two more dollops on her mother’s wrist. She prayed it wasn’t too much, and she prayed it was enough. When her mother fell limp against one of the guards, Aeliana bent forward, frantically checking for a pulse.
This time, when a moan escaped Mayvus’ lips, she fell into the chair she’d used for balance.
She nearly dropped the flask as she lifted it to her lips, and her words came out garbled.
“Take her to the apothecary. Empty her stomach. I don’t care how.
They’ve given her something, and you need to get rid of it. ”
The soldier nearest gathered Emeris up in his arms to carry her from the room, and Aeliana saw all their hopes being carried out with her.
Chaos broke out as the others attempted resisting capture without their starlocks.
They were dependent on their combat training, and Aeliana knew they couldn’t last against the progeny soldiers.
But it was enough to force the soldier carrying Emeris to set her down to defend himself.
On a whim, she kept out the valerian cream and dipped her dagger in it, smearing large portions on the soldiers who tried to capture her.
They dropped like flies, and she had no time to wonder if she was killing them or merely incapacitating them.
A burst of light flashed through the room, the familiar shield shocking Aeliana because it hadn’t come from her hands. As her eyes adjusted, she saw Marnok rushing toward her, then pulling her into the safety of his light shield’s circumference.
“How are you—?” She didn’t bother finishing her question.
They’d never understood where Marnok’s power came from because they’d never been able to find a starlock on him.
And yet here he was, a master of the magic she thought she’d lost. His ability to create a light shield was no more or less confusing than her own ability to create one in the apothecary.
“When did you discover you could do this?”
“Your mother’s memories showed me I could do a lot more than I remembered.
” He pulled her through the crowd, attempting to grab their friends along the way.
But he was just as likely to bring Mayvus’ soldiers into the sphere.
They were halfway to the exit by the time they’d collected Sylmar and Iris, along with two soldiers Aeliana dispatched using the valerian cream.
“It’s not enough,” Marnok said, even as they added Cyrus and Gaeren to their protective barrier. “I can’t save them all. At some point, we need to cut our losses and leave.” His voice broke with the admission.
How would they know when to stop? Who would be the last person they saved and the first person they abandoned?
Gaeren placed his hand on Aeliana’s arm, and a memory rushed through her mind at double speed, showing Mayvus placing his blood in her left pocket and all the starlocks in her right.
When the memory cut off, he raised his eyebrows, angling his head toward Mayvus, whose eyes fluttered as she slumped in her chair.
“It’s not worth the risk,” Cyrus said, following their gazes.
Tears streamed down Aeliana’s cheeks as she watched Lukai and Kendalyhn fighting for their lives outside Marnok’s light shield. She couldn’t even see her father or Brogdon in the fray. How could she stay in the safety of Marnok’s magic and hope Mayvus would show mercy on the others?
“You have to go get my mother,” she told Marnok. Even though saving her mother could potentially save the others, right now the request felt selfish. She just wanted him to keep her mother safe.
“She’s right,” Sylmar said, lessening some of Aeliana’s guilt, and as one, those in the light shield began inching their way toward her mother’s limp form.
Except for Aeliana. She grabbed Gaeren’s hand and nodded toward Mayvus.
He grinned, accepting the challenge, and together they dove out from the safety of Marnok’s light shield, ignoring the other’s protests.
They wasted no time cutting Ahmranans down, Gaeren with his sword and Aeliana with her poisoned dagger, but the dais felt impossibly far, and it would only take one progeny to best them both.
“How can we get through the line?” Aeliana shouted, drawing Gaeren’s attention to the soldiers guarding the dais.
Before he could respond, a rumble filled the air, making the entire room pause. Glass shattered from one of the windows, revealing leathery skin and claws. When the paw receded, a fiery eye replaced it.
“Durriken,” Aeliana breathed out, then grinned as panic ensued.
The soldiers before them all crouched, as if the dragon’s fire might go over them.
Gaeren slid across the floor on his knees, then placed his hands on the ground. “Jump, Daisy!”
She obeyed without thought, running to leap on his back and then over the heads of the soldiers.
A sword flashed near her feet, but she cleared the line, practically falling on top of Mayvus, whose eyelids fluttered.
Aeliana shoved her hand into Mayvus’ pocket, triumphantly pulling out all the starlocks.
She didn’t hunt for her own. Instead, she tucked them all against her chest, letting her starlock find her and heat against her tunic.
She let her light shield spread out brighter and farther than ever before, like a wave that rippled through the room.
It knocked the nearest soldiers to the ground, allowing Gaeren to leap onto the dais with her.
As he grabbed his blood from Mayvus’ other pocket, Aeliana glanced across the room, where Velden’s spurts of water fended off soldiers near Emeris.
They were more like pathetic showers compared to his normal power, evidence that the water he wielded was part Sayhleen heritage and part starblood magic.
When Sylmar pulled Emeris into Marnok’s light shield, Aeliana felt a burst of hope, but her mother grabbed the front of Sylmar’s shirt, whispering something in his ear.
He pulled away, his eyes softening with regret. Time slowed as he pulled a dagger from Marnok’s belt.
“No!” Aeliana screamed, but she was too far away to stop him from plunging the dagger into Emeris’ chest.
Beside her, Mayvus gasped, her eyes opening wide with shock. Blood burbled from her chest, and her hands fought to bring the flask of her winex tonic to her lips. “Please,” she murmured.
A sob broke from Aeliana’s throat as she helped Mayvus lift the flask to her lips, forcing it between her teeth to pour it in.
When it was empty, she threw it to the side, placing the collection of starlocks over Mayvus’ chest. Her aunt’s gaze lost focus somewhere over Aeliana’s shoulder, as if she sought the eyes of her dying sister.
“Heal her!” Her voice came out hoarse with her tears, but her starlock obeyed, heating up as Aeliana envisioned the severed flesh being fused together. But the damage was deep, and blood still seeped between her fingers.
“It’s over,” Gaeren said, pulling on her arms.
“No!” She tightened her grip on her aunt’s body.
“We have to help the others now,” he insisted, his voice breaking with his tears. “They need their starlocks.” He gripped her bloody hands. “Look at her face, Daisy.”
Aeliana’s vision blurred with her tears, but she rubbed them away with her shoulder. Mayvus’ eyes held the same glassy gaze she’d seen on Nori and Holm. It didn’t matter that Aeliana had had her starlock. It didn’t matter that she’d had her light shields and healing powers back.
A piercing howl filled the room as Durriken felt the pain breaking open her chest.
She still hadn’t been able to save Mayvus. She hadn’t been able to save her mother.
They were both dead. And Sylmar had killed them.