7. Raithe #3
“I received a dream for the first time in twelve years. Seers do not dream as the acolytes do. Any dreams of ours are intentional messages from our Astral.”
“So Scorpio is communicating with you again.”
“Not quite. My dream was not from Scorpio. It was from Gemini.”
The shock of his words dissolved into concern. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
Gregorios returned to his seat. He carried with him a rolled-up piece of parchment tucked under his hands.
“No Astral has ever possessed the power to wield another Astral’s element, nor see the past or future of anyone except for their own people.
Never has it been possible for them to communicate with Chosens outside of their own territory.
Little is known about whether or not they still even communicate with each other, wherever they are.
But we have known it to be true that inter-kingdom and queendom Astral messaging has been impossible.
It is why we seers exist.” Gregorios huffed, a self-deprecating sound. “We are their messengers.”
“Or so we thought,” I murmured, absorbing his declaration. “Because if what you say is true, if Gemini communicated with you, a Scorpion seer… then it’s not just impossible. Such a thing is… well, it’s—”
“Treasonous?” Gregorios supplied.
I swallowed once. To throw such a word against an Astral was unfathomable, though given Scorpio’s apparent absence, I wasn’t too concerned about repercussions.
The Treaty of the Twelve had been created with the Chosens in mind, with rules and guardrails established to prevent treason amongst themselves. Not the Astrals.
“It is for that reason I am worried,” Gregorios said. “With the curse lasting so long, and with Cyrene’s impending death tomorrow, I fear the courts will vote for a Blood Sharing.”
All Chosens from each territory’s court congregated once a year on the Equinox along the Equator, the only neutral territory in Gaianos.
Royals met with royals, guardians with guardians, and all twelve seers convened.
It was only on the Equator at such a convention that the courts could all vote in favor of a Blood Sharing where seers used Blood Sight on each other to look into the past twelve months and confirm no one, to their knowledge, had violated any decrees of the Treaty.
It was the only place when the drinking of blood from another person born under a different Zodiac sign was permitted—and worked.
It wasn’t clear how many times such an event had been called for, as texts on that topic remained locked away in the Academies and were only privy to the eyes of acolytes.
“Tell me about this dream,” I insisted, resisting the urge to pace. What we were discussing was unheard of. Distressing and incomprehensible. And yet…
“This conversation is treasonous, and even with the possibility that a Blood Sharing might reveal all this, you sound more spirited than ever,” Gregorios observed. “What is it with you and disobeying orders?”
“I know that my duty is to my queendom. The only thing that has gone right since I’ve been here is winning the Duodecennial Elemental Tournament.
I’ve had to watch eleven princesses drown while I stood by helplessly.
I still hear their desperate gulps from their final moments when I sleep,” I admitted.
Though unpleasant, those dreams were a welcome replacement to the nightmares of my childhood that still made unwanted appearances.
“Perhaps this new development will prove useful in breaking the curse.”
“Alas, I was hoping you would say that.”
His milky-white gaze shifted toward the soft flames dancing in the hearth.
Winter was in full swing in the southern hemisphere marked by the beginning of Cancer’s Tempus today.
While Scorpio’s climate was moderate compared to the two kingdoms and two queendoms farther south of the Equator, an ever-present chill lingered in the air.
“So, what was in this dream of yours? How do you know it was a message from Gemini?”
“Sometimes the dreams we seers receive are vibrant and direct. Others are vague and blurry. Sometimes they consist of glimpses of objects, other times they are only words strung together in a song. But I saw something—a figure—I have never seen before: two interconnected bodies, twin in build and frame, cloaked in dripping gold. I was presented with a distinct image.”
He unfolded the parchment that had been tucked in his lap and raised it in his right hand. I reached across the table for it. Scribbled in charcoal at its center was a darkly shaded drawing of a flower. I squinted at its highlighted outline from the light of the fire behind the paper.
“A rose?”
“A black rose.”
“Gemini’s flower is Lily of the Valley. Does a black rose even exist?”
Gregorios’s attention remained fixed toward the rotating golden fixtures of the planets.
“Our great world of Gaianos is vast. While many lands fill the skies, there are mountaintops that peek above the Barrier and other floating lands not yet discovered. Perhaps a black rose does exist in Gaianos today and it has not been discovered. On this matter I do not trust an acolyte to help me.”
“I can research—”
“I do not need your nose in another book. I need Raithe Katsaros, the youngest lunar guardian to ever be Chosen and win a tournament in the same year. I need the guardian who will stop at nothing, who will risk the wrath of his queen regent, for this queendom. For you see, in my dream, Gemini handed me this black rose. And then the rose turned white. Darkness turning into light. This black rose could be a path to lifting this curse, and you could be the key.”
My brow furrowed. “How?”
“You must find this black rose for me, Raithe.”
“There are far more important things for me to do here than go on some wild hunt for a flower, Gregorios,” I said. “Respectfully, of course.”
“Such as?”
I pressed my lips into a firm, thin line.
“Cyrene will die again tomorrow. Her topaz will return to its secret location until another woman is Chosen once again. And unless we take this message from Gemini seriously, the cycle will continue until our queendom is no more.”
I leaned forward, still confused about my purpose in all of this madness. “Point made. So I’ll ask you again: why me?”
He regarded me solemnly. “The rest of the courts are threatening to intervene if Cyrene fails tomorrow,” he reminded me.
“They will use anything they can to paint the narrative that Scorpio is not capable of ruling on its own anymore. If word were to get out not only about my inability to converse with Scorpio and see the future, but that I’m now claiming to hear the voice of another Astral, we would lose any shred of credibility we have left. ”
Excitement coursed through my veins despite the somber recap of our queendom’s state. Alekko would have called this feeling hope.
“I won’t share this mission with our queen regent, for she is consumed with the rising threat of the apostai.
I do not need Blood Sight to know that she would declare me an apostate if she were aware of this.
And Felaf—until I can confirm otherwise through Blood Sight—is more loyal to the law of the land in an effort to prove herself larger than Hector’s shadow.
This queendom needs someone who is not afraid of the repercussions of what we seek.
I will do what I can to protect you, Raithe. ”
I rose to my feet and stared down at Gregorios, who despite the treason we discussed, remained expressionless. My fists clenched in determination.
“You remember my first words to you?” he prompted me with a curved brow. “It is time for you to prove them true. It is you, Raithe, whom I am trusting this sacred mission with. It is you who must find this black rose and bring it to me. You may save us from ruin after all.”