9. Raithe #2
The seer’s deep voice broke the silence. “It is with great sorrow that we announce Scorpio has forsaken the life of Cyrene, who was not deemed worthy enough to wield the element of Scorpio and rule in her place. May the Astrals guide her in her next life.”
Maryn didn’t skip a beat before prompting, “It is time for the offering of our Chosen princess’s blood family to Scorpio. There will be a feast to follow in the Great Hall of the Royal Palace to honor Cyrene and her family’s sacrifice for those who wish to attend…”
Maryn’s speech dragged on while Cyrene’s family was ushered into the pool. My eyes snagged on the middle of the pews to a standing woman. Her peers remained seated.
Impending danger prickled my senses.
“Felaf,” I warned under my breath.
“I see her. Helene Condor,” Felaf identified quietly. “Baron Ionis Condor’s wife.”
Why is a noble standing during the queen regent’s speech?
“Darling,” the baron beseeched Helene through gritted teeth. “Sit down.”
She didn’t listen, instead opening her mouth to shout, “Death to the Zodiac! Death to the Astrals!”
The entire room froze as the blasphemous words rang through the sullen temple.
My limbs carried me with preternatural swiftness across the temple. The raving woman extended her arm as if aiming at something. Someone. A quick glance showed me she had her sights set on Cyrene’s family. A square object released from her outstretched hand as I latched on to her.
Time stood still as it arced into the air. Felaf leapt to catch the box, her strength lifting her higher than any human could jump.
My relief dwindled at Helene’s blossoming giggle. I secured her arms behind her back as Alekko, Vesperah, and a herd of guards approached us.
“Helene?” Baron Ionis hissed, his dark brows furrowed. “What is the matter with you?”
Helene’s giggle turned into a cackle. She tossed her golden head back, letting her sounds echo before I clamped my gloved hand over her mouth.
Despite securing the threat, I knew danger still loomed.
I glanced around, ignoring the stunned and fearful faces of the room.
Cyrene’s family huddled together, waiting.
Felaf stood where she’d landed, inspecting the device.
“Did Scorpio not warn you something like this would happen today?” Maryn hissed into Gregorios’s ear. “This is an embarrassment. You should have seen such a scandalous event coming.”
A guard shackled Helene to his side and dragged her away. Vesperah followed with the baron. “Apologies, Baron Ionis, but we must take precautions.”
“This is absurd. I have no idea what has gotten into my wife!” he protested. “We are devout Scorpions, loyal to our queendom and our Astral!”
Vesperah dragged him away, his shouts fading as my unease grew stronger.
Alekko stared at me as the silence in the room dissipated, replaced by fearful chatter. “Rarely does your face give away what you’re thinking. But when it does, it’s never good. What is it?”
“Something is still amiss,” I said, scanning the temple. “Or someone.”
I didn’t have time to process what happened next.
One moment I had eyes on Felaf. She turned the object peculiarly in her hands, trying to figure out what exactly the mechanism was. Next, the object somehow lifted from her grip. Felaf whirled, following the box before it vanished into thin air.
Completely gone, as if it had never been there in the first place.
The sound of a match struck my ears. I couldn’t place who or where it originated from. Frustration ignited in my chest.
Felaf and I met eyes only for a moment before a thunderous boom rattled the walls.
I bolted for Gregorios, reaching him as an explosion erupted.
I threw my arms around the seer to shield him from the mountain of green flames that blasted where Cyrene’s family had been standing.
A force of hot wind at our backs knocked us to the ground.
Smoke and sulfur and something unidentifiable engulfed the air.
Rocks tumbled from the ceiling onto my back. Beneath me, Gregorios groaned from my weight. A quick sensory scan of his vitals told me he was alive and not gravely injured. I’d gotten to him just in time.
“Can you move?” I asked above the screams filling the temple.
“Barely,” the seer wheezed. The pillow was gone but the royal talisman remained safe in his clutches. “Stars above, I’m getting too old for this.”
I lifted him in my arms, listening amidst the calamity that surrounded us.
The wall of green held me captive in place.
It was a massive beast, its flames soaring from the basin where Cyrene had drowned only moments ago.
Green fire burned atop the ancient water.
As if the water had no effect on it, which shouldn’t have been possible.
Water always doused fire.
I stared at the flames several beats longer than I should have, even as the heat tinged my skin through my uniform.
I needed to get Gregorios and the talisman to safety, but my body didn’t—couldn’t—move.
A forgotten memory crept its way into my mind.
The image of my childhood home burned in place of the temple, and I was too stupefied to do a damned thing.
“Raithe!” Felaf called quietly from somewhere in the temple, pulling me from my torpor. I wasn’t in Pipirima, my hometown village. I was here, in the royal city’s temple that was now under attack.
“I’ve got the seer and the talisman,” I muttered back to her, shifting Gregorios in my arms. “Get who you can to safety. Meet back at the sky—”
The sudden feeling of a blade sliced through the backs of my knees. I groaned, staggering from the flash of pain. To anyone else, the blow would have been debilitating.
I searched frantically through the hazy smoke, but there was no sword to be found in my vicinity. Not even a person to wield one.
“Raithe?” Gregorios questioned, coughing into his sleeve.
Someone was cleverly using the cover of the blast to try and attack me. Me, a guardian. I listened for the parrying footsteps or a nearby heartbeat, only I couldn’t detect anyone beyond the chaos of the crowd.
Recalling where we were in the temple from memory, I limped with Gregorios toward a wall.
The slash at my legs hadn’t entirely rendered me immobile, but until it started healing, it was enough to slow me.
Once I set the seer down, I unsheathed my shimmering Athenian blades.
Their familiar zing tickled my ears as I gripped the pommels tightly, bracing for anyone stupid enough to attack me again.
Out of nowhere, another force, sharp and stinging, made contact with my shoulder. Vexed, I hissed out a curse. No harm would come to Gregorios. Not on my watch.
It was like fighting blind.
I slashed my jagged blades in a circle around me, but no contact was made. “Coward,” I barked into the fumes that smoldered us. Gregorios’s coughing intensified. I could hold my breath for nearly an hour, my lungs capable of expelling most of the smoke, but I had to get him out of here fast.
The person attempted another jab at my ankles, and I finally knew where to target.
I crisscrossed my blades and pierced the air in front of me.
I felt them make contact with something—presumably flesh—but still, I didn’t hear or see anything.
I swiped repeatedly, thrashing in frustration, until finally a body appeared before my eyes.
As though the person I had been fighting was invisible this whole time and not simply concealed by the smoke.
I waited, poised to strike in case there were others.
No one else came for us. I momentarily studied the body of my attacker—or what remained of him.
The blades—coupled with my strength—had cleaved through him like paper.
Limbs and fragments of his body lay in a bloody mess at my boots.
Crimson soaked the white fabric he’d been wearing.
How had I not seen or heard him through all that?
Questions for another time. I slid off his boots to check his feet for a mark. Sure enough, there it was. Once the chaos settled, I’d return with Alekko to bring this body back to the palace for further examination.
I lifted Gregorios and ushered us through a hidden corridor to safety, wherever we could find it.