29. Lora
Lora
Erion and I spent the afternoon training while debating how to get the moon stone. He wanted to convince the museum owner by appealing to his better nature and explain what the stone truly meant—while I argued we should just steal it.
Eventually, he’d decided he wanted to ask Caldera’s opinion.
Frustration simmered in my chest. Giving away our secrets to the traitorous sun wielder would surely end in catastrophe. But objecting would get me nowhere, so I kept my mouth shut.
When she returned from her afternoon class, we joined her in the kitchen and helped prepare supper. I worked in silence as Erion explained our discovery in the museum.
Recognition flickered across her face the moment he mentioned the stone. “Ah, yes, that moon stone. I’ve been fascinated by it since my first visit to the museum years ago.”
Erion frowned. “Why?”
She ladled steaming stew from the cauldron into bowls, handing us one each. “I just found it odd, because when I lived in the Sun Kingdom, there were rumors of something called sun stones.”
Erion’s eyes widened. “Sun stones?”
His gaze fixed on me as we brought our bowls to the table. I nodded, knowing what he must be thinking. He’d mentioned his sister and her boyfriend using two stones in their ritual, no doubt one moon stone and one sun stone. The pieces aligned too perfectly to be coincidence.
Caldera joined us with her own steaming bowl. “If anyone was discovered to have a sun stone, the sun guard would confiscate it immediately and send it to the Forbidden Archives in Sunrise City.”
My pulse quickened. “Sunrise City? Where’s that?”
“It’s the capital of the Sun Kingdom, far to the east.”
Erion swallowed. “Why is it called the Forbidden Archives?”
“Everything the Sun Kingdom considers too dangerous for public access is sent there.”
I spoke around a spoonful of stew. “And what makes the stones so dangerous?”
“I’m not sure.” She blew on her own stew. “I always assumed they could be used by sun wielders to create devastating magic.”
Erion continued explaining how he needed the stones to seal the rift and his idea of persuading the museum owner to give up the moon stone.
Caldera rubbed her chin. “To be honest, he never struck me as the generous type. No matter what you tell him, I don’t think he’ll agree to just hand it over. If anything, he’ll probably lock it up tighter and charge extra to see it.”
Finally, something sensible from this woman.
I leaned forward. “Do you think we could steal it?”
Her lips pulled into a tight line. “As much as I hate to admit it, I’d say that’s your safest bet.”
Smirking, I shot Erion an I-told-you-so glance. He grumbled something under his breath, but the corner of his mouth twitched up.
After a second helping of stew and a long discussion about how to break into the museum undetected, I leaned back in my chair, belly content but my mind churning.
“Thank you, Caldera,” Erion said, eyes soft with sincerity. “Thank you for helping us, for training me, and for sharing your home and food. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
Something uncomfortable twisted in my chest. His words were too pointedly gracious, like he was rubbing my earlier argument about not trusting her in my face.
“Don’t mention it, dear.” Caldera squeezed his hand. “It’s my honor.”
She leaned back, gaze drifting to the window. The evening sun painted her features orange, and a somber wistfulness softened the lines around her eyes.
“If you’d met me ten years ago, you probably wouldn’t have said such kind words.” Her voice dropped to a murmur. “I used to be a horrible person. A sergeant in the Sun Kingdom’s border guard. I’d kill any moonfolk who crossed into our territory without a second thought.”
I perked up. What was this? A confession of sorts?
Erion squirmed. “I’m sure you had your reasons.”
She huffed. “Other than doing what I’d been told?” She shook her head. “I’d been taught that the Moon Queendom was the cause of all our troubles. Just like I’ve come to realize that most moonfolk have been taught the Sun Kingdom is the root of all evil.”
Heat crawled up my neck. Of course the Sun Kingdom was evil. They killed my mother. They killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people every year. She’d just confirmed it herself.
Erion’s brows knitted together. “Then how did you end up here in Brookfalls?”
Caldera’s fingers traced the rim of her cup.
“Because, seven years ago, I caught a moon wielder I couldn’t kill.
Miravella. She was a spy trying to infiltrate sun territory.
” The corner of her mouth lifted, tender and distant.
“I captured her trespassing, but in return, she captured my heart. So instead of killing her, I ended up saving her. We fell completely and utterly in love.”
A derisive grunt escaped me.
Her gaze snapped to me. “I know what you’re thinking.
How could a moon wielder fall in love with someone from the Sun Kingdom?
But Miravella wasn’t some saint either. Her mission was to extract information by any means necessary.
” Caldera’s voice hardened. “Stealing. Torturing. Killing. All standard practice for her.”
My jaw clenched as I met her dark-brown eyes. Sure, the Moon Queendom wasn’t completely innocent. And I could imagine the Queen’s spymaster demanding results of his spies. But only because we had to defend ourselves against the ruthlessness of the Sun Kingdom.
Caldera’s thumb rubbed slow circles against her cup. “Miravella and I both committed atrocities in the name of our domains. We’d both stained our hands with blood we couldn’t wash clean.”
“Maybe that’s why you found solace in each other,” Erion murmured, enraptured by her story.
“Yes.” A smile flickered on her lips, fragile as candlelight. “I betrayed my Kingdom to be with her. Gave the Queen’s Spymaster everything I knew in exchange for safe haven. That’s how much I loved Miravella.”
Erion leaned forward. “That’s beautiful.”
My jaw clenched as I fixed my gaze on the table. Beautiful, yeah right. More likely, the whole tale was just another ruse.
“We settled here in Brookfalls, her hometown. Got married right there on the patio.” Caldera nodded out the window. “When she wasn’t out spying, she worked as a teacher for the town’s children. I begged her to give up her spying, but she said it was her duty.”
A deep sigh escaped her. “I loved her for that passion. That burning need to make the world better. I may have the power to control fire, but no one could control the fire burning in my wife.” She huffed a broken laugh that ended in a trembling whimper.
Unease churned through me. The walls crept closer. Her passionate words and the raw vulnerability in her voice scraped at something deep in my core.
“A few years back, Miravella went on another mission—and never returned. And I have this haunting suspicion she was killed by my old guard unit. As if the Sun and Moon themselves wanted to punish me for all the evil I’d done before meeting her.
” Caldera turned away, shoulders trembling, wiping her eyes.
My throat tightened. The air grew stifling. Her words bled with such aching honesty. How could anyone fake this kind of pain?
“I’m sorry,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “I shouldn’t burden you with all of this.”
“No, please.” Erion reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “Some burdens need to be shared, or they’ll crush us.”
Warmth flickered in Caldera’s expression.
Erion leaned back, his voice gentle. “What made you stay in the Moon Queendom after you lost her? Isn’t it dangerous for you here?”
“Returning to the Sun Kingdom would’ve been worse. I’ve been branded a traitor. Besides, I took up Miravella’s job as a teacher. A feeble attempt to give something back and make amends.” She stared into her cup. “Not that it will ever make up for the lives I once destroyed.”
The words dug into my chest, hitting too close to what I kept buried deep inside—the life I’d destroyed five years ago when I ran from those vile critters in Blightlands. Everything I’d done since had been to numb the guilt of causing Mother’s death.
Silt and rot—was I really sitting here, finding pieces of myself reflected back in a sun wielder?
I struggled to cling to my suspicions, but the image I’d built of her as a cunning trickster seeped away like water through cracked stone.
This was no traitor to the Moon Queendom.
This was a woman who’d loved someone deeply enough to abandon the life she’d known and spend the rest of her days atoning for her past.
Caldera rose, murmuring about bedtime, and disappeared into her room.
Erion turned to me, eyes glittering with that naive hopefulness of his. “Did you hear that?”
I crossed my arms. “Yeah.”
“This is what I’ve been trying to tell you, Lora. Sun people aren’t all bad. They’re just human. They make mistakes. They feel regret. Just like moonfolk.”
“Yeah. I got that.” I grumbled the words. Some stubborn part of me hated to have to admit he’d been right.
He leaned over the table. “Maybe it’s the same with the man who killed your mother. Maybe he never really wanted to—”
I shot to my feet, jaw locked tight. I wanted to scream it wasn’t the same. He had no right comparing Caldera with that monster.
But nothing good would come of it.
Without a word, I stalked into the workshop and threw myself onto my pallet.
The man who killed Mother was nothing like Caldera. Nothing.
But doubt wormed into my thoughts. What if he’d been taught to hate moon people the same way Caldera had? The same way I’d been taught to hate sun people. What if he was kind to his loved ones? What if he tucked his children in every night?
A growl built in my throat. I turned onto my side, dragging the blanket over my shoulder.
It didn’t matter. He could be kind. Loving. A sodden saint for all I cared.
I’d never forget the manic gleam in his eyes, the triumph twisting his features as fire flared from his palms and engulfed Mother.
What he’d done was unforgivable.