Chapter 29 Astraea
Astraea
I sat on the floor while Nyte, on the bed, braided my hair.
More times than necessary, and slower than I knew he could.
I thought he did so in an attempt to slow my thoughts and my heart, which were both racing to get going on the quest ahead.
Though I wanted to sit here for hours in this pleasurable relaxation.
“Your infatuation with my hair hasn’t changed,” I mused. My eyes fluttered at the bliss of his fingers against my scalp.
“Do you remember everything from the past?” he asked, lost in his task.
“Sort of,” I said, trying to find the right explanation for how I was both found but still lost in my own mind.
“I can’t often grasp some of the memories as truth.
Sometimes I remember things but as if they were a dream.
The life I had before feels like a long, vivid dreamscape that suddenly comes back to me at times.
Like when I do something in this life that reminds me I either enjoyed it or hated it in the past.”
It surprised me when Nyte insisted on styling my hair this morning. Until flashes of a memory from long ago in the bell tower came back. Me teasing him over his obsession and challenging him to style my hair so he could be useful. Something he’d taken very seriously.
“That must be confusing.”
“I remember a lot of our times together. Certain activities or things you say, the ways you touch me. They feel even more familiar now. I think I’ll always feel like I’ve lived two lives, but I’m okay with that.
I’m ready to focus on this one. Fight for this one.
The past has an end I plan not to repeat, so I have to be better than her, smarter. ”
“You are absolutely perfect,” he muttered, not stopping his braiding to lean in and kiss my temple. “Then, now, and always.”
“You’re biased to think that.”
“Some might say you have flaws, I suppose. I just happen to enjoy them.”
Nyte tied off the bottom of the braid after finishing several over the crown of my head, which I watched through the full-length mirror in front of me. I had to admit, his love for my hair came in useful considering the skill he’d mastered.
I turned, bracing on his thighs and pushing up on my knees.
“What are my flaws, exactly?”
“You’re stubborn as hell.”
“So are you.”
“And quite reckless.”
“Says the one who murders first and considers later.”
His wicked side-smile inspired a tingling thrill in me.
“You’re attracted to all things bad for you.”
“Meaning you?”
Our lips came shy of meeting before someone burst through our door unannounced.
It was Drystan with a rather irate look on his face. “I would apologize but you two have the rest of us waiting around downstairs, promptly by sunrise, despite the disturbances to our rest you caused.”
I almost choked at his bold proclamation. We’d been as careful and quiet as we could have been last night … hadn’t we?
I met Nyte’s stare with a blush fanning my face when Drystan left after that announcement, but Nyte wasn’t fazed. In fact, I thought he was delighting in it.
“I warned you to be quiet,” he said, standing and reaching for my cloak. He used any excuse to touch me, fitting it around me and clasping it at my shoulder. I was too focused on what the mischief in his eyes suggested he was going to say next. “I can’t wait to inflict your punishment.”
I scowled, pushing him lightly. “You weren’t silent either.”
“Impossible with you.”
Everyone was downstairs; they all sat around a dining table with empty bowls of porridge. Their irritation wasn’t subtle, and I kept my head down sheepishly, sitting opposite Zathrian.
Drystan marched over with a large map, pausing expectantly to look over the table. Nadir waved a hand, and the bowls vanished for him to lay the map down.
“We should probably split up. There are fifteen temples left since we’ve freed Athebyne and Edasich.
Athebyne was at the temple in Alisus, and there are no others in the kingdom.
The blue dragon, Edasich, was in Vesitire, which leaves two more temples here.
One in Astrinus in the north. One each in Fesaris, Arania, and Pyxtia, so that makes three to the west. Leaving most of them, nine, to the east, seven of which are scattered past Althenia borders beyond the Sterling Mountains,” Drystan finished explaining, folding his arms and pondering the map.
Glancing over to the side of the room, he found something of interest, stalked toward it, and returned with chess pieces gathered in his arms. He started setting them on the map to give us visuals on the temple locations.
“Lilith and I can cover the three in the west,” Davina said, sipping her tea. Lilith smiled at her in agreement.
Zath said, “Rose and I should take the two here in Vesitire.”
The scent of warm cinnamon and honey filled my nostrils before Nyte slipped a bowl in front of me. My smile broke out at such a simple pleasure as porridge. A greater pleasure was Nyte’s grin in response, and my heart fluttered at the sight of it, not taking a single treasured moment for granted.
“Enough of your flirtations. Silent or otherwise,” Drystan muttered sourly. “We have work to do.”
“Said work needs sustenance,” Nyte countered, slipping onto the bench beside me with his own bowl.
“If you had been prompt, we’d have already covered that.”
“I wouldn’t mind second breakfast,” Zath cut in.
Drystan ignored us all to say, “I’ll go north to Astrinus myself; then I can cover the two outside Althenia borders to the east.”
“You’re not going alone,” Nyte said firmly.
“I wasn’t asking, brother.”
Their standoff hummed with tension. Then I scanned the room.
“Where’s Nadia?” I asked.
My inquiry twitched a muscle in Drystan’s jaw. “Her allegiance was always elsewhere,” he said flatly, not elaborating.
Nyte met my eyes, explaining to me through our bond, “She’s been my father’s eyes and ears this whole time.”
Denial was my first instinct, but from Drystan’s reaction … Oh gods.
“I can go with Drystan,” Elliot offered. He leaned at the side of the room like he didn’t know how to integrate himself into this group of new and unlikely friends after losing those he’d bonded with over centuries in the Golden Guard.
“No offense, but I’d rather go myself,” Drystan said.
“Not an option,” Nyte repeated. “You travel with Elliot, or you’ll come with Astraea and me. Elliot can accompany Zath and Rose. No one goes alone; it’s too dangerous.”
Nyte was becoming more protective of Drystan, though he wouldn’t admit that was why he was vehemently against his younger brother going off on his own. Especially not with their father on the loose.
An argument crossed Drystan’s face, but thankfully Zath cut in before he could speak it.
“Did you get a piece of your key at the temple with Nightsdeath?” Zath asked.
“Yes, but it was a fake”
“There are only five key pieces; I was hoping you’d know which temples you sent them to,” Drystan sighed.
“It doesn’t work like that,” I said. “It protects itself by challenging the pursuant. For the Libertatem, it took on the mold of the king’s ideals to test him by challenging what he believed in most. That greed, envy, lust, wrath, and pride were the worst of mankind’s flaws.”
“Your weapon has a twisted sense of humor,” Rose muttered.
I said, “There’s no telling what form each trial will take this time for each of us. No one has attempted them before. For the one I faced with Nightsdeath, it challenged our trust in each other.”
Nyte’s hand resting on my thigh gave a gentle squeeze. I slipped my hand over his in comfort.
“At least we’ll free more dragons, even if certain temples don’t have a true piece. Which I’m guessing we’ll only discover when we get them all back to you,” Drystan pondered.
“Me or Nyte, yes. The key answers to both of us.”
“The dragons will change the tide of this war,” Zath said hopefully.
“Unless they bond with any of those allied with Auster or the king,” Lilith enlightened.
It was possible. Once a dragon was freed there was no predicting where it could decide to attach its allegiance. We’d gotten lucky with Eltanin and Athebyne, but life had taught me to brace for a storm after a blessing of sunshine.
I said, “We’ll cover Althenia after Astrinus. It’ll be the most dangerous to venture into. And I need … I need to see Zephyr.”
“What about our snake of a father and his new primordial allies out for vengeance?” Drystan said warily with a look at Nyte.
“We need the key before we can face them. Right now, all we can hope for is to remain out of their sights no matter what they begin to inflict on the land,” Nyte said.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” I said, torn by the notion that I had to let the gods who created me roam while we went on our quest for the weapon to destroy them.
“Then let’s not waste anymore time.” Drystan swiped my bowl just as I went to lift my spoon, and I reached after it in protest.
Nyte slipped his bowl in front of me, but Drystan was quick to collect that too.
“Another five minutes to eat isn’t going to give the gods much of a head start,” Nyte remarked, but stood anyway.
“You used to lead armies, and there was a time you spent more time on the battlefield than off; you should know how crucial five minutes can be.”
Nyte and I exchanged a look, which had us mutually regretting the insistence he join us instead of one of the other parties on this quest. I bit back my smile.
I couldn’t help my amusement, even when nothing was truly humorous; it might be the only way to keep myself from buckling under the foreboding pressure of what we had to achieve.
Our farewells to the others outside Nadir’s home started to unsettle my stomach.
I hugged Zath tightly for longer than usual.
“Are you sure you’re well enough for this?” I whispered, wishing for an answer I wouldn’t get. One that would keep him here and safe.
“I bested Thorns in a combat test—”
“No, you didn’t,” Rose cut in immediately.
“I almost bested her,” he amended, pulling back with a boyish grin directed at her. “I’m as good as I can be, and there’s no way in hell I’m sitting this out while the rest of you are off risking your lives.”
When his sight fell back to me, his smile wiped completely. I couldn’t stop staring at him with such worry tightening in my chest. For Rosalind too, as I stepped up to embrace her next.
“Look out for each other,” I mumbled.
For once Rose didn’t scowl or make any remark.
“We will,” she said.
“See you on the other side,” Drystan said, heading toward Athebyne without any exchanged sentiments.
Nyte finished talking privately to Elliot, clapping a hand on his shoulder, and I almost thought they would give in to an embrace. It dropped sorrow in me to think of their shared losses; they hadn’t had the time to truly grieve.
Nadir had provided horses, which Davina and Lilith mounted. Zath and Rose would go by foot since we were already in Vesitire.
“We’ll meet back here in two weeks tops, even if we don’t cover all the temples,” I reminded everyone.
They nodded, and watching them leave strained the many strings attached to my heart for each of them. Nyte tried to soothe my anxiety with his touch, both on my body, with the hand that rested on my back, and through our bond within.
“We’ll all be back together before we know it,” he said. It wasn’t a promise, just a shared desperate hope.
Before we left, I turned to Nadir, who smoked their pipe by the open door, shirtless with only a thin floral robe and pants despite the cold.
“Thank you for all you’ve done for us,” I said, but it wasn’t enough to convey what we owed them.
“I’ll see your thanks when you break the chain, Maiden. Free us all.”
That struck a powerful purpose in me, and I gave a firm nod. Then Nyte and I headed toward Eltanin, who waited patiently.
Thanks to Drystan, he’d spent a long time studying dragons before he was ever certain they would come back into our existence.
He knew about saddles from the past, and though it’d taken a lot of coin, provided by Nadir with utmost discretion, he’d had them made for Athebyne and Eltanin by a leathersmith in Vesitire.
Nyte mounted first, and I followed his maneuvers.
Exhilaration thrummed within me at the thought of flying on dragonback again.
There was a certain power and beauty in it that couldn’t compare with my own wings.
As I slipped in front of Nyte, he was quick to shift us both until no space remained between us.
“Eltanin might refuse to fly with us if you’re inappropriate,” I warned.
“What kind of inappropriate things are you thinking of?”
I wiggled to get a better hold of the saddle grip and to prove my point when he squeezed my thigh in warning for the friction of my ass against him.
“Sure you don’t want to ride in front?” I asked innocently.
“Absolutely not.”
My grip tightened and my stomach fluttered when Eltanin rose in preparation to take flight. He was so much bigger than he was when I’d taken a short flight with him during the battle on the Nova province. Nyte leaned into me, and I had to admit I was intimidated.
“Do you remember the time you stole Auster’s Pegasus and returned it with pink hair?” Nyte said, maybe to distract me from my unease as I pressed into him, gripping his forearm around me tightly, as Eltanin launched powerfully into the sky.
Images flooded my mind. I almost giggled until I remembered …
“You put the starlight matter into its food to turn its hair pink!”
“Did I? Maybe my memory needs work.”
“He was sour for the weeks it took to turn back to white.”
“Then I gladly claim full responsibility for it.”
Grinning, with the air breezing through us, I valued the lightness he brought because it felt like treasure in light of the terror we ventured out to.
We soared high above the clouds in an attempt to avoid any wandering celestials in the skies. The air was thin and icy sharp, pricking my cheeks and turning my nose numb.
I slipped off my gloves, shivering as I cupped my hands and conjured a warm sphere of light. I hugged it to myself with a soft sigh, dropping one hand to Nyte’s thigh behind mine to share some of the heat. Nyte hugged me against him, and if we could forget all else, this was quite romantic.
“I thought the daylight might come back when you woke,” I said thoughtfully, staring at the half-moon. At least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. The red overcast had gone.
“I quite like the night.”
I smiled, closing my eyes and letting my head rest against his chest. “It’s my favorite.”