Chapter 27 #4
“I won’t need one if Her Majesty steps down voluntarily.”
Theron snorted. Definitely suffering from a mental decline.
“And when she doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll reveal everything she’s done, what magic she used to do it, and raise an army from amongst her enemies.”
That was something Flora had in abundance.
“And why are you telling me this?”
“Because if I fail, I’ll take the knowledge of where the wings of Viridis have been relocated to my grave. Or at least, that’s what I’ll be telling her. In truth, I will leave a will in your care. If my mother outlives me, be sure to use it against her.”
Theron stuttered to a stop. Of all the outrageous things he’d heard today, that was the one that made the least sense.
“How did you relocate an elder god?”
That shouldn’t be possible. The heart of Aureum had always lain beneath Altanus. He’d thought that had always been the case for every elder god.
“I asked very nicely as its monarch,” she said, smiling conspiratorially.
“You see, the real reason Her Majesty is desperate to find me is not because she disapproves of my marriage, or even because of everything I know. It’s because before I left Boreas, I completed the rite of the monarch.
She wants to kill me because I’ve become a stronger, rival queen. ”
Theron nearly tripped over his next step.
By rights, he should kill her. A stronger queen?
One who was more cunning than Flora? His hands balled into fists.
If she weren’t Hyllus’ fated, he might have acted.
Though there were some advantages to leaving her alive.
War would break out in Viridis, weakening it no matter who won.
And at least this queen wasn’t a mad dog. He relaxed his posture.
“Is that so?” he asked with admirable calm.
“It is. And Theron? Once the cycle of chaos is over, Hyllus will become my king. Keep that in mind the next time you think to pull the wool over his eyes.”
She raised her chin and walked past him. He ran a hand over his face. Merciful Triad, she was going to rival her mother as a thorn in his side.
“Theron, look!” Aurora called him over, breaking him out of his unease.
He ambled over to her side, his mind still buzzing with the implications.
War was coming to Viridis. He would need to prepare his border…
and ready himself for the opportunities it would present.
But for now, that had to wait. His wife was beaming.
In Dia’s hands was a twin of Aurora’s calendar artefact, and Aurora’s excitement was infectious.
“That’s the artefact I’m going to find and take with me to this time, and here it is!
Remarkable! Oh, but the date is wrong. May I?
” she asked Dia, who handed over the artefact.
With a few adjustments of the copper rings, she nodded.
“There. That’s the date I arrived here…” she said, trailing off as the excited blush left her cheeks.
She dropped the artefact as if scalded, her eyes wide with panic. Backing away as if she’d seen an angry spirit, her hands shook as she covered her mouth and took off.
“Aurora!” Theron called, racing after her. He caught her before she’d made it too far, but when he did, she was clearly spooked. Another panic attack? His magic washed over her as she struggled to suck in air. “Breathe, my love. It will pass.”
“No…Theron…I think…oh goddess…what if….” she gasped, her nails sinking into his arm as she shook violently.
“Aurora!” Hyllus called, not far behind.
“Aurora?” Epicasta asked.
“Back away! Give her space,” Theron snarled.
Aurora collapsed to her knees, her eyes staring forward and yet not seeing a thing. He knelt before her.
“Close your eyes, my love. That’s right,” he said, doing his best to soothe her. Theron covered her ears with his hands. Her hands flew to his tunic, holding on to him for dear life. Slowly, her breathing returned to normal.
“What if…” she whispered, opening her eyes as tears raced down her cheeks. “What if it’s all my fault? What if I’m the reason everything happened the way it did? What if…there’s no changing the future?”
All that from adjusting a calendar? Perhaps he’d rushed her into becoming queen too soon.
He remembered his first few months as king, getting accustomed to his new senses.
It had been difficult to adjust, overwhelming him at times.
He should have given Aurora more time, more reassurance.
He cupped her cheeks, stroking her cheekbones with his thumbs.
“Slow down, Aurora. Where are these thoughts even coming from?” he asked, gentling his tone.
“I…if I hadn’t touched the calendar here and now, would it ever have been set to the exact date I arrived in the ancient past?
When I first came here, thousands of years from now, it called to me.
I stole it, and when all hope was lost, it sent me back here.
To the date I just set it to. Theron…what if it’s impossible to change the future?
What if everything I’ve done, everything I’ll do, just ensures it will happen as I experienced it? ”
Her despair cut him to the bone.
“Then we’ll change it right now. We’ll get that calendar and set a different date.”
“Wait!” she said, stopping him before he could stand. “If…if we change it…”
“Go on.”
“What if we never meet? I…I can’t risk that. I said…I said I would suffer everything a thousand times over to be with you. I meant that. I meant it…” she trailed off, still shaken.
How to help her now? How to reassure her?
“Then we leave the calendar. And when we do change the future—when we kill Drakon, when you keep me alive this cycle, you’ll prove to yourself that it’s possible—we’ll come back here and you’ll change the date on that calendar.”
“You’re right. You’re right,” she said, releasing a shaky breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t…I don’t know what came over me.”
He petted her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“Becoming a monarch is a difficult transition. You’re still getting used to new senses. And right now, we’re sitting beneath a hive of furious, malignant spirits.”
Aurora laughed weakly.
“Then, since we won’t be meeting the dualists, why don’t we work on fixing that?”
With farewells to Dia and promises to return, Theron left the dualist sanctuary with his wife and the future monarchs of Viridis in tow.
They managed to avoid the patrols and slipped back into Vettias’ villa before their attendants were due to wake them.
Epicasta had agreed to remain behind with a few of Theron’s guards while he, Aurora, Hyllus, and the rest ascended the mountain on the eagles’ backs.
The site of the spire was easy to spot. Amongst the blinding white of the snow, the dark, rocky debris stood out like a gaping wound.
Here, the fury was palpable with every breath.
Even the eagles refused to land too close.
As the rest waited some distance away, Theron and Aurora trekked towards it.
When he got as close as he dared, he held out a hand, stopping Aurora from going any further.
With the spirits this angry, he feared they may bury them both in an avalanche.
“It feels awful,” Aurora panted. “Like I want to be sick, but my stomach is hollowed out.”
“That’s why we’re here. Now, close your eyes.
Reach for Aureum. It’s beneath your feet in the ice and rock.
It’s in the chill of the air. Pull on it as much as you can.
The spirits will come, as they did during the rite.
Let them. Give them what they seek. With both of us here, we’ll put them to rest.”
“I’ve never done this before,” Aurora said nervously.
“You have. It is an act of compassion we do now. Do you feel Aureum?”
“Yes.”
“Then drink it down, as much as you can hold.”
She released a breath.
“I’ll try.”
Despite her fears, he could sense she was succeeding. Some things, blessedly, came naturally to a monarch called by the elder gods. And a good thing, too. The eyes of the spirits turned to them like a roused nest of hornets, buzzing angrily.
“Theron?”
“It’s alright. They’re angry, exhausted. They’ve been hurting for a long time now. We’re here to give them solace.”
“O-oh,” she said, her tone softening.
And as she softened, so did the spirits, their anger blunted by his queen’s kind heart.
Theron closed his eyes. It was harder for him.
Once, long ago, he’d been kind, he was sure of it.
But as he grew, he’d hardened. With every rebellion, assassination attempt, and loss, he’d lost more of the boy he’d been.
When he treated with angry spirits, it was not an innate kindness he felt he connected with, but the memory of his brother.
He imagined Tisander’s warm gaze, his soothing voice, his bright, animated expression when he shared his vision of a better Aureum, and by imagining it, if only in these instances, he could become what the spirits of his land needed.