Chapter 17 #3
Auriel frowned, glancing at Ramia who was being offered bouquets of water lilies by Afeya who’d come out to greet her.
Most were floating nearby in the water, and those too far to approach were tossing single flowers up at her.
She smiled, gathering the bouquets, and letting the petals fall into her hair.
“Whatever it is,” Auriel said, looking back at me, “Whatever Mercurial wants from you, it’s not good.”
I looked up at the moonlit sky, feeling disoriented. I was fully aware it was only midday as my eyes followed the glowing blue bridges that crossed back and forth. It was mesmerizing, the way they formed and dissolved as silver ashvan raced across.
And for a second, I felt my stomach tug, like I was traveling and my vision blurred, replaced with a flash of memory.
A blue bridge rolled under me as I rode a golden ashvan beneath the sun. Red hair in a thick braid had fallen across my chest, and I flicked it back over my shoulder. Auriel rode on a twin ashvan, sweat beading his forehead, his curls damp, his eyes hooded, and green, and full of desire. For me.
A desire I matched between my legs. My core was molten lava, hot and consuming, coiling inside me.
His lips curled knowingly into something dangerous and seductive, a promise of later, a promise of pleasure when we were alone.
My breath hitched and I was back in my body, blinking rapidly, determined to ground myself in the present.
But my heart was still beating fast. I took a deep breath.
We were nearly at the shore. The Moon Queen’s Palace lay ahead.
I’d seen renderings in scrolls. Paintings hanging in the pyramid that were devoted to the Afeyan texts.
But it was even more mesmerizing in person.
The palace soared into the sky, and I had to crane my neck back to see even just a hint of the opened roof.
I counted about eighteen levels, and each one seemed to be without any walls.
From every angle, every floor was completely open to the night sky.
It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Each floor was held up with gleaming columns bordered in silver.
Rows upon rows of them. And zooming in and out of every level, were pure white seraphim.
Afeya began to emerge between the columns, appearing on every level.
They all paused before white marble banisters, leaning over on their elbows and watching our approach. I was in awe.
A dock of white quartz took form, leading to the palace’s promenade. Our water dragon came to rest before it.
“Lyriana,” Auriel said, his voice suddenly nervous. “Um, I should tell you something. Before we go.”
I frowned. “What?”
But Ramia shook her head, water lilies flying from her locks. “No time. Come. Now.” She stood up with surprising grace—even for her, carefully walking across our dragon’s back, and down onto the quartz of the dock. She dropped her flowers slowly, leaving behind an aisle of petals.
My nerves jumped again.
“Tell me whatever it is later?” I asked Auriel, while also hoping he’d offer me some reassurance as my heart thumped.
But his gaze was distant now. His features were taut, and his eyes seemed filled with worry.
He shifted me forward, and slid off to the side before coming to stand at the dock.
He reached for me, pulling me up to my feet, and lifted me off the dragon, settling me down beside him.
“Sure. Later,” he said, and took my hand, our fingers linking, and together we followed Ramia to the promenade. I could feel at least a thousand pairs of eyes watching, even if I couldn’t see them all.
Three more water dragons emerged from the palace, miniature in comparison to ours.
They were followed by a dozen silver ashvan, each one carrying a rider.
They were all adorned in silver dresses, but no two had the same skin tone.
The entire rainbow seemed to be represented.
My eyes kept jumping, unsure where to look next.
While they all had human bodies, only a few of the riders had human heads.
The rest reminded me of Mercurial. One rider had the head of a ram, another the head of a bull.
One rider even had the features of a lion, their skin orange, a majestic mane falling to their feet. And they were all stunningly beautiful.
Ethereal music seemed to call my soul back to another time.
Another life. Not one I could put my finger on.
Many of our songs now were originally sung in Lumeria Matavia— the compositions only slightly changed over the centuries.
But this felt like something new—a different time, maybe even a different world.
More instruments joined the melody, and then voices.
I couldn’t see where any of the musicians or singers were, or if they were even real.
It felt like the music had been summoned from the ether.
The song grew in volume, the music coming to a swell, and on the same note, everyone fell to their knees, including Ramia. She sank down like she was dancing, and gestured for me and Auriel to follow.
Mist swirled at the edge of the palace, changing color with every second that passed.
It began as a bright, vibrant violet that darkened to indigo before brightening back to blue.
It continued to shift through the rainbow, every color of the Valalumir.
Much like the eternal flame we kept in our temples.
When the mist turned red, it vanished, leaving in its place the figure of a tall, beautiful Afeyan woman.
“Queen Ma’Nia,” Auriel whispered.
I’d never seen her before—nor seen a single rendering or picture.
I’d heard she held an otherworldly kind of beauty and like all Afeya, she was capable of changing her appearance, glamouring herself to fit any mood that befell her.
But for some reason I couldn’t explain, I had the distinct sense that she was in her natural state—because her resemblance to Ramia was startling.
There was no doubt they were related. Had they not been Afeyan and immortal, had their ages not been impossible to determine, I’d have guessed they were sisters before mother and daughter.
But slowly, I began to take stock of the differences between them.
A small tweak of the nose, a shift in the plumpness of the mouth.
The main distinctions came from the fact that Ma’Nia had startling violet eyes.
Her hair was a vibrant red I hadn’t expected.
But where Ramia’s red was something closer to mine in the sun, the Moon Queen had a purple sheen to hers, one I suspected was a perfect match for her irises in the right light.
She stepped forward, wearing a dress made of thousands of pearls strung together.
They jingled with every step she took, swishing back and forth across her body as she approached us.
She wore nothing beneath them. Every step revealed new expanses of skin, while simultaneously hiding other parts of her.
You could see everything and nothing all at once.
She stopped walking, taking her time to look us over. Her head tilted to the side as if she were considering her next move. Something flashed in her eyes, and then she straightened, gesturing for us all to rise.
Ramia stood first, and walked slowly to her mother. The Queen pulled her into an embrace, then drew her daughter beside her.
“Mother, I present Lady Lyriana Batavia of Bamaria. The reincarnation of—”
“Asherah,” Queen Ma’Nia said, her voice melodious and soothing.
“Asherah again.” Violet eyes roamed up and down my body.
It felt like she wasn’t looking at anything physical, but rather that she was seeing my soul.
Seeing Asherah’s essence. The thing Auriel said made me her. The thing that he recognized.
I lowered my chin. “Your Majesty,” I said.
She held up a hand, and I closed my mouth, suddenly unsure what to do.
The queen turned to Auriel, and storm clouds appeared above the palace. There was a heart-stopping clap of thunder, and lightning struck. Her violet eyes burned.
“Auriel,” she drawled, her voice low. “In the flesh. An impossibility. You had your life and you lost it, never to return here again. And yet you stand before me now.” She shook her head. “After all you’ve done,” her eyes darkened, “you have the nerve to return to my lands.”
“Your Majesty, I beseech you,” Auriel started, but Queen Ma’Nia held up her hand again, and Auriel’s mouth closed at once. As if she controlled him.
“You are not welcome,” she said. “And you never will be.”
“Be that as it may, we made a bargain,” he said. “A thousand years ago we made an agreement. I’m here to honor it.”
“To break it,” she snapped, stepping forward, her eyes zeroing in on Auriel’s Valya. The true Valya. The one that contained the truth about the cure.
“How do you suppose that? I kept my word,” Auriel said. “I broke no vows. Only one copy of my Valya remained, and it was buried with me. Untouched, unread, and forgotten. All knowledge of it faded, dying with my body.”
“Until today,” the Queen said. “It’s so rare for something or someone to return from the dead. But it seems we have not one, but two resurrections before us.”
Auriel’s jaw clenched, his eyes boring into the Queen’s with an unbridled anger I hadn’t seen from him before. An anger she seemed to match.
“You are lucky I have not thrown you into the playground with my monsters,” Queen Ma’Nia said. Her eyes sparkled. “I may still do that.”
Auriel’s nostril’s flared. “You said that last time, too.”
My eyes widened. The playground?
“And then you threw me in anyway,” Auriel said. “And I survived.”
“Clearly.” She tilted her head to the side. “Go. Leave here. I have no interest in seeing you, or in treating with you. Unfaithful.”
“You are calling me unfaithful! How dare you. You know you cannot send us away!” Auriel snapped.