Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
LYRIANA
A series of mountains lay in the distance, each shadowed in the ever-dark of Khemet’s night.
But green-topped mountains, lit by the gold of the sun, shone behind the peaks.
The hills of Korteria. My first sighting of Lumeria in what felt like weeks.
There it was already day. We still remained under the shroud of night in the Moon Court as we began its descent.
My heart flew into my throat, as our ashvan ran faster, the ground rising up to meet us. It felt like we were heading for a crash landing—the way gryphons descended.
The horse touched down, walking us across the grassy terrain.
The valley lay ahead between the darkened mountains: the Shevagni.
Seven distinctive peaks loomed above, each one topped in gold from this angle.
A gold that glowed brighter the closer we came.
The sun of Lumeria. I marked the valley between the centermost two mountains, the two that I assumed were Anessi and Vrenya.
Between them was the Yara Vale. And the vaults. The red shard.
My heart began to beat faster, and I felt the slightest lift in body temperature. Every shard I’d come into contact with had caused a physical reaction. The indigo had unleashed my magic. My first viewing of the orange had caused the light inside my heart to heat up so painfully, I’d passed out.
I tried to brace myself for how I’d react to the red shard at last. To the one that was mine.
Auriel stilled suddenly beside me, his body tense. “We’re being watched,” he said quietly.
“Her guard?” I asked.
“I would expect. I can’t see them, but I can feel them.”
A shiver ran down my spine. I could sense them, too. “She’ll keep her word?”
At this Auriel stretched his neck, his nostrils flared, and his jaw set with determination. “She has to.”
“What do we do? Just walk in?” I asked.
“Follow me,” Ramia said, her ashvan touching down beside us. She rode on a mauve-colored horse with an amethyst mane. Beautiful. “You right on Lumerian border. You back home soon. But you need Afeya to guide you inside vaults.”
“Ramia,” I said curtly.
She scoffed, dismounting. “Ramia? You mean Princess Ramia. I remain princess in Khemet.”
“Did you know?” Auriel asked her, his voice shaking with anger. “Did you know she’d throw Lyriana into the playground?”
Ramia’s eyes flashed. “You should. She did same to you— no?” She shook her head, wrapping her ashvan’s reins in her hand.
“She didn’t have a chimera last time,” Auriel said. “Where the hell did she get one?”
Ramia rolled her eyes. “We have procurer of rare animal who travel. Farther than Lethea.”
“Mercurial,” I said, and shook my head.
“Bastard,” Auriel cursed.
“Bastard who convince my mother to give what you want. Red shard.”
“Because Mercurial wants it for his own Godsdamned purposes!” I snapped. “And your mother had no choice with Auriel’s bargain. Not in the end.”
“Hmmm,” Ramia said, sounding unbothered.
“Why else do anything other than get what wanted?” The shadows darkened with every step we took.
The foothills of the mountain base rose higher and higher.
Leaning against a hill were three golden lamps, the kind we used in the Great Library.
The rods towered above all three of us, the tops curving into hooks from which an amethyst hung.
Ramia handed one to me and winked. “You do magic now, yes? Light lamp.”
Despite it all, I laughed. I’d been looking forward to doing this for years. I still remembered the absolute humiliation I’d felt when I’d returned to the library after my failed Revelation Ceremony. The lead librarian, Nabula Kajan, had been so excited for me to finally light my own.
Of course, Ramia had known that.
I swept my hand over the stone three times, just like the librarians, and chanted the spell for light. “Ani petrova vala.” Purple light shimmered across the crystal, and then I spread it to the others. Auriel grinned proudly. Ramia winked again.
“Come.” She continued forward, the Yara Vale coming to an end as the bases of Anessi and Vrenya both met.
“Through here,” she said. “Vault inside.” She held up her hand and pressed it against the mountain.
A door formed against the rock. Silver with golden etchings, again showing the phases of the moon.
Ramia pressed her hand to the door. The etchings began to gleam, radiating with light, and with a slight groan, the sound of rock shifting, the door opened, and we were led inside.
I held up my lamp, casting the room in a faint purple glow.
The ceiling was made up of a series of arches that appeared to have been carved straight into the rock of the mountain.
Each one glittered as we walked past, heading toward another pool in the center of the room.
Beneath our feet was a waterway made of glass. Luminescent blue water ran beneath us.
As we got closer to the pool, I realized there were dozens of waterways, each one jutting out from the room’s center, leading into darkened caverns.
“Each a locked vault,” Ramia said. “Many secret.”
“Where’s mine?” Auriel asked.
“Straight ahead,” she said. “Put hand in pool.”
“The pool?” I said warily, already having too much experience with pools in the Moon Court.
But Auriel shook his head. “It’s okay, Meka. I remember this. The water takes my hand print.” He kneeled over the edge, and dipped his hand inside. The water sparkled and stilled, and when Auriel pulled back, an imprint of his hand remained.
One of the waterways lit up. “Follow path.”
Auriel swallowed roughly, and rolled his shoulders back.
“The last time I was here,” he said, “I was grieving for you.” He smiled sadly, and walked forward.
The vault led us down a dark corridor. Our only source of light was the amethyst lamps which turned the waterway purple as well.
Finally, we came to another silver door, rounded, and designed in the same style as Ereshya’s shield had been.
But instead of a crystal at its center, there was a hand print.
Auriel’s. Just like there’d been at the tomb.
He pressed his palm to it, a perfect fit. A silver light glowed, and the door dissolved, revealing a small stone room, a rounded quartz in the center, and sitting atop was the red shard. My shard. It had been shaped into a sword.
“You designed it yourself,” Auriel said, clearing his throat. But his voice was coated in emotion. “You wanted it to be effective. To cure as many as possible.”
“What do I do?” I asked.
“You stab the akadim,” he said. “In the heart.”
I stilled, my throat dry, chest pounding.
Auriel urged me forward. “Go on. Take it. Claim it. It’s yours. It was always yours.”
I approached the quartz, my eyes fixed to the sword.
Carefully, I reached for the sword, and lifted it off the table.
My fingers wrapped around the hilt, settling on the handle like it had been made for me.
Made for this body, this incarnation. All at once, golden light poured out from my chest, bursting from my armor, illuminating the vault.
Flames erupted down the length of the red blade.
My heart thundered, and warmed. My entire body heated.
But it was comfortable. Like I could finally take the heat.
Like I was always meant to be this way. I held the sword up higher over my head.
It was heavy, but I had the muscle to withstand its weight.
Then with the fires still burning up and down, I thrust the sword forward, swiping it left and right, testing it out.
“How does it feel?” Auriel asked, pride in his eyes.
“Fine,” I said, surprised, and frowned. It was strange.
When the red light entered me, it was blindingly painful.
Being in the mere presence of the orange shard had made me faint.
And now, I just felt … normal. Like me. Because this shard, this light, it was part of me.
It always was. The fire could no longer burn me. I was the fire now. I was complete.
The flames vanished from sight and High Lumerian writing script appeared down the length of the shard as fresh energy moved through my limbs.
My name was written into the crystal and steel. Lyriana Batavia. A match for my dagger. And my stave.
“You look just like Goddess Asherah,” Ramia said. “Fierce and powerful. Mighty soturion.”
It was what she’d said to me months ago on my birthday, when I’d first tried on Asherah’s chest plate.
“Thank you,” I said, with a laugh—knowing she’d done so on purpose. She’d known all along we’d get here. My eyes narrowed then, something niggling in the back of my mind. “You also told me I looked like an Heir Apparent.”
Ramia scoffed, her eyes sparkling. “No. You look like queen.”
Suddenly, Mercurial’s cryptic words, uttered months ago, right after he’d placed the light inside my heart, ran through my mind.
When the time is right, you will strike and have your revenge. And then you will retake the throne of Bamaria.
We don’t have thrones here, I’d told him.
The ghost of a feline grin appeared within the vault. Glittering Valalumir stars lit the ceiling—always a sign of his presence. I shivered.
“You will,” he hissed into my mind. The very same words he’d said that night.
My chest heaved, the weight of it all pressing down on me.
But as I looked at Ramia, I realized that Mercurial had only made himself known to me. The words we’d exchanged remained between us.
The stars vanished, and I turned to Auriel.
He’d pressed his lips together, like he was trying to keep his emotions at bay.
His eyes had reddened, watching me, Asherah reborn, her golden armor across my chest, her stave in my belt, and now the red shard, in the sword she’d forged.
The sword she’d used in battle. The sword I’d use to heal.
He sniffled, his jaw tensing, and then he laughed.
“Come on,” he said, wiping his eyes. Then he reached for the hilt of his sword. “Let’s get Rhyan back.”