Finally, she crossed one leg over the other and said, “You learned of the creation of the two? Did you learn who ruled them?”
“They were plucked from their positions in the sky by a holy being who desired children,” I answered.
“Correct.” Aimee nodded. “But that is who breathed life into them. What about whocontrolledthem?”
“Is it not one in the same?” I asked.
But Tolek answered, “Apparently, there was someone else.”
“You are clever,” Aimee told him with an approving once-over that had my hand tightening on his knee again. Before I could let out my snappish response, her voice became mystical again. “There were others. A pair of formidable sisters—longbefore the warriors you stem from walked Ambrisk. The very same being who formed her sons from the stars imbued these two with the powers of life and death. One to raise the constellations, another to hold their leashes. A summoner of myths, and a destroyer of them.”
Chills spread along my skin, and my heart nearly stalled. Beside me, Tolek was so very still.
“The mark of the gods was within them,” Aimee went on. “It was always told they would come again. Though no one knew how, when, or why.”
A pair of formidable sisters. The rulers of the pegasus and khrysaor, set to walk Ambrisk again.
It shouldn’t have been possible. And it didn’t explainhowwe’d ended up on the bridge or what waited at the other end, but regardless…
Angellight pooled in my palms. No, it was the other magic. The untamed one.
Imbued these two with the powers of life and death.
We were…my sister and I were?—
As if summoned here by the Angels themselves, Jezebel’s voice flooded the room. “Ophelia!” She burst from behind the sheer curtain, Santorina right behind her.
“Jez!” I shot up from the divan, but at the frantic look in her eyes, every thought of thefel strella mythosfaded, the light in me winking out. “What’s going on?
“We need to go,” Jezebel insisted.
“Ah, Mistress Death,” Aimee purred. The name shot through me—Ritalia had called Jezebel the same.
I glared at the Storyteller, looking between her and my sister. “What?—”
“Ophelia, please, let’s get out of here.” Jezzie’s face was so pale, her hands shaking in mine. Rina was whisperingsomething to Tol. As I looked her over, I realized her hands were stained crimson.
“Let’s go,” Tolek said in response, shepherding us toward an exit. By the look in his eye, I could tell he’d noticed the distress in Jez’s voice.
My sister whispered, “There’s a spirit. I could hear it.”
I blanched. “You mean…”
“Someone died.” Her lips pressed together with a flinch.
Even Aimee’s face paled. “Go, warriors.”
Jezebel had my hand tightly in hers, Rina on our heels, pulling her Seawatcher shell out to notify the others. Tolek was a step behind her, his family dagger discreetly at his side as he reached over us to pull back the curtain.
As we spun around the corner, I looked back at Aimee. Spirits, I hadn’t even asked her about the entire reason we’d sought her out. “The Angelcurse. The emblems,” I began, not wanting to say too much. “You know of them?”
Aimee nodded, face tight.
“We have one left.” I looked around. “Xenique. Can you tell us anything of it?”
“The sphinxes.” She bowed her head, saying in a voice I thought was hesitant and forced, “The legends run true. Find them.”
“Where?” I gasped, holding tightly to Jez as she tugged me down the hall.
