“The Rites?” I asked.
“The khrysaor.” She gestured toward the sky, the gold crescent moons inked on her palms seeming duller than normal. “They are often mentioned with the pegasus.”
“What did you find?” I asked.
The Soulguider’s headband glinted between the dark coils of her hair as she tilted her head, her hands folded primly in her lap. “There are hardly specific accounts, but there are hints. Tales of beasts ridden into battle in ancient wars, with wings of scales and feathers. Always both. Where one was mentioned, the other followed shortly after.”
A pair among legends.
“Sapphire’s wings manifested when the khrysaor arrived at Ricordan’s estate,” I said. “But Sapphire had seen the khrysaor before.”
She’d been there when the khrysaor first attacked us in the forest, on that journey to the Undertaking that set all of this in motion. The beast had reared up, thrashing its spiked tail and nearly impaling all of us.
That had been fun.
Jezebel explained she thought he was frightened then and was not truly a threat. Sometimes fear was the worst threat, though. The things it drove us to do…
“It has to be connected,” I said, shutting down my own morbid thoughts. “If the khrysaor and pegasus are mentioned side by side in battle tales, there must be a reason.”
My skin prickled at the consideration. Above, the clouds parted slightly, enough to allow the Mystique constellation to peek through, a shimmer of gold light reflecting off the clouds.
“And they happened to choose those two,” I muttered.
“Both species are known for being incredibly loyal,” Erista said. Warrior horses in general were devoted, but Sapphire had always displayed a heightened level of commitment to Ophelia. “They are recorded as holding allegiance to Lynxenon, Moirenna, andothers.”
I straightened. “Others?”
She shook her head. “It is hard to find a direct mention.”
“Lynxenon makes sense,” I said, scratching a hand across my stubble.
“The God of Mythical Beasts.” Erista nodded.
“But why Moirenna?” I considered. “The only clan that has any connection to the Goddess of Fate and Celestial Movements is the Starsearchers.”
“Perhaps these beasts are not warrior. Maybe that’s only who they’ve chosen,” Erista suggested. Of us all, she’d studied the gods and goddesses the most. I trusted her instincts, though something about it still felt incomplete.
“Andothers?”
“I cannot be sure,” Erista said, and that unfamiliar glint darkened her eyes again. “But the one recurring truth in every tale is that these highly loyal, mystical creatures were born for battle and chose their riders carefully. It’s almost as tightly drawn as the hereditary bargains of the fae and the gods.”
A chill rolled down my spine. “And if the pegasus and khrysaor are returning now…”
We both looked to the sky, the draping cypher branches swaying in the breeze. “What battles are they here to attend?”
And what did that mean for the riders they selected?
Chapter Eight
Tolek
The sand shiftedbeneath our boots as our party climbed out of the small row boats that took us from Ezalia’s ship, anchored out in the cerulean waves, to the little isle off the Gallantian coast designated for the fae arrival.
Ezalia and her people had been generous enough to offer the spot. We’d come to scout it with her a few times since residing in the outposts. It was the furthest from inhabited land that we could still access easily in the western Faelish waters.
The white beaches shone, grains of sand like diamonds in the sunlight and softer than an Angel’s wings. Palm trees formed a staunch border at the edge of the thick jungle, beckoning as our group trudged up the beach. But Lancaster and Mora went left, heading toward the jutting white cliffs that arched out into the water.
Ophelia’s court, that’s how he had referred to us. How he had summoned our group.
