“They’re clues to what we might face or where we should look,” I said. And when Ophelia smiled at me from across the table, there was so much hope shining in her eyes.
“This could change everything. Give us an advantage we need heading into those final two trials. And maybe…maybe even a reason forwhythis is all happening, if we look in the right place.” Ophelia whipped her head toward Mila. “You’re a genius. Thank you.”
“Happy to help, Revered.”
Cypherion said, “And the Starsearcher constellation?”
“Valyrie’s Heart,” Mila amended. “That’s the nickname at least. It’s a maiden and a huntsman.” As she spoke, I flipped through the encyclopedia again. “The Fated Lovers legend says the two fell in love but were forbidden from ever being near one another, and Valyrie herself facilitated a way for their love to resound through the eons by casting them into the sky and creating her own constellation before the Ascension. Though no one can confirm or deny if it’s actually true, it holds the name of her heart because she loved the two dearly and wanted their happiness enough to put some of her very self into the magic that bound them to the heavens. Each night, she would find them through her telescope to say a heartwarming hellofrom Ambrisk. It’s a tragic story of sacrifice, really, but it’s also beautiful.”
We all stared at Mila for a moment as she finished, her eyes shining. Malakai shrugged. “She knows her stars.”
“That she does,” I agreed.
“We need to figure out what symbol could have to do with Valyrie’s heart,” Ophelia said, more alive than I’d seen her in days. As if this new promise swallowed up some of the stagnation she’d been wrestling with. “Then, maybe we’ll be able to pair it with what Tolek and Mora are translating from the scrolls and decipher what’s waiting in Valyn.”
“Are we certain her trial will even be in Valyn?” Malakai asked, a bit warily.
“Titus seemed to know something,” Ophelia said. “It’s where we’ll start.”
And get Vale back, no one added aloud.
“What’s the Soulguider constellation?” Lancaster asked.
Jezebel, who had been conferring with Erista, raised a brow at him. “Do you ancient immortals truly not know?”
But Lancaster merely sighed. “First off, Mystique, we are not immortals. We can be killed, but are simply highly skilled at avoiding it?—”
Santorina scoffed.
Lancaster squinted at her. “Secondly, if we do not fall prey to foul play, it takes millennia for our natural causes of death to befall us, but they do. And third, the constellations are categorized differently in Vercuella. Not only do we see different ones based on location, but those that we all share have different meanings.”
“We understand that,” Ophelia said, rolling her eyes. “I think my sister assumed you’d gotten bored in those many non-immortal centuries and had researched them.”
Lancaster groaned, apparently ready to continue this debate with Ophelia, but Mila interrupted, “Xenique’s constellation has been right in front of us.”
Erista and Mila exchanged a knowing look.
“What now?” Lancaster grumbled.
Ducking under the table, Mila pulled out the books she and Malakai had found in the fae queen’s library.
The male narrowed his eyes. “Are those?—”
“Yes,” I interrupted, and Lancaster grumbled.
I still doubted Malakai and Mila had asked permission to borrow the tomes, but I didn’t truly care. That queen was entitled. She deserved to have something taken from her after how she toyed with us.
Finding the page, Mila plopped the book down on the table before Lancaster and Mora and asked, “How much do you know about sphinxes?”
“Sphinxes?” CK echoed.
“Legends say Xenique had quite a preference of them,” Erista said. “And they’re largely a symbol of Artale, marking historic sites like our capital monuments, Gates of Angeldust, the Artiste of Artale’s Corridor.” She waved a hand as if to saythe list goes onand pursed her lips. “None have ever been seen alive, so I’m not sure where it points, but the Soulguider constellation is the sphinx.”
“Sounds like the exact thing that would be tangled up in a hidden piece of her power,” Ophelia declared. “We head to Valyn first and chase the Fated Lovers, but then, we search for lost sphinxes.”
And when Ophelia grinned, it was lit with as much fire as a phoenix’s wings.
“Ready for bed?”Ophelia asked, cutting through the swarm of theories my mind had become. It was only us left in the room now, the inn quiet. “Tomorrow’s ride will be long.”
