“Celissia?” Wasn’t that the point of the facade? To win over his people through a strong partnership?
“Celissia is merely a temporary solution to buy us time, and a good friend to do so for Dax and me. But I won’t let her life become a figurehead for longer than is necessary.” Brotherly love wound through every word.
“I’m sorry, Barrett.” I squeezed his arm. “I faced challenges in claiming my own title, and I will stand by you in any way I can. Your love and respect for Celissia is admirable.” He brushed me off, but I continued, “Many rulers wouldn’t care for the well-being of an individual warrior. But I think you may be one of the few who cares for each person as much as the whole. And I can tell you love her as a sister.” My attention flicked back toward the rowdy dining room. “We have to keep our family close in times like these. We have to protect each other and do whatever it takes to escort them through the darkness.”
“If anyone can, it’s you with that Angellight,” Barrett said, his regal smirk returning.
I thought back to what Lyria had said about me being an easy person to want to follow. I wasn’t sure if I agreed—I’d made many mistakes along my path so far—but if there was someone worthy of being a ruler, someone who truly wanted to bring his people nothing but brighter days and plentiful years, it was the prince before me with his messy dark curls and playful smile.
“You’ve got an abundance of light yourself, Barrett,” I swore. “Your people will be lucky to feel it.”
“I’m sotired of these damn scrolls,” Jezzie groaned, flopping back against the thin blankets on the bed in Tolek’s and my room. Erista laughed at my sister’s dramatics.
“Me, too, Jez,” I commiserated. “I’ll be happy when we never have to see them again.”
Tolek was stretched out on the floor behind me, propped on one elbow and scribbling in his journal. “If we play our cards right tonight, we may not have to.”
He’d been working night and day to translate the Endasi, stretching the limits of what he knew and doing his best to make sense of what he didn’t. He’d even visited the libraries and bookshops in every small town we could afford to stop in, searching for anything that would help me find and capture Valyrie’s emblem tonight.
“Anything new?” I asked, brushing Tol’s hair back from his face.
His lips twisted to the side. “It’s going on about Valyrie’s friendship with Xenique and Ptholenix. About how imperative it was during the years the Angels were exiled from one another. And”—Tol sighed, frustrated—“I’m not sure. Some of it isn’t making sense.”
He’d been saying that for days now.
I peered over his shoulder, though I’d only learned enough to know a few basic words. “Is this the one about the final reading?”
Tol shook his head. “In the one about the races.”
That wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t see how the other Angels tied into Valyrie’s brutal games, but I shrugged. “Maybe we know everything we’re going to find.”
But Tolek’s eyes continued to rove the document, his free hand toying with my hair, completely consumed.
“Where the dead rest,” he mumbled. He’d been stuck on that phrasing since he first translated it, claiming something about the repetition didn’t feel right. What didn’t feel right to me, though, was having to visitwhere the dead restat all.
I suppressed a shiver, not needing to show anyone that the thought of visiting ancient catacombs didn’t exactly excite me.
“Let’s try the Angellight again,” Jezebel said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
She scooped up the emblems from the side table—all but Damien’s, which remained around my neck—and dropped onto the floor beside me. Then, with a delicate dagger, she pricked her finger, a droplet of bright crimson beading.
I couldn’t help but think of what Mora had said of the khrysaor’s blood. Of how it likely caused Sapphire’s pegasus to emerge and that it may have been the final step to reversing Kakias’s ritual, as well.
What had it been? As the only two present on Daminius, Barrett and I had been wracking our brains to no avail.
“As much as I hate this ritual, and it makes my magic feel riled,” Erista said, entranced as she watched Jezebel pinch her finger to draw more blood, “this partisfascinating.”
“I agree with the first sentiment at least.” Tolek’s eyes lifted from the scroll. “Bit cliche for a Soulguider to be interested in blood rituals, no?”
“Blood, death, spirits.” Erista shrugged. “All are simply tools at our disposal.”
Tolek blinked at her, then a crooked smirk bloomed. “Fascinating.”
Erista turned back to Jezebel and me. “Remind me again what this is supposed to do, though?”
“Jez and I both ended up on the Spirit Realm. If it was only my active Angelblood that caused it, she shouldn’t be able to travel there. Plus, it changed how both of our power feels and manifests. There has to be more to it.”
Erista stared at the drop of blood on my sister’s finger knowingly, as if waiting for it to do something.
