Page 36 of Summer of Sacrifice

“Seleste!” The airy Empress of Coronocco crashed into her with a hug that ended in trading kisses on either cheek. “What a delight it is to see you gliding through my halls. It’s been too long, my dear.”

Seleste spun in a small circle, her turquoise dress of the sheerest voile fanning out around her as if she were some great surprise herself. “I am your emissary, here to ensure you are well and up to date on the current chaos…I mean, current events.”

Laughing, Amira gestured toward a terrace just ahead of them and bid Seleste to follow her. “I ran this way to hide for a few moments of peace.” She looked over her shoulder in mock fear before pulling Seleste out onto the terrace.

The view was remarkable. Just below them, three long pools of cool water glistened in the sun, their borders of palms standing sentry, the perfect forefront to the great pyramids jutting into the sky in the distance. Dragging her attention away from the landscape, Seleste leaned against the balcony railing. “How are you, Amira?”

The empress let out a long sigh, an inaudible one she tried to mask with a smile. Dark crescents lay beneath her eyes, both of which were the slightest bit bloodshot. “I believe I’m well, but?—”

“I disagree!” The wispy white curtains acting as barrier between the palace corridor and the terrace split apart to reveal Rah hobbling through.

Amira released another sigh, this one purposefully loud, and Seleste covered her chuckle with, “It’s lovely to see you, Rah. Winnie told me you left the Druids to come here.”

“Yes, and he should return to them before he drives me mad,” Amira said to Seleste while glaring at Rah.

The elderly man put a fist on his hip, the other hand gripping the head of his cane tightly. “Are you going to tell her, or shall I?”

Amira all but groaned before turning to Seleste. “I–”

“You’re having nightmares,” she finished for her.

A soft laugh escaped Amira. “Ah. It is easy to forget how observant you are with that open, kind face. Yes, I have them most nights.”

“I’ll brew a potion for you and send it. You’ll need to take it each night before bed while writing your worries down in order for it to bring sweet sleep.”

“Thank you, dear.” Amira’s tired eyes crinkled at the edges. “I will take it gladly, but I assure you that Coronocco is prepared to be called upon when we are needed.”

“That is, I’m afraid, another reason I’m here. Is there somewhere we could sit and talk?”

Amira and Rah traded wary glances before the empress spoke. “Of course. Follow me.”

The room Amira led them to was one of Seleste’s favourites in the palace. When she’d aided the empress in her transition from hostage to returning sovereign in the Spring, she and Amira had spent long hours amongst the colourful floor cushions. Situated in an architecturally genius position within the palace, the breeze was always blowing in through one open wall leading out to the cool water of a private pool. Just before the room gave way to the outside, four potted orange trees bore their fruit. Seleste watched as Amira strode over, her indigo linen dress trailing. The swirling ink along her arms flexed as she plucked three oranges, tossing one to Rah—who did not catch it—and Seleste, who caught them both.

“I’m all ears, Sister Summer.”

Rah made several grunts and various noises reserved for old men, taking his orange from Seleste and sitting on the tallest cushion. “There now. I’m ready.”

Seleste smiled, peeling her orange and lounging on a coral-coloured cushion. “I’ve missed you, Rah.”

“You’re welcome to have him back,” Amira muttered, Rah scowling at the empress. “Carry on, dear.”

Seleste popped a vesicle of her orange into her mouth, relishing the citrus burst and the tingling sensation it sent into her cheeks. Wiping a bead of juice from her lip, she set the rest of her orange to the side and swallowed. “Perhaps this will not come as a shock to the two of you, and perhaps it should not have to the rest of us, but the most vital piece of information I can bestow upon you is that our Aggie and Grimm?—”

“Prince of Bone and Autumn Daughter,” Amira said with all the wonder of a grand storyteller.

“Yes. They are quite a lot more than prophecies of old depicted.” A question arose in her mind then. One that had bothered her since they discovered the prophecies at all. “Do you know where those prophecies came from by chance?”

Amira and Rah exchanged a befuddled look. “As far as I know,” Amira answered, “the one I learned came from the original leader of the Fourth Order, Lorelai. It was far older than she, perhaps a thousand years or so. But there was the other, the one within the royal Seagovian family, that was first told to them many centuries ago by a gôthi who claimed a goddess came to him.”

Tucking the information away, Seleste shook her head, braids slithering over one shoulder, and refocused on the task before her. “As it turns out, Aggie and Grimm are Lord and Lady Magie de la Nuit.”

Rah’s mouth gaped open, and Amira startled forward. “How can that be?”

Seleste swayed back and forth in a show of uncertainty. “That is what they are returning to Achlys to figure out. As it stands, Grimm has remembered a lot about his past lives and his time as the God of Night, but he hasn’t divulged anything.”

“This is…” The empress trailed off, her brows still raised halfway to her hairline, stretching the ink along her temple.

“I’m afraid there is more. We’ve discovered, using the map of symbols beneath the painting of La Femme Déchue and the vast astrological knowledge at Araignée, that Chresedia will attempt to leave this realm on the Autumnal Equinox, as that is the presumed date of the Deux Siècles Eclipse.”

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