Page 73 of Summer of Sacrifice

Tonight, we call upon Fate and all its threads.

Tonight, we call upon the spirits of the future,

Of the Sisters Solstice.”

“So mote it be,” the Sisters echoed, Thanasim’s power snaking out to wind around the locket in thick, inky tendrils of smoke.

“Tonight we call upon vines of power,

The Source of magic.

Tonight, we command a piece of each,

Leave these godly bodies,

Locked away until the proper time.”

“So mote it be.”

Thunder crashed, the gazebo’s glass shaking, as Thanasim’s grief curled within her. As his power wound around the locket, waiting.

A glowing, silken strand of rose-gold magic flowed from Asteria’s heart into the locket. A black vine of shadow and night slithered from Thanasim, flecks like stars glistening in its midst. It, too, disappeared into the locket, the waiting tendrils of his power snapping it shut, sealing the spell.

“So mote it be,” they all said in tearful unison.

“May love be what binds us,” Asteria said shakily.

“May love be what binds us,” they echoed.

Asteria looked at each of her children as the locket floated to Thanasim. He clasped his hand around it, and she spoke with a trembling voice. “In order for Athania to return here, she will need both of our powers or all four of you. Now, part of our power is in the locket, holding our godliness. It is enough to make it more difficult for her, but not enough to thwart her fully.”

The Sisters nodded solemnly.

“Each Solstice and Equinox, you will convene. Your magic is strongest on those nights. Otherwise, it is not safe for you to even speak to one another. If she takes enough of the power within all four of you…”

“She won’t.” This from Talan, her eyes alight. Fierce.

Thunder crashed again, Thanasim’s raging turmoil coming from the clouds as savagely as within the bond. “It’s time,” he said quietly. Firmly.

One by one, they held their daughters for what they all knew would be the last time, though they were loath to admit it.

“I can’t watch you all leave,” Hissa cried. “I love you.” And she was gone. Asteria thought her knees would buckle.

“Everything will be all right.” Monarch disappeared with tears on her cheeks and a morose smile.

“I’m proud of you, Mummy.” Talan’s words broke Asteria’s already fractured heart. “I see you. I feel your heart. Everything you do is for us.” Talan touched her hand to her mother’s heart and was gone, Asteria’s chest cold in her daughters’ absence.

“I love you both,” Belfry said through a torrent of tears. “And I will find a way to end this.” Then, she was gone, and Thanasim barely caught Asteria before she collapsed.

In a heap on the floor of the gazebo, Thanasim took Asteria’s face in his hands. She could feel the tremble in his fingertips, the fraying, unravelling of their bond already beginning.

“I will always find you,” he whispered, his eyes glistening.

His body began to shift. To dematerialise and bleed into the shadows until he, too, was gone.

Asteria was cleaved in two.

The bond snapped, a pain unlike anything she’d ever felt. She roared in agony, weeping for her loves—all of them. Her magic was beginning to thin, the well filling with water, diluting her.

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