Page 66 of The Oracle of Dusk

“Must you go so soon?”

“I must find Drakon, Your Majesty.”

“Your beast.”

“Yes.”

Aurora stepped from the undergrowth and onto the main path, hoping he would take her bait. Theron followed.

“And what if I offered to help?”

“What can you do, locked in the guest palace?”

“I’m not without my resources. And I won’t be here forever. Flora and Orithyia will take their pound of flesh, but they can’t keep me here for long.”

“Then I will accept your help… once you’re freed.”

“But how will I know where to find you? Where will you go? And will you get there safely?”

“Oh my, it sounds as if you really will miss me,” she chided him as they entered the palace proper.

“Keep me company until I leave, and I will take you with me to Aureum in safety and comfort. I will also ensure you get an audience with Myrina.”

“And is my company all you would ask for in return? Surely you would want something more.”

“You underestimate your charms.”

They stood in the atrium of the palace, the sun now fully set, and the halls lit only with lamps. This man was loved by both the sun and the flickering flames of firelight. His dark crimson hair, tied back from his handsome face, complimented his ochre brown skin and fierce gold eyes. The ancient robes he wore did nothing to detract from his burly physique. She was the moth and he the flame. If she were anyone else, maybe she could enjoy his seduction without reserve. But she was a woman whose fate was tied with Drakon, and ending the beast mattered more than anything else.

“I’ll think on it, Your Majesty. Tomorrow, you’ll know my answer.”

“Theron. Call me Theron, Aurora.”

“Goodnight, Theron.”

She left him there, his gaze a palpable heat on her back that chased her all the way to her room. It wasn’t until she closed the door that she dared to groan miserably. Had she played her part well enough? Though she’d watched the nobles at court dance around each other, even been subjected to it on occasion, she’d never properly played this game before.

Now she needed to decide if Theron’s help was worth risking another run-in with Orithyia. The monstrosities had appeared at the Colonnades if Theron’s comments were to be believed, but the high priestess wasn’t yet interested in anything else Aurora had to say, if the lack of an audience was anything to go by. And what if her scant remaining knowledge of this age was inaccurate? Aurora shivered. She recalled the threat of Orithyia’s switch, and had no desire to find out what would happen if the high priestess remembered where she’d left Aurora to rot. She couldn’t risk Orithyia’s wrath with everything at stake.

Aurora changed out of her gown and into a slip more appropriate for sleeping. She pulled the new artefact from her satchel, a pretty bauble that could easily be strung as a necklace, and examined it in the moonlight. With this, she could get to Aureum on her own. She didn’t need to play these games. With luck, she could get everything she needed by convincing the other high priestesses to aid her. And this time, she would approach the high priestess with her wits instead of her desperation.

Then again, Aurora knew just how valuable the help of a monarch could be in getting things done. Phaedra had smoothed every path Aurora had tread on.

She also knew how impossible it could be when one was against you, as all of Phaedra’s enemies had discovered.

Aurora collapsed on her bed and threw her arm over her eyes, sighing deeply. Tomorrow. She could decide this at first light tomorrow.

She didn’t remember falling asleep. Only waking up to a roaring heat, her joints aching and her head throbbing. Aurora got to her feet to find the world was spinning.

Something was wrong.

Aurora lurched to her door and into the hallway, the flickering light of oil lamps blending into the walls, giving them all the impression of melting. She stumbled onwards. Usually, there was at least a single guard patrolling the halls at night, but would they help her? Or would they leave her to be consumed by this unnatural heat? She passed no one on their rounds. Her only hope before she collapsed was the dreadful guard by the palace entrance. Sweat dripping down her neck and back, her knees aching, she made it to the front atrium of the palace.

“Trouble sleeping, madam fairy?”

Theron was there in the atrium, seated on her bench, soaking in the moonlight and surrounded by lush foliage.

“Something’s…wrong,” Aurora slurred as darkness swallowed her vision.

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