Page 164 of Hidden Kingdoms

“At the same moment her twin hit the earth, so did the second newest little goddess. Yet no body of water was waiting for her. Instead, she plunged right through the earth to its very core, to the heat and fire and stone of the world. The shockedsilence only pierced by the lingering notes of Lune’s scream. The ground began to grind and buckle and rise, until up rose a mountain bigger than any seen yet. From the top, clawing her way through molten liquid that dribbled down its side—drawn from the earth’s core itself—came Suri, Goddess of fire and flame and embers.

“Exhausted from her labours with the twins, Lune declared that there would be no more goddesses brought forth from her. Another millennia came and went with Xol and Lune watching over their children from their domain in the skies. They grew into their powers, filling the world with each affinity. And just like any group of sisters, they laughed and fought and cried and raged and danced. Their very emotions shaping the land we now call home.”

Even as the last of his words rang with a finality, I waited for Ansel to continue, but instead, his eyes met mine for just a second, a small smile lighting them before he turned away.

Story time was over, I guess.

“What about the rest? I thought he said there were 7 goddesses?” I half whispered to Alouette as others began to talk to those next to them. The roaring of the fire, that had seemed to quieten as he spoke, returned.

“There are, but you don’t become a great storyteller by giving away the whole story in one go,” she said as she stood, stretching out her limbs before offering me a hand and pulling me up. “Always leave them wanting more.”

It was a fair point, but I couldn’t help being a little put out that I didn’t get to hear more.

Those who had wandered over to listen began to move away, breaking off into groups or leaving to find friends who had decided against stories by flame light. The noise ratcheted up as music blared through the clearing, the revelry kicking up a gear as they used a volcano as an excuse to let loose. I wondered ifnow was the time to leave. I wasn’t one of them, I was a stranger dragged into this world. An intruder.

Alouette caught my glance at the gap in the trees we had stepped through. “Let go, just for a moment. Just for tonight. Right now, everything’s ok. We both know tomorrow that might not be the case.”

I took the flask she held out, let myself swallow down more burning liquid that warmed me better than the fire had—the blanket falling to pool by my feet—and took her hand as she wound through the soldiers taking the advice she had given me. A faint breeze threaded through my other hand.

It didn’t matter that the last few days had been overwhelming in every sense; right now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Right now, I was going to enjoy myself, because she was right—who knew when I would have the chance to do this again?

58

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

KAIUS

Storming my way through the mountain pass, anger wrapped its thorny grip around my chest. Blair kept pace despite her smaller legs, the cold air making me keenly aware of the blood cooling rapidly on my clothes. We stepped past the wards ringing the valley as I called on magik to take me from this place. Let it flood through me as Blair’s hand slipped into mine and that familiar pressure bore down on us until we were nothing but particles in the wind. Twisting and turning and aching to forget we belonged to a physical body of blood and bone. I clamped down, forcing it to take us back to the palace, when a new energy reached into my chest, pulling at something that was definitely attached to my heart, and the course changed.

There was nothing I could do as we were pressed through whatever force it was that made travelling possible, until it spat us out into the darkness between trunks of trees that loomed above, cutting off most light. It only took a moment for recognition to slam into me, but this patch of forest to the west of the palace was not where I had been headed.

Technically, I shouldn’t have been able to travel within the bounds of the palace wards, but here we were. I’d have to let Bas know later that something was up with them.

I could make out the faint sound of people coming from a haze of light in the distance. Still firm and insistent, I rubbed at the pull in my chest. I’d felt something similar before, but this wasn’t easing up.

Glancing at Blair, her expressionless face giving nothing away, and she merely shrugged, walking away and disappearing into the dark.

I didn’t go after her. She’d be fine against whatever she came across. They’d be the ones in trouble.

Winding through the gaps between the trunks, all senses on alert as I followed the pull in my chest, whatever force it was that was calling me forward. I edged closer to the lights and voices, and a familiar clearing soon came into view between the boughs. Completely off any trail, I picked my way carefully through the cramped space, stopping as the sound of celebration reached me.

I didn’t venture on, instead keeping myself hidden in the cover of the trees that I drew around me. Calling on my magik to reshape the leafy branches just a little. The night would help, and my shadows could do the rest. I waited, anger receding into curiosity knowing that whatever reason I had been drawn here would make itself known soon enough.

Fires burned, the scent of jasmine floated in the air, and I realised what this was. I glanced up at what I could see of the sky through the canopy. Sure enough, there was Lune in her crescent phase, her three purple-hued hand-maidens circling her luminescent form. That meant tonight was Meirskjatrist. The voices melded into a hum as I tracked every face, noted every insignia stitched into the uniform that so many were still wearing. I rubbed at that space over my heart, eyes scanningfor any reason why I was hiding in the dark instead of where I should be. Back in Elodie’s room.

I wasn’t the only one in these trees. I could feel the magik that trailed through them, some of it coming from those who had snuck away to fuck against the trunk of a tree. Having been part of these parties too many times to count, I knew most didn’t bother to retreat to the privacy of the dark.

No, it wasn’t them; something else lurked with me.

The reason I had been pulled here became crystal clear as Elodie stepped from a trail in the woods just behind Alouette. Power buzzed under my skin as I watched her, the moonlight shining down on the lengths on bone-white hair that swept to the small of her back. My fingers twitched at the memory of it wrapped around them, at the taste of her that still lingered on my tongue.

My cock jerked at the tight black trousers she had obviously been given by Alouette. I knew the perfect body hidden under the too big jumper that hung from her small frame. The body I had feasted on only a few days ago. Ran my hands over, kissed every inch.

From here, I could see the wariness in her eyes, the way they flitted from person to person, never staying on anyone too long. They way her shoulders shifted forward just slightly, ready to withdraw into herself.

The two women spoke for a moment, and the lost look that flooded Elodie’s eyes as Alouette weaved through the other soldiers leaving her alone, wrapped its hand around my heart, squeezing tight. There was no part of me that wasn’t aching to reach for her—to take that uncertainty and smooth it away.

But I couldn’t go to her, not with clothes still damp with someone else’s blood. Blood I had relished spilling, but that had proved underwhelming in what it gained.

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