Page 30 of The Legacy of Ophelia
“I will not mince my words, Cypherion Kastroff,” Valyrie said, her wings flaring out as she commanded the opposite sideof the table. Sprinkles of that celestial magic wafted through the air, her power palpable and swirling against my skin.
I ground my teeth, focusing on Vale’s hand in mine and catching the Angel’s navy cosmos-filled eyes.
“I take it you know where your Revered and her star tied one are?”
Tolek and Mila stiffened. “Are they okay?” Mila asked.
Valyrie’s pause could have been remorseful. “Things at the Revered’s Palace are not well.”
“What’s happening?” I growled, doing my best to rein back the temper that had woken at Vale’s silver eyes.
The Angel swallowed, lifting her chin. “My god has descended into desperation, and I fear at this very moment he is preparing to attempt things that will stain his conscience and all of ours for eternity.”
“Do Angels and gods even have consciences?” Tolek snapped, his voice a bite of aggression.
Valyrie didn’t seemed offended, though. She tilted her head, a subtle iridescent halo of stars shimmering as the light hit it. “It is true that we are less feeling than some. When we were locked away and separated from our Spirits, they took all our emotions with them. We became heartless voids who only wanted to return to our true power and spite the gods who fooled us. Feelings returned in inklings as the Chosen retrieved our emblems and activated them, but when our Spirits returned fully, everything slammed back to living memory.”
Her face twisted, lips pursing and cheeks hollowing like she was trying to suck all of those emotions back into herself. Valyrie had a reputation of being ruthless during her life, but those who were the cruelest often had the most damning histories. I tucked that away, squeezing Vale’s hand to keeps myself from snapping.
Tolek wasn’t as convinced. “Thorn didn’t seem to have any remorse when he attacked me.”
Cursed Spirits, I’d thought for a moment the Mindshaper Angel was going to behead Tolek with the force of that one slap in the mountains. Time had slowed, and I’d been ready to slaughter Thorn myself.
Valyrie’s words were ice. “No, but our Mindshaper brother has suffered in ways that effect his reactions. And the rest of us are adjusting as best we can.”
“You fought against us, though!” Tolek roared. “You kept us from following Ophelia and Malakai.”
“We did as we had to.”
“Glad to know Thornhadto strike me,” Tol grumbled.
“I would be careful, Tolek Vincienzo.” Valyrie’s voice rang with the power of twelve Fates. “You do not know what you began with that push against him.”
Something akin to a prophetic snow slithered down my spine, and I interjected before Tolek could jump across the table and start another fight with an almighty being. “And now you…what? Changed your mind?”
Valyrie’s eyes dropped to my hand locked with Vale’s, the soft smile on her lips seeming authentic this time. “I have seen possible futures that have expanded my understanding of our current situations.”
My jaw ticked at the vagueness of that statement. This was why I couldn’t let myself simply believe the Fates and Angels. I trusted Vale with my entire life but not them.
Sensing my discomfort, Vale took over the conversation. “Have the Fates or Moirenna showed you how Echnid will banish the other gods?”
“My god operates on whims. With his power stored up for millennia, he has considered too many scenarios for even celestial beings to know what course he will take. But he seeks vengeance for ancient acts of war, and many end with repercussions felt across realms.”
“What are you saying?” Meridat asked with the cool control of a ruler who held her title for decades. She exchanged looks with her advisors.
“As Gallantian Warriors, you all have a purpose to uphold. Promises to guide and guard precious power on Ambrisk and maintain the Balance,” Valyrie asserted. Death bellowed from those words, from her starry stare and the white fire igniting at the ends of her feathered wings. It was an order from an Angel of the Gallantian Warriors, an unspoken command to kill the threat to our kind—the threat to the Balance of Power that weighed all realms on its scales.
To go to war with a god.
Mila hissed, “We’ve already lived through two wars. And not all of uslived.” Her eyes shone.
But…fuck. If Valyrie was telling the truth, there was little choice. Echnid may want to raise his warriors above all others, he may be trying to do right by his subjects, but what if it was a blindly righteous cause that shattered the Balance?
Trying to keep us moving, I asked, “How can we be certain of any of this?”
Valyrie took a deep breath and looked at Vale. “Fatecatcher, how are your readings?”
“My readings have been changing for months. From the blockage to the access to the gods to their ever-present humming through my mind.”
