Page 31 of The Legacy of Ophelia
“But have they faltered recently?”
Vale paused, chewing her lip.
“Have they?” I whispered.
“There was a moment,” she muttered, eyes flashing up to mine, still swirling silver. “Yesterday. A stutter, where every Fate cut out.”
Valyrie nodded. “Echnid has been seeking ways to sever any warrior ties with the gods beyond his own. That is the first step in his plan to fully seize power.”
“Can he do that?” Erista gasped, her frame tense. The Soulguider advisors and Meridat all went equally still, likely considering how that would damage their connection to their spirit tending responsibilities.
“Not easily,” Valyrie answered. “And not quickly. That may be your one saving grace.”
“But if warriors do not keep the gods, how will them being severed affect things?” Santorina asked, stare bounding between us all.
Meridat explained, “We may not pray to them, but their magic is woven through the world. It could uproot the very nature of all life and power on Ambrisk. Banishing the gods could leave their magic present, but erasing the power all together…That could wipe out the legions of us who do rely on godly magic to uphold our responsibilities, or erase Soulguider demigod bloodlines entirely.”
All eyes flocked to Jezebel. And after a beat of silence, she forced out, “Over my dead spirit will Echnid take anything else from me.”
“You truly ring with the blood of the demigoddess,” Valyrie observed, admiration burning in her tone. And Jezebel stood straighter.
The Angel went on, “You warriors are our living legacy. And if you are what we have left to grace the world with—all hope of the stars running through the veins of magic we have passed down—you mustn’t waste it. I suggest you ask what you wantyourlegacy to be as well.” Her attention landed on me, the pressure of thousands of lives in her stare. “Stand as one or fall as many.” Stars whirled through the ether around her wings. “I must go now. My absence will be noticed.”
With that, the Starsearcher Angel lifted one of the wicker shades, strode right into the courtyard of Meridat’s manor, and beat her powerful wings to take off into the air, stars and lilac ether swirling in her wake. As the echoes of her magic faded from the space, we waited in tense silence.
Finally, I looked to Meridat and declared once and for all, “We need allies.”
My head was poundingwith the plans we’d been making all afternoon when I pushed open the entrance to the guest house and slammed into Santorina.
“Sorry,” I said, stepping aside and holding the door for her.
“It’s all right.” She straightened her dress, the thick leather belt around her waist holding a pristine set of knives. “Actually, I was looking for you.”
My shoulders fell. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing exactly.” She inclined her head toward the private study off the sitting room, and I followed.
Once the door closed, only the tall, book-and-artifact laden shelves looking down on us, I propped myself on the edge of the desk, sighing. “I’m not sure I can handle more bad news, so tell me quickly.”
My mind went to the fae, sequestered in one of the rooms in this very house under Soulguider guard, and Rina’s Bounty blood we hadn’t deciphered yet.
But she said, “I got a message from Ophelia last night.”
“Different than what she sends to you every night?” Using those shells, Ophelia contacted Rina every night to ask that we were okay. And every night, Rina returned the question.
Her lips pressed into a line. “She asked me to ensure Tolek stays away from the palace. That we’re looking out for him so he doesn’t come for her.”
I pulled the leather band from my hair, running my hands through it. “I’ve tried reasoning with him, but he insists?—”
“I know,” Rina said, nodding. “But Ophelia is worried. I don’t know, maybe we can assign him another task?”
Tolek would never give up on rescuing Ophelia. That much was certain. I knew that, Rina knew that, and Ophelia damn well knew that. He was furious that we weren’t staging a rescue attempt for her and Malakai, and every damn day pushed him closer to the point of no return. I wasn’t sure what I could do to drag him back without leaning into his anger, but if Ophelia asked…
“I’ll figure something out,” I told her.
“Thank you,” Santorina said. And it was clear a sliver of tension unwound from her spine in sharing this burden with me.
“Are you ready for what you have to do?” I asked as we left the study to find the others for dinner. We’d agreed to venture into Xenovia proper for a last meal before tomorrow was consumed with final preparations. Before the day after, when what remained of our family was divided yet again.
