Page 160 of The Cerulean Sister
I search the dark courtyard for my sister.
Selene ran out only moments before I did, but I cannot see her figure either.
My eyes burn from the heat and smoke, my vision warped from the brilliant orange blaze, making the courtyard look pitch black around me.
The fire takes hold of the temple fully, crackling behind me, popping and groaning like a great campfire. I can smell the smoke still sticking to my hair and feel the temperature around me slowly rising.
A radiant glow from the flames bathes my extended, searching hands in orange.
I can finally see the bright white of Leema's dress, blotchy and bloodstained. My breath returns to me at the sight of her holding onto Calliape, waiting in safety.
99 walks passed Selene, his armor cast in the same brilliant light as the one reflected in her wide, stunned eyes.
I reach for his forearms to hold myself up when he sends calm, soothing affection to me. Every nerve ending singed by what happened suddenly relaxes. Our tether was open the entire time; he knows what transpired in there.
He stands in front of me, his helmet tilting down, roaming over my body, likely to check for injuries that I am too dazed to notice.
"It is over," I say.
His chest heaves when he hears my voice.
I surprise myself at how true my statement really is. I am not as traumatized as I was when I came face-to-face with Crixa before. I feel no guilt or shame for what I did, only intense relief.
The pressure dissolving from my muscles releases small spikes of ecstasy with each passing moment, each cracking of burned temple wood, each blink of better vision as the fire grows.
The eclipse hue of the courtyard is replaced by golden, angry light, highlighting the ornate pillars, casting the moon flowers in amber, and exposing the more than a dozen Viathans standing behind Leema and the others.
Viathan guards who were stationed here when I arrived, but also ones who came with 99, their formation still and motionless, as if they are awaiting orders.
99's rough knuckles gingerly caress my cheek. "You forbade them from entering the temple."
I realize he is right. He instructed the commanders waiting for me here to follow my orders and they did.
But so did 99. He waited for me outside, knew I had it under control. It is one thing for him to say he knows I am capable, but a whole different sensation when it likely took everything in him to stand idle and wait for me.
I hug him tightly, pressing my face into his chest armor and savoring the feel of his forearms wrapped around my back.
He whispers into our tether that everything is going to be alright, that it is over, but I can feel the nerves he is trying to pacify, ones that tell me he is not sure what consequences will come now.
The feeling doesn't stop when he lets me go, a sense of underlying dread seeping in and filling me up.
Then my ears pop. My eyes water in a gush of tears across my lower lids and my vision is suddenly clearer.
I know what it is the moment I look up into the sky.
A faintly iridescent film falls away like a giant dome of protection over the city, the Estate, the stones.
Selene feels it too.
She stands next to me while we both realize the cost of ending things.
The Highest Priestess of Cosima is dead, and her protection ward around the city, keeping us all safe from the true enemy, has died with her.
Chapter
Forty-Two
“The ward is down," Selene announces softly, her eyes shifting across the sky.
