Page 45 of The Cerulean Sister
I can't get past the feeling of unease that has taken root in me. I keep picturing the way Calliape looked at me even after we’d moved on and laughed into the evening.
It was like she had more to say but didn't want to be the one to cause panic.
"I do."
"My mother died in that temple. Now, Leema is walking around that same place." The moment I say it, I remember what the Albright said to me. "She seeks balance, that's what the creature said. It said she would have it. My dream was not random tonight, 99."
"She seeks balance?"
"The creature plucked her from my mind, with some sort of premonition. Maybe Leema wants a divine child of her own, knowing it will be raised in the priestess order and eventually ascend. Maybe that is her way of balancing our mother’s death where I failed to. I am not sure." I run my hands over my face to stop my rambling words.
99 squeezes me. I have told him many times before how complicated my love for my sister is. How strained our relationship turned the more it became clear I was not going to ascend.
I can't help but feel like she is there because of me. She left the Estate because of my shortcomings and now she could be in danger, possibly mistreated in that temple.
I want so badly to just be happy here, whatever that ends up looking like with 99, but I can't ignore this. If I can just make sure Leema is ok, that she is happy and isn't in some far-fetched danger, then this almost pinching and ebbing sense of panic may ease up.
My palm itches as if it's covered in crawling insects the more I debate the validity and outlandishness of what Calliape said.
99 shifts, reaching for the data pad on the end table capping the exposed side of our bed.
"What are you doing?" I ask, squinting from the light it casts on my unprepared eyes.
He impatiently taps his fingers on the shiny screen, typing as if he can no longer let me bear the worry he hears through our tether. "I am requesting an audience for us both, to make sure Leema is taken care of."
"An audience . . . with who?".
He places the data pad in his lap and searches my face. "The emperors."
Chapter
Twelve
Viathan has two emperors of equal station, ruling as a single unit. Their ornate chairs are decorated with twisting metal pieces that loop and cut out in chaotic but pleasing shapes. Both of them sit atop a platform in the council meeting room that makes the one on Cosima seem like a small bedchamber.
Their expressions display apathetic boredom as they glance around the room for something interesting. It makes me wonder why it took so long for them to see us. I cannot help the resentment brewing for not prioritizing our request. For days, I was a shell of myself, staying busy just to keep my mind from fracturing with all the horrible scenarios I have conjured.
The ceiling above the emperors extends up into the heart of the capital building. I crane my neck to watch a golden orrery model map the rotation of the three worlds’ orbits in the space between, an elegant sped-up version of the passing of the three worlds' time.
I've seen three conjunctions play out in the faux presentation above us since the meeting began. The gold spheres seem tofloat on their own, and if we weren't on Viathan, I would think a priestess was kept in here day and night, forced to use her gifts to keep these afloat, and not the strange Viathan technology that seems to fix problems I didn't even know existed to begin with.
99 recounts the message to the emperors and the rest of the council members. They sit at a roughly shaped table made from a giant tree slice coated in a matte steel layer, beneath the emperors’ stage. I have been introduced to them all before, Viathan officials dressed in fancy robes, all giving an air of importance and respect. They know my story well, but the lord general is the only amongst them that I recognize, choosing to attend the meeting without his helmet.
Thea's sweet-sounding voice cuts into the Viathan space and does not seem to fit at all, like the metal walls themselves cannot repeat in a natural echo but have to bounce the sound off in discomfort instead.
I focus on 99 as he updates the council about our worry for Leema, what potential danger the elders of that temple have been accused of in the past, and how those rumors still hold true recently on Frith with those who lived on Cosima before and not that long ago.
He is speaking about Selene but never names her directly.
The lord general asks him questions that seem to be leading somewhere, but I am not sure what 99's plan is until he asks him directly after all the information seems to be laid out for them to consider.
"I am submitting a formal request," 99 announces, "for our investigation of this temple to reopen, as well as but not dependent on a formal request for the status and well-being of Priestess Ferren's sister."
I wish I could scoot closer to him, my chair too far away to press against him and feel the vibration of his powerful words or even hold his hand to ground myself in his strength.
"Priestess Ferren." Emperor Angara’s feminine voice draws my eyes up to her spot on the platform, her full figure pulling at the sleek lines of her dress, a beautiful silhouette even seated. "Do you understand the words of the 99th Commander? You wish for an investigation into the temple and the well-being of your sister?" she confirms.
"Yes, Emperor," I say with a curt nod.
