Page 3 of The Cerulean Sister
"Can I show you something I just found?" I pull his hand over to the podium with the Viathan book.
He looks down at it, moving his head back and forth as if reading each line. I watch him concentrate on the book thatpreviously held my attention. His forearms rest on the top of the metal reading platform as he leans down, one of his muscular legs popping out in a casual bend.
I hear him say something but can't concentrate on anything else. I've never seen anyone look so . . . attractive while reading.
We haven't touched each other more than an affectionate hug and kiss in what seems like weeks, and it's slowly driving me to madness.
99's days have been taken up entirely since the news came about the potential attack. Recently, he is gone when I wake, and when he finally returns to our chamber in the capital building at night, his tether is affectionate but weak, like all of his mental energy has been sucked away. He often flops down in our bed and almost immediately falls asleep. Being able to hold him and hear him sleeping next to me is enough though.
"Ferren?"
My eyes shoot to his visor, tilted and waiting for me to answer an unheard question. When I stare at him, a little lost, he straightens and shakes his head in amusement.
"What does it mean?" he says.
"Oh, the passage?" I say too loud, having been caught staring. "I think the part about black selenite is describing a place, some kind of city. But look at this . . ." I run my finger over the next page. "If Mother can give her children gifts, then so shall I.Mine will be infernal, their ascension equal to the gods who slumber with her, but I will not slumber. I will walk among them and they will love me."
99 draws back. "That is . . ."
"I know. The first time I read it . . ." I shake my head, unnerved.
"I've never heard of this passage."
"Neither have I. The book has been altered so much in Cosima's edition. But I think the person speaking in that passageis . . . Well, I think it's First Son, so it would obviously be forbidden."
"If Mother can give gifts so shall I?" he repeats it from memory.
"I noticed that too and ascension." I point to it.
He looks down again, as if trying to decipher the meaning. "How did you come across this?"
I sigh. "I wanted to see if there was a record here, one that perhaps would not have been kept on Cosima, of priestesses in history who have been given more gifts, ones like me, who have not ascended in the traditional sense."
He turns toward me, his interest heightened from viewing an odd little prayer to following the trail I have found myself on.
"And your research led to that passage?"
"Yes." I nod, feeling the bumps prickle across my skin, his serious tone solidifying my own intrigue.
"If you find anything else on this topic, I would like to see it."
I smile and shut the book, leaving my written notes as a bookmark. "Of course."
The familiar, low beep of 99's wrist comm cuts over the brief silence. He pauses and tilts his head, listening to the message in his helmet.
"Forgive me," he says while still distracted.
I shake my head silently, letting him know there is no need. I don't want him to miss a message, especially because the ones that come directly to his armor are normally time sensitive.
"Could it be another mishandled translation?" He comes back to the previous conversation, as if worried he has cut me off.
I shrug. "Maybe."
I can't help but be a little panicked as he listens to the rest of the message. It’s never good news when 99 gets a call, and sometimes it’s even terrible.
"It's an update," he says, sensing my mood change.
"Oh."
