Page 29 of A Touch of Stars and Stones (Kirrian #1)

sixteen

. . .

Aten

F ear.

Ice cold and more potent than I’ve ever felt before, it strikes as I watch Ever sink to her knees. Every part of my body screams at me to rush forward, to help, but as I step, my father’s hand grips my shoulder, hard and powerful.

“No.”

I can’t even remember the last time he touched me.

“What’s happening to her?”

“That isn’t your concern. This is her Transference,” he snaps.

“Bullshit. I’ve never seen someone in pain. Not from this. Not like this.” I shrug out of his hold and step forward, assessing everyone around me, looking for an answer, a solution.

I told her it would be okay. That it was nothing to fear. And now this?

Murmurs and whispers pick up around the crowd, and I look for the faces I recognise, scanning for any sliver of information they might have as to what is going on. This isn’t what happens during a Transference.

Rowan, Kamari, Darien, and even Aurelia all look concerned, their usually plain and emotionless expressions slipping.

“Make… it… stop!” Ever pleads as she holds her head in her hands, enduring whatever pain or punishment that Aslendrix has chosen to deliver. “Please, someone… make it stop!”

I can’t stand and watch. Even Lyle, her Advocate, hasn’t moved to help, leaving her to endure this alone.

I won’t stand and watch.

I break the informal circle we formed around the plinth and step towards Ever.

“No. Do not intervene,” the Maker’s voice booms inside my head.

“She’s in pain,” I shout back through that weird connection that forms in my mind when she chooses.

“That is not your concern. She is a Fifth and will bear all of Aslendrix’s power, as is her role.”

The word Fifth echoes in my head.

There isn’t a Fifth alive in Kirrasia.

Only rumours and stories still exist of them and their power.

But the knowledge doesn’t stop me from moving to help Ever. I rush forward until I slam into an invisible shield, rippling with energy, rippling with malice. It stops me from ascending onto that slab of stone.

“Ever!” I shout, hoping to get through to her, but something oily slithers under my skin, pushing into my mind—a sense of something, and I can feel it pull away the fear and panic as if smoothing my feelings.

The drive to tear down whatever is around me—containing me—ebbs away, and my muscles sag, relaxing, as I take a deep breath.

As I step back, I watch and see Ever’s breathing even out and see her fingers loosen their grip on her head. She tilts to the side and collapses as the clearing is plunged into darkness. Aslendrix, concealed behind a front of clouds, which temporarily blocks her light and power.

The murmurs turn into full-blown questions, asking what happened, questioning why there is no pillar of light from Aslendrix indicating Ever’s new Order. That’s what happens during the Transference, at least, it’s what occurred for everyone present here.

After mine, a purple glow radiated around me, indicating I was now a member of my mother’s Order, smoke and mist curling at my feet before I collected the cuff, now on my wrist, from the Maker.

It wasn’t the red glow I had always imagined, nor what I witnessed for my friends. But this, this darkness…

I remember Ever’s face when we were here the other day, when she touched the stone, something happened, but she played it off. A secret she didn’t want to share. That’s fine. We all have them, but maybe it’s connected?

The word Fifth starts on the lips of people watching, adding to the noise and confusion.

“Ten, what in Aslendrix?” Calix is next to me with a questioning look shadowed on his face.

“What?” I snap and then look around. The Orders have all stepped back, talking, discussing, no doubt, the fact that we’ve just had a Fifth announced.

“Let’s go.”

“No.” I scowl and look back at Ever.

“Leave her. Come on.” Crimson appears at his flank, and I look between them and to Ever, who still seems only semi-conscious.

I shake my head, and my jaw clenches, waiting for the backlash. “She’s one of us, whether you like it or not,” I say with defiance in my voice. “We should help her.”

Calix looks torn, but it’s Crimson, with her narrowed eyes, who says, “So much for nothing between you two.”

The Transference ceremony hasn’t even finished, but there’s no celebration, no music, and people are leaving, as if Aslendrix cursed Ever herself. But I am not going to leave her. I shove past Calix to find Kamari.

“Do you know what just happened?” I ask her as people continue to disperse. Only the Order heads, Custodians, and a few others remain, preoccupied with their next step now Aslendrix has granted someone a Fifth.

“That is not for here or now. I believe we’ll all need an education after this.”

“Stop with the bullshit. What in the Goddess happened?”

“She is a Fifth. Plain and simple. Rare. Extremely rare. This was destined, and nothing would change that.”

“What does that mean? Will she be?—”

“She’s fine, Aten. Stay and watch the completion, or go. It is up to you. I have a feeling she will need friends. Even more now.” Kamari nods and indicates Ever standing to her feet with Lyle’s help, making her way over to the Maker.

Relief slices through to me, and I sigh.

So much for keeping my distance or keeping my feelings at bay. With Ever, they seem to just be instinctual. Like I’m meant to watch out for her.

She looked beautiful tonight. The fitted dress accentuated her slim figure, with just the right amount of curves to tempt and make me wonder exactly how they’d feel under my touch.

She stood in the moonlight, silver light dancing around the crown of her flame hair as she stepped up, as if she were royalty. And she stole my breath.

Until her face twisted and contorted in pain and anguish.

My memory replays the similar look on her face as she dropped to the ground the night I grabbed her arm when she wore an equally pretty dress. The anger in my veins feels heightened since that first time. And I don’t want to know how I’ll feel if I have to see her in pain again.

Maybe she should stay clear of dresses and keep to training pants or leathers. My mind conjures her in the traditional Warrior uniform, close-cut and figure-hugging, and I lock down the thought, guilt addling my stomach for thinking of her like that after all she’s been through tonight.

When I glance back, she’s righted herself and now stands before the Maker, who places a gold chain and pendant around her neck.

There’s no mistaking the wicked look Ever graces her with.

Steel and fire and full of anger. There’s no fear in her eyes now.

She’s incredible . I wonder if she feels different now that she knows.

If the fear of the unknown has been banished and a new side to Ever has been released.

I stay unmoving and observe as Lyle leads her away. Closely followed by Kyra and Micah, the procession of Order members, including my father, and custodians behind her.

But it’s Micah who looks back over his shoulder at me, a smirk on his face, as he helps escort Ever out of the clearing, and I have to wonder what he’s trying to prove to me.

It flares something in my chest that sours my mood further, and I wrestle with it until there’s barely anyone left around me.

As the clearing quietens, Aslendrix’s light returns, brightening the ground and casting a familiar warm silver glow over the stone once again.

I sit down on the grass and think back to my Transference again.

It filled me with shame and embarrassment.

Disappointment. And a new sense of something awakening, like my new mix of magic was charging up inside me.

But not pain. Not physical pain.

And I realise, if Ever is brave enough to stand up and snarl at the Maker for putting her through this, then I should be strong enough to embrace my new Order and the powers it brings.

I’m done letting this shadow me.

As if Aslendrix heard my silent vow, my mind unfurls, my eyes sharpen, and my next steps become the obvious path before me.