Page 48 of Fate of Echoes and Embers (Heirs of Elydor #3)

ISSA

The Ascension, Aethralis, the palace… despite having been here before, it was as awe-inspiring as the first time.

As we walked into the Celestial Hall, I reminded myself it was still day.

Here, the high ceiling illuminated to replicate the Elydorian night sky.

We’d come during The Trial of the Tempest, an annual Aetherian festival that tests the abilities of its participants on everything from storm summoning to wind whispering.

According to the guards, it was the last day of the trials, and those who had shown exceptional skill that day were being celebrated this eve.

We had been taken to our shared chamber, Marek and I enjoying the waterfall room together before dressing for the evening.

Mev and Kael were apparently soon returning from the Sky Pinnacle, a sacred mountain where winds were at their strongest and today’s test had been held.

Now, having been escorted here, I remained in awe of Aetherian architecture.

“How do they manage it?” I asked. It appeared the roof was open to the night sky, but I knew such a thing was not possible since it was still daytime.

“Much of Aetherian magic is still a mystery to me, even after all these years. Ask Lyra; perhaps she’ll know.”

The Aetherian in question walked toward us.

“Marek. Issa.” She hugged us both. “Apologies you were not personally greeted into the palace. Mev, Kael, and the king should be returning any moment.”

The hall was already filled with participants and their parents, with Aetherian council members and honored guests, also according to the guard.

“Everyone is dressed so… beautifully,” I said, their shades of silver and white hair matching gowns of the same colors mixed with deep blues and celestial inlays.

“This is one of the most revered nights of the year in Aetheria. Your Festival of Tides is similar,” she said to Marek.

“I don’t believe there will ever be another one quite like the last,” he said as Lyra gestured for us to walk with her. We made our way to a door that I hadn’t even seen, it was so seamlessly cloaked into the wall around it.

Stepping through it, we entered an antechamber that was similarly decorated as the hall. It was, however, quite empty.

“Is it true?” she asked. “We received your message.”

“That we are married?” Marek teased. “Aye, it is indeed.”

Lyra’s smile was as serene as her movement, as if she was an angel come down from the sky. I really did need to ask her how they managed it. “Was that really not the actual sky above us?”

“It is true,” I said, not willing to leave Lyra in anticipation. “We have it.”

“There you are.”

Mev burst through the same door we’d come through, running toward us. She looked every bit an Aetherian princess, her all-white gown shimmering with silver threads. Grasping us both at the same time, she held onto Marek and I as if she would never let go.

“You will suffocate them,” a gruff voice said from behind her. Kael.

“I don’t care.”

“Is that a way to repay your friends?” another male voice boomed.

The king.

Mev let us go, turning toward the others.

Marek didn’t make them wait. He opened the leather pouch on his belt, the one that once held his mother’s pink pearl that now rested on my chest on a necklace fashioned by Hawthorne’s silversmith.

Taking out the Wind Crystal, he handed it to the king.

Each of them stared at the artifact in King Galfrid’s hand.

The king looked up to Marek and me. “Thank you. I am forever indebted to you.”

“I cannot believe you did it. We want to hear everything,” Mev said, moving toward the Crystal. “I didn’t expect it to be so small.”

“Small things can be great too,” her father said, wrapping his fingers around the Crystal and looking upward.

With a wave of his empty hand, we watched as the stars in the “sky” disappeared.

Dark turned to light and clouds rolled in as if a storm were approaching.

With a clap of thunder, they turned grey as distant lightning flashed through the sky before the “storm” suddenly disappeared, replaced by sunlight.

Though we could hear birds chirping, I didn’t see them.

And just as suddenly as it all began, the “sky” once again darkened, stars appearing, twinkling as they had in the beginning.

Everyone, including Mev, stared at the king but he was looking at me.

“You did wonder about the ceiling, did you not?”

“But… I asked… you weren’t there.”

The king smiled.

“Aetherian whispers,” Marek said beside me. “Are there not those just as skilled who might hear us?” he asked.

“No,” the king replied. “You have your silencing mist, and we have our ways as well.”

There was an Aetherian equivalent to the silencing mist? I’d never heard of that before.

“I was told the Celestial Hall’s magic was ancient and irreplicable,” Mev said to her father.

“Both are true,” he said. “Without this”—the king held up his closed fist, indicating the Crystal—“it would not be possible.”

“Bummer. That means you can’t teach me to do that?”

“I cannot. This only works for the most powerful in Aetheria. Though your skills have come a long way, daughter.”

“Thanks,” she said, clearly proud.

“But we’ve much to discuss now.” He turned his attention to Kael. The final artifact. The Stone of Mor’Vallis which currently sat in Kael’s father’s crown.

But before either could continue, something occurred to me.

“Your research,” I blurted. “We reached the Depths before receiving any word from you,” I explained to Mev and Kael.

“Quite by accident.” I began to tell them what had happened as Marek chimed in.

When we were done with the story, I circled back to my initial question. “What did you find? About the Depths?”

Mev and Kael exchanged a look of apprehension that made the hairs on my neck stand straight.

“We found references in an ancient text,” Kael said, “which seemed to coincide with the journal and our earlier discovery. One that spoke of dark magic and a sacrifice needing to be made with the use of any of the clan’s most powerful artifacts.

Listening to you now, I believe the Crystal’s presence intensified the unnatural magic that already existed there, though we’re unsure who or how it originated.

As you suggested, it did not belong in those waters and made it especially dangerous, even more so than it once was. ”

“We did send a message,” Mev whispered.

I swallowed, seeing her expression. Mev looked to her father, who sighed so heavily, it could only mean one thing.

They had been resigned to our failure.

“What was the message?” Marek asked.

Part of me didn’t want to know.

“Not to risk it. That it was our belief,” Mev said solemnly, “that while the Crystal could be taken, the true cost of reopening the Gate had yet to be paid.”

* * *

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