Page 100 of Golden Queen (Idrigard #1)

"In Orin, there is a mosaic of Danu, standing against a field of stars.

In the tiles, there are smaller, hidden pictures; a frog, Danu's dragon, and other odd little symbols that may have no meaning except to the artist who made them.

But I used to play there as a very small child.

There is a little white rat in the corner of that mosaic with big, milky blue eyes. "

Cassius looked interested. He hopped up from his chair, grabbing another book and thumbing through the pages.

He was mumbling to himself so low I couldn't make out the words.

"Ah yes!" he said, sliding his finger along the words on the page.

"It was widely known that Danu had an affinity for creatures of all kinds.

She had a veritable menagerie, they say. Frogs, birds..."

"There was a very colorful bird on that mosaic as well," Io added.

Cassius nodded, "Yes, yes, well she also had pet rats—or perhaps it means to say she befriended rats, but there is no mention of them being blind."

Cassius looked absolutely ecstatic as he replaced the book and went back to his desk.

"I must go to Orin immediately—to see this mosaic. I will bring a chronicler to paint it so that we can study it in depth..." He was rambling, excitedly making plans.

Io cleared his throat meaningfully.

The master looked up. "Oh, yes, yes. Back to the point." He pointed his finger to the ceiling, and then looked back to his notes. "Just so. Yes...now, the next part is obvious. The sleeping angel bleeds red gold. That would be the coronation miracle."

My heart thudded in my chest at the significance of all he was saying. I could not understand how he could be so excited to seemingly find confirmation of prophecy playing out in real time. Not when I knew how that prophecy ended.

"We believe the next is simply indicating a journey of sorts—of her path to worthiness as queen. Angels weep. Angels die. Angels rise. Aelia! Aelia! Redemption!"

Cassius' face finally fell a little as the finger he had tracking down his page of notes reached the next part. He read in a less enthusiastic voice. "Death stalks across the plains as godslion's teeth rend flesh of the twice born king. Wings and drums beat. Aelia! Aelia! Savior!"

My breath caught in my throat as I heard it. "Fuck me," I breathed without realizing what I’d said.

"What?" Io said, his brows drawing down over wary eyes.

"The horse lords," I said, swallowing a knot of anxiety in my throat. "As they rode away, after giving me the elderwood seed." I pulled the chain from where it lay under my shirt. "They drummed their armor and chanted, Aelia, Aelia, savior."

Neither Io nor Cassius spoke as my thoughts raced. "I...I somehow don't think they ever made it back to Artax. Or at least...not without some trouble."

I suddenly realized Master Cassius was standing just in front of me when I saw a shaky hand reach out for the little elderwood seed cradled in my palm. “The eyes of Artax claim Adrio is the reborn first elderguard, a man whose name is lost to the cataclysm,” the master said in a hushed voice.

“The eyes of Artax?” I asked as I pulled the chain over my head so that he could see it better.

“The seers who live amongst the trees,” Io explained.

I had only read a little about the seers who lived in the forest. They were blinded from a lifetime of consuming the deadly druidscap mushrooms that ringed the edges of the Elderwood.

“I can’t believe I did not make the connection to Adrio being the twice born king,” Master Cassius said, holding the necklace up to look inside the braided wire cage.

He’d lost some of the exuberance about the prophecy, but his eyes still shone with excitement as he studied the little white seed.

I instinctively knew that I could trust him. Io did—that was obvious, so perhaps that was the only reason. But a small voice inside me told me it was my own intuition driving me to put so much faith in this old man.

So I told him the message from the Elderwood and everything Adrio had said to me.

"What else?" Io demanded, directing his question to the master when I finished my recounting of the visit from the horse lords. "What else do you know about the prophecy?"

The master had remained silent, wary eyes still focused on me.

He shook his head. "Little and less. None of us can agree on the rest. But I know now that it is because the events are in the future.

The other words are easy to divine. They have already come to pass.

There are concrete things we can look to for confirmation.

The rest is still to be, and the future is very hard to see for even the most practiced sage. "

Master Cassius read the remaining words of the prophecy, consulting his page as new ones needed to be added.

"She harbors the seed of salvation and ruin.

Aelia! Aelia! Hope! I would imagine that is referring to her blood and the effect it has on the godsgrass.

And then there is: She hides behind the beast while gold burns beneath her feet.

Aelia! Aelia! Traitor!" The master shook his head.

"I cannot imagine what treason she could be guilty of. "

"The treason of a broken betrothal contract?" I suggested, sourly.

The master did not remark on that, but Io looked at me sharply. "There is no treason in being with your mate."

Master Cassius continued, "The stolen shadow bleeds darkness upon light. He opens his father's eyes. The unnamed is made. Infinity is crowned with shadows and blood. Adrill, Adrill, destroyer. This is, of course, the part that implies some calamity that is of great concern to us."

"Who is this Adrill?" I asked, and then gave voice to something I was sure I would regret. "And do you think the black fire it speaks of is Amon's black fire?" The black fire was in the next few lines, but my mind was already racing ahead.

Io looked momentarily stunned, but then his jaw set in a hard line as Cassius replied. "No, no, of course not. We all agree that the words speak of the black fire of Khaxa in the Shadowlands. The great mountain of Khaszar Dun."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"Because I would not tear the fucking sky in two, Sera," Io said coldly.

I turned to him in surprise. "And I am not a traitor either," I spat and had the satisfaction of seeing him wince. "So it's not like we should start taking it literally."

"Fair point," Io said, though his jaw stayed as tightly strung as it had been. "So, this Adrill?" he asked Master Cassius.

"We don't know. As far as we have found, there has not been an Adrill in living memory. The name fell out of favor entirely once the prophecy started making its rounds through the continents. No one wanted their child associated with being the destroyer."

Master Cassius finished the prophecy in its entirety then as Io and I sat there, staring ahead. He added the new words, saying each of them carefully, thoughtfully. I saw nothing, though, as I looked at a spot on the far wall without registering any of my surroundings.

My mind was exhausted, and I was finished trying to find meaning in the swirling madness of prophecy. The rest only made it sound like I would be the catalyst that destroyed the world anyway.

"He breathes a frozen breath of ether that wants to burn the worlds to ash. Flesh is broken and black flame rends the sky in two. The dragon opens its bloodied eyes. It is hungry with her own fell appetite. Aelia! Aelia! Death!”

I thought of Eroa’s blood-red eyes.

“A flame is kindled as they watch and cry; she is the first. Her tongue bleeds lies.

The kingdom burns. The Golden Queen burns!

Blood will bear ash across the seas and the skies will rain fire before Malus rises on a tide of death.

Her veil is ashes and the taste of glory is her meal. Blood opens the gate."

We all sat in silence when he had finished. I had a million questions whirring unwillingly in my over-wrought mind, but none that I was prepared to give voice to, except for one.

"Why?" I said in little more than a whispered rasp. "Why is this about me?" My voice rose as I looked at them both in turn—the sullen Lord of Darkwatch at my side and the startled-looking master scholar across the desk, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Why is this about me?" I demanded.

"Because you are a descendant of the nephilim," Io said. "You have the blood of the gods, Sera."

Bullshit. That was the word I had used and the one that was still bouncing around in my mind as we followed Master Cassius to the Citadel Forges—where the master smiths were waiting to tackle the cuffs on my wrists.

Impossible, there was another one that suited the situation quite well. Ridiculous, asinine, false. Pick one, choose one. Any of them would work.

I was Aelia of Windemere, from a long line of very mundane humans spanning all the way back to Edgeon and the founding of Windemere.

My mother was said to have loved my father so much that I could not even begin to imagine that she would have been unfaithful with some. ..long lost nephilim descendant.

The idea was preposterous. Not only because I didn’t believe my mother would do it, but also because it was ridiculous to believe nephilim blood would have lasted in the world through successive generations of humans over the course of thousands and thousands of years.

It would have become lost by the time I was born—the blood not even amounting to a drop after so many generations. It certainly would not be enough to give me any kind of significance in the world. At least not the kind that spawned prophecy.

And even if I did believe the bullshit theory, what difference did it make? Why would it matter in whatever war was coming. And was that why Penjan wanted me? And King Behr? And was that maybe even why Io wanted me? To...to breed nephilim blood into his line?