Page 39 of Of Stars and Lightning (Sun and Shadows #1)

Twenty Nine

ENEMIES AND ALLIES

MERCIFULLY, EVERYONE SURVIVED Flora’s Trail. The good news placated Sol and gave her at least a little more emotional room to let the Kerproot dwindle out of her system.

Sol watched the forest through the carriage’s window, fighting against the Kerproot’s sweet lullaby.

She was condemned to ride back with Cattya, Cas, and Zeri, while Jonah, Phil, Ezra, and Cade took another.

The names swirled in Sol’s brain, oily and thick, as they slammed into a pounding headache.

She couldn't deny the forest dwellers—real or not—had shaken her.

They weren't wrong. What was she doing here?

“You must close the Jinn gate before the moon shields the sun,

Yarrow. After that, there will be no hope.”

“There is no other way.”

Sol closed her eyes and let her forehead press against the cool glass. Screw the talking leaves. Sol would be fine. Everything would be fine.

“First time the oh-so-innocent-Princess has done Kerproot?” Cattya snickered, twirling her loose hair around a finger. “I’ve heard it makes some people sick. Not me, though. I’ve always had a great tolerance for it.”

“She took two doses,” Cas reminded, inching away from the flick of her hair. “That would make anyone sick.”

Cattya waved a hand in dismissal. “When I Awakened, I smoked Kerproot for days straight. Felt fine afterward.”

Sol cut her gaze to her. “Weird way to say you had no one to celebrate with, so you resorted to hallucinations.”

Zeri, Lady of Ventry and a surprisingly easy presence to be around, giggled from the seat next to Sol, but said nothing as Cattya narrowed her ruby-red lips into a smirk, her shoulders simmering with smoke. “I actually wasn’t alone in my celebratory adventures that week.”

“Cattya—” Cas pushed her smoke away with a push of his Shadows.

“Prince Xanthos here was very much in my company.” She lowered voice, placing the hand closest to him on his thigh. Although Sol tried to hide her annoyance, it was obvious her face twisted with it when the woman laughed. “No hallucinations there—all we did was very real.”

A wave of nausea tore Sol’s attention from them, from Cattya’s hand on Cas and the way he just left it—

“Must have been so lovely, Cattya. He is quite affectionate when he wants to be.” The words were out before Sol could stop them. She thought the wretched herb was out of her system already, but then, from Cattya’s head bloomed a branch of thorns and tiger lilies, forming horns around her forehead.

Cattya turned to Cas. “Is he now? What a marvelous change to his personality”

He shrugged, removing the woman's hand from his leg with a zap of electricity.

Sol sighed, placing a hand over her chest melodramatically. “I don’t know much about you, Cattya of Stone Ledge,” Sol said. “Only that you’re quite obsessed with my Royal guard.”

“Well, we were meant to marry before he very boldly decided to go search for you instead.”

That caught Sol off guard.

Cattya’s horns vanished in a plume of smoke, the Kerproot making the carriage walls shimmer instead with each bump of the dirt road. The woman leaned forward. “I’d be careful if I were you, Princess. You’ve managed to tally up quite the number of enemies here so far.”

“Careful,” Cas warned, his voice low. “Tread carefully, Cattya.”

“Whatever would the other prospects do if they learned the Prince was helping the Princess? That’s how you managed to survive that Trial, and everyone knows it.

” Sol couldn't tell if the spark of fire the woman flicked her way was another hallucination until Zeri quite literally dissolved it with a wall of air.

“Leave her alone, Cat. We are all here for an opportunity to serve her, to become her partner,” Zeri said.

Cattya huffed and leaned back in her seat as the carriage drew to a stop. “I’m not.” She motioned to Cas. “He’s not.”

The carriage lurched into a hasty stop, reviving Sol’s nausea.

Sol sat up and watched Cattya kick the door open and jump out. The woman peered over her shoulder, blue eyes wavering with an intensity that had Sol’s blood racing in alarm.

“Gods know why the rest of them are here. But I promise you, Princess, not everyone is here to help you to the end.”

Sol swore those horns broke through Cattya’s skull again as she stepped toward the Gods’ Villa.

The Death List was strung up by the entrance. So far, only two names were on it. With three trials remaining—and whatever else Semmena decided to throw in between—it was only beginning to look like the bloodshed outside of them would begin at any second.

Still embraced by the Kerproot’s effects, Zeri shyly introduced herself formally and asked Sol if she’d like to see the Villa’s libraries.

The mention of them alone was enough to peak Sol’s interest, so she agreed.

Perhaps it was a trap to lure her away with the promise of books and then ambush her—then again, Zeri seemed kind.

Maybe that’s the point.

Sol shook the paranoid thoughts away, and for once, decided to trust her judgment.

They walked in casual silence past the foyer and the kitchens, then past the secret wall entrance to the tunnels.

Sol had to clamp her hands together to keep from becoming a fidgeting wreck as they walked right past the six-pointed star on the tile.

But as soon as they stepped into the library, the subterranean world beneath them was forgotten.

It was like the Yavenharrow Archives in one room.

Rows and rows of wooden bookshelves lined each wall, and when that space ran out, they extended into the room in sections. Sol marveled at the way the shelves were filled with books. Not a single space was vacant.

Candelabras hung from the ceiling to illuminate the area in a comfortable golden light.

Although Sol hated to admit it, she could picture herself spending hours here, lounging in an armchair with whatever book piqued her interest.

Zeri ambled to one of the shelves and plucked out a book. She gave Sol a small smile. “They have things here I cannot find in Ventry.”

Sol examined the bookshelves, deciding to start her exploring on a particularly dusty one. “What does Ventry primarily produce?” she asked, swatting at the flying dust. “I’m afraid I am still familiarizing myself with the South.”

Zeri sat on a sofa, plopping her book open beside her. “Seafood, Princess.”

At that, Sol grinned. “Oh, would I love to visit there.”

Zeri’s eyes gleamed. “You are welcome any time Prin—Sol.”

It didn't take any effort for Sol to become comfortable with Zeri. They spoke for hours, sharing details about each other’s homes. Although Sol had been told to say she was found in Graniela, she tried to lace as much truth as she could into her stories, still bringing Yavenharrow to life.

Zeri was fascinated by the idea of seasons and beaches with tender waves, unlike her own that were always chaotic. She shared that since childhood she was told if the opportunity to marry into Rimemere’s royalty came, she would be the one to participate for the chance.

Sol grew nauseous at the disclosure, then even more so at the fact that apparently most of the prospects here had gone through the same.

“We are all here because that’s what our role within our territory is,” Zeri said, lazily turning the pages of her book hours later. “Southern relations.”

Sol shook her head from where she lay on the carpeted floor, a pile of books beside her. “That isn't right. I—it’s brutal.”

Zeri shrugged. “Perhaps for you, who grew up away from the brutality of Wielder life. To us, things like these are normal.”

Sol shook her head. “I will get you out, Zeri.”

Zeri smiled at her a bit sadly. “It’s you who must survive. Not us.”

They only left the libraries to eat dinner, then returned with Jonah and Phil when they suggested they all go over the other god’s stories prior to the next Trial.

They didn’t know when it would be, but based on the unpredictability of the Vows thus far, Sol agreed they should prepare.

That, and she had no desire to lie alone in a cloud of her thoughts.

Zeri suggested the Trials might be going in order of the birth of the original creators, so she theorized Aquarene’s Trial may be next. Luckily, she was well versed in the god, talking Sol through not only Aquarene’s history but also shared Winderlyn’s, her assigned deity as a Wind Dancer.

“So, Winderlyn came from Aquarene and Flora’s prayers?” Sol tapped the feather pen to her temple, dipping it into a vase of ink before sprawling notes on her paper. “Are they… do they have tangible bodies?”

Zeri shrugged. “At one point. Once they left the terrestrial plane, their power was so great, unable to be fully extinguished, they ascended to the skies to forever watch over their people.”

Sol blew air out her nose. “I never paid much attention when it came to them, I’ll admit. I was more interested in the things we can see.”

“We can see their existence through us,” Zeri offered, wiggling her Wielder ring, the only thing close to a weapon allowed on the premises. “Every time we give an offering, we see it before our eyes.”

“Well, I just recently found that out.” Sol laughed, drinking a tea Jonah prepared for her to chase away the aches.

From the other side of the library, Phil sighed. “I usually don’t mind not being able to see until I am quite literally surrounded by books.”

Jonah laughed softly from beside Sol. “You are not missing much, little brother.”

Phil shrugged. “Still, I want to read the stories.” Sol’s chest ached as the boy plopped on the ground.

She nodded to Jonah and stood, making her way to the boy. The scar on her back ached, the pain radiating to her palm as she sat beside him. Ever since Flora’s Temple, both things had been pestering her.

Phil angled his head her way. “Princess? Are you alright?”

Sol nodded but rubbed at a spot on her shoulder in hopes of some relief. “My birthmark.” She decided to not mention the blood bond, especially since Dark Magic seemed to be a strained topic.

Zeri looked up from her book from her spot on a rosewood table beside them. “All Yarrow Wardens have it, did you know that? That’s how it’s almost certain Warren will choose you.”

“Any idea what it does?” Sol grimaced, leaning forward slightly as she plucked a book from the shelf behind her.

“From what I know, not much is recorded about them,” Jonah chimed from his spot on a couch.

Nodding, Zeri closed her book, throwing her hair into a knot. “That’s correct. It’s quite a mystery.”

“Did you all know,” Phil started, leaning against Sol’s arm, “that Winderlyn prefers offerings directly from the neck?” The boy giggled. “Fascinating.”

Sol smiled and tapped the book in her hands. “Want to find out what else he likes?”

Zeri and Jonah conversed softly in the background as she opened it and began to read out loud. Phil listened intently, urging Sol to continue every time she would stop to catch a breath. It was endearing.

Time passed, and with it the sun settled beneath the horizon, casting the library in purples and blues as the four of them finally exhausted their attention spans and just talked instead.

Between thoughts, Sol tried to formulate a plan to get them out, refusing to forget the reason she was there to begin with. Surely, no one before her had had this opportunity to see the Vows from the inside. She had to be able to do something they could not. Still, she had nothing.

She rolled her head to Phil, tapping at his shoulder as he lay calmly on the carpet beside her, seeming to be on the brink of sleep. “Hey,” she whispered, glancing toward the others. “I need to ask you something.”

Phil nodded, his eyes closed. “Mhm?”

“Penny… has she been back?”

She needed to speak to her, to inquire about the underground tunnels. Perhaps she would be able to take the prospects back with her somehow and guide them back—the girl had to know how to avoid the patrols down there. The rest of the plan, she was still working on.

“The tunnels below us have enchantments,” Phil whispered. “Sort of like Wards, but not Light Magic.”

Sol nodded. “Cas mentioned that.”

“The enchantments are only lowered twice a day, I think–I don’t know though, Rimemere procedures are always changing.” He yawned. “Penny can only come when they are down—maybe they haven’t been.”

Sol tugged at her braid. “Maybe.”

Without a sure timeframe for Penny’s return or knowledge of when the Wards may fall, Sol’s plan faltered.

Exhaustion pulled at her eyelids, making her yawn as well.

She was about to suggest they all return to their rooms to rest when a couple of kingsmen marched through the door of the library.

Conversations halted as they approached Zeri and Jonah, Jonah immediately standing to block their path. Zeri stood behind him.

“Tomorrow is the next Trial,” one of the kingsmen said, tossing an envelope his way. “You are all expected outside by dawn for travel.”