Page 44

Lucian

Past

The day before my wedding to Kerainne, the palace was abuzz with activity even though the wedding wouldn’t even be here.

However, there’d be countless gifts and guest coming down and my mother and Great Aunt Lucretia insisted that everything be perfect and twice as impressive as anything Medicia would provide.

“We’ll show those Aisthanesthai luminites the power and majesty of Luminista so they learn what they’re missing,” Mother said smugly while the royal tailor worked on the final fitting of my suit.

Lucretia nodded. “And Queen Silvara will learn what an advantageous honor the Leonine Clan will receive.”

I turned away from the mirror so they wouldn’t see my eyeroll.

All I gave a damn about was finally having a sacred and eternal union with the woman I loved.

My true-bonded mate. My matriarchs were driving me insane with their political machinations, obsession with flaunting their superiority, and vague speculations on how my marriage would benefit them.

The tailor jerked me back around so he could mess with the tuck of my lilac dress shirt, made from silk woven by the Delcine clan.

Mother had argued that I should have selected fabric from a weaver from Jagwolfe clan, but I wanted the exact same silk in the exact same hue as Kerainne’s gown, so I’d match her dress and show my commitment to making Medicia my home just as much as she’d make Luminista hers according to our betrothal contract.

Lucretia had been angered at the contract terms. She wanted Kerainne to come to Luminista immediately.

“Why?” Lucian had demanded. “You’ve been in a rush for this union since Kerainne first ascended here.”

“I’ll tell you everything once you and your bride come home.”

My jaw clenched in irritation at this constant secrecy. “Then you’ll just have to wait another fifty years. Which truly shouldn’t be such a hassle, given that you’ve already waited for nearly two millennia.”

And if the thing they wanted from the union would make me or Kerainne uncomfortable in any way, we would refuse to give it to them.

“I suppose you’re right.” Lucretia had sighed.

Then she’d reached up and ruffled my hair like she had when I was a boy. Her cheerful veneer returned as she asked for details about the manor house the King Kiernan had built for us in Medicia.

Kerainne and I were forbidden to see the house until after the wedding, though we’d both given Kiernan the rooms and specifications we wanted. I was so excited to see it and carry her over the threshold like in those romantic Earth films she so loved.

We’d spend a few days in our new home, then go on what Kerainne called a “honeymoon,” which involved traveling to other places for the sake of fun, not trading or diplomacy.

We’d booked a ship in Piscanos that would sail us to Verdan, Shyr, Kanuria, and various islands.

We’d spend all that time making love, trying new cuisines, and shopping.

I ached to make love to her again. The year-long mandated celibacy period before the wedding had been absolute torture.

Somehow even worse than the time she’d disappeared for over twice as long, much less the other periods that were only one year.

I think my impatience had to do with the fact that when we did finally next mate, it would somehow be different as husband and wife.

I also held onto a secret hope that once we were wed, Kerainne would no longer avoid me when she went into her next Yearning. What ever secret reason she’d had for doing so, maybe we could work out together.

Next the tailor inspected the fit of my dark blue velvet suit jacket and trousers, embroidered with the Jagwolfe family crest. I knew I’d need a cooling spell to avoid sweating to death under the summer sun, but at least I’d look pleasing.

My mother and aunt were talking quietly about the scrying sphere they were gifting us for our new house. I resolved to put it in whichever room Kerainne and I used the least in case they would try to spy on us.

As soon as I was released from my fitting, Mother and Lucretia tried to ambush me for more stratagems, but Gabriel Leonine burst into the room to rescue me.

“I need to go over my male of honor duties with you again.”

The matriarchs scowled at being thwarted, but as Gabriel wisely said the word, “duties,” they were helpless and I was free.

We ran from the parlor and out of the palace into the courtyard.

“Thank you,” I panted, realizing I’d been using too many transport spells and needed to get more exercise. “Which duties did you want to discuss?”

“None.” Gabe grinned. “I just knew you’ve been stuck with them for days and probably needed to escape.”

“I did.” I returned his smile with gratitude. “I just want this day and night to end so I can meet Kerainne beneath the bower and become her husband.”

“And we’ll finally be cousins!” Gabe exclaimed.

I smiled fondly at the memory of how he’d followed me everywhere when he was a child, looking at me with eyes full of hero worship. His delight at being told he’d be my cousin someday made him bounce with joy.

Before I could say anything else, bells began to ring everywhere in the city. At first I thought this was another pre-wedding custom like some places on Earth did, until Mother and Aunt Lucretia came running out of the palace, their eyes wide with alarm.

“Medicia is being attacked!” Mother screamed at me.

“Mephistopheles!” Lucretia yelled before anyone could ask. “Come, to the observatory!”

We transported ourselves to the palace’s observatory with the largest scrying sphere in the kingdom. Pollux, the palace record keeper, already had it activated and I froze in horror at the sight of luminites being slaughtered by the Evil One’s army.

“Fates, no…” Mother moaned, gripping Lucretia for support.

“Kerainne,” was all I could whisper with numb lips.

I tried to find her in the chaotic massacre, but the sphere was unable to zero in on one individual.

Gabriel tugged on my arm. “We must save them!”

“We can’t,” Lucretia said firmly. “We’d be cut down too, doing no one any good. Medicia will be taken, but at least the people will return home. Let us go to the welcoming halls to greet them.”

I released my wings. “I’m going to Leonine territory. Kerainne will most likely ascend there.”

Mother nodded. “I’m so sorry, my son. Stay with her as long as you need to before you can bring her to us.”

The welcome halls in Leonine territory were crowded, doubtless because their kin were the most affected by this tragedy.

Gabriel and I forced our way through the one nearest the palace and waited with his parents, who were comforting Queen Silvara and King Consort Marcel as she wept. We waited for hours upon hours. But no one came. Slowly, people began to trickle out of the packed hall, needing food and rest.

My legs were falling asleep, and my stomach growled, but I remained. So did Queen Silvara, who sent servants to bring food to those of us remaining.

We ate in silence, some watching the center of the welcome hall in fading hopes that a luminite would appear, others craning their necks to the door in hopes someone would come in bearing good news.

“I don’t understand.” Gabriel’s voice was thick with desperation and unshed tears. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

“Yes.” Silvara choked out. Tears ran freely down her cheeks. “Something is wrong. Very wrong.”

The door opened and the queen’s messenger came in, his face was blanched and pinched. “Medicia is gone. Mephistopheles has taken it.”

“And the dead must have been unable to ascend.” Gabriel’s voice was hollow with despair.

“Then where are they?” I shouted desperately. “Where is Kerainne? Where is my mate!”

“They can’t be dead,” Silvara sobbed. “They’ll come home. We just have to keep waiting.”

But I was done waiting. “I’m going down there.”

Gabriel rose to follow, but I ordered him to stay with his matriarch, who needed comfort as much as she’d need to delegate to her family to keep the kingdom in order until she pulled herself together.

But when I arrived in Aisthanesthai and saw the massive crater that used to be Medicia, I realized I wasn’t together, not at all.

I collapsed on the arid ground that should have been covered with lush grasses and clover, and broke down into ugly, hitching sobs.

The trees behind me creaked and rustled as dead leaves fell from their boughs.

Everything around the crater was dying, and so was my heart.

I curled up in a ball, not caring about my fine clothing. Kerainne had taught me that it was okay to get dirty. I must have fallen asleep at some point in my crying bout because the next time I opened my eyes, darkness had fallen. The silver moon was full, the gold only a sliver.

I walked around the chasm that used to be Medicia, calling her name in desperate hope that she’d somehow managed to escape and was hiding nearby.

After a few miles, something gleamed at the edge of the crater, reflecting the moonlight.

I ran to it and knelt to grasp it from its soiled prison.

The ground crumbled under my knees, and I nearly fell into the abyss before I managed to awkwardly scramble backward.

I cast an illumination spell and examined the object I’d recovered.

It glowed deep purplish-red beneath the magic light.

A garnet. Slightly larger than the one I’d found with Kerainne the first time she took me garnet-digging.

I walked to the surrounding forest until I could no longer feel corruption in the air, and buried the stone.

Eventually, I’d cut and polished it to make the mage staff I’d proposed to her with. She would need another one.

I resumed walking, and searching. A horrifying thought was forming in my mind. If the luminites hadn’t been able to ascend to Luminista, and Medicia was taken to Qua’ al-fán, then what if they were too? Would they stay dead, or did their new bodies generate in the Evil One’s domain?