Page 42 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)

I follow her a few paces back as she slowly climbs the stairs.

They are so narrow, August has to walk behind me, but his hand is firmly clasped in mine.

I focus on the carved steps in front of me, mind swirling so fast it doesn’t even occur to me to be afraid until the old god’s human feet turn into fearsome talons as she ascends, tucked-in wings dragging on the stones behind her.

I hesitate, leaning against the rock for August to see Omnesis in her true form, standing at the top of the passage, waiting for us.

“Come,” she says as we reach the top.

The passage opens to a warmly lit, open-air temple, a mix of ancient ruins and architecture frozen in time.

Ornate limestone pillars line the space in formation, as if to hold a ceiling that once was.

The floor is a celestial mosaic that peeks through layers of sand where the wind from the cliffside has blown it into tiny dunes.

“The stone.” Omnesis stands like a living statue behind a temple altar, peering down at a precisely cut circle in the center.

The pool of starry water in the bowl of its skull slushes back and forth but never spills over the sides.

All four of its hands rest on the ledge of the altar, skin pale blue, almost transparent.

It wears a robe like I have never seen before, tied at the waist with a rope made of gold.

We step onto the raised platform with stone basins burning in each corner. Cosima’s stone is nestled into the perfect indent in the surface of the altar, a sliver of a sphere with empty places on either side for the others.

“Frith’s and Viathan’s remain in the temple within the Estate,” I say, brave enough to let go of August’s hand and view the stone in its original resting spot. “You took Cosima’s because the ward is down?”

“I brought it back where it belongs.” She watches me, birdlike and perfectly still.

“The priestess order has a new ward protecting the others.”

“Viathan’s fleet protects the city as well,” August states flatly, as if representing his own world even though he is unsure of her words.

“I care not for the affairs of humans. I watched Mother break the world into three, felt the ache of that imbalance since. I hold no hope humans can bring the worlds together again.”

“First Son cannot come here, to your temple?” I ask, not knowing if I have offended, but it seems the only patrons welcome are ones she lets in.

“You fear the stone’s destruction.” She runs her hand across the top of it, caressing fondly. “First Son desires to destroy them, but not for their power. To destroy the hope they bring to humans. But he does not need the stones to carry out his true intentions.”

I swallow hard, suddenly aware of the monotone note the wind makes as it prowls through the temple’s pillars.

“His intentions?” My voice sounds smaller somehow. “You know what he is planning?”

August steps closer to me, growing impatient but too cautious to interrupt for translation.

Omnesis pauses, processing the information like it is checking the outcomes of different paths before she answers, to not disturb the balance.

“Three women, daughters divine but birthed of the three possible iterations. He vowed to give gifts as First Mother did, but his are few and his daughters will be closer to gods than human. This conjunction is the first since the beginning he has found all three.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Spontaneous, Hereditary, and Sacrifice. Three chosen to receive his dark gifts, to carry out his bidding. He does not need stones. He needs daughters. He has one well within his grasp. The other is known to you, and the third will be harder for him to hold than sand between his fingers.”

“Known to me?” I pant out.

Its floating, starlike eyes blink, its features unhuman, but the expression that crosses it sends my insides into a free fall.

“He readies his fleet even as I say these words.” She gestures to the open side of her temple, to the vast valley below.

“What is she saying?” August interrupts, his tone empty of any remaining patience.

“First Son’s fleet,” I half-answer.

August walks to the edge Omnesis points to and watches the horizon. When he looks back at me, his eyes are so intense, mine water from knowing whatever he saw is dire.

I hesitate to look, but my body forces me, and when I see the forces below, every other worry and question I have for Omnesis falls away in striking panic.

Black ships line up in deadly pillars, some familiar and some shaped in a way I have never seen covering the vast landscape, thousands of soldiers camping around them.

“Those are Viathan?” I’m afraid to whisper.

“Some of them.” August looks betrayed. “And others.”

“Does the Viathan fleet know how big this army is? That some have switched sides?”

“They have no idea this is coming,” August utters painfully.

Omnesis is suddenly next to us, looking out into the dark horizon. “First Son’s allies are greater with each conjunction. They will rip apart the Estate to destroy the stones and the hope they hold . . . but he comes for his other daughters.”

“In the Estate?”

Omnesis nods. “When he has all three, the worlds will never be the same. He will harness their power for a ritual.”

“Who? Please,” I beg frantically.

“Her gifts came suddenly and continue to grow on a scale befitting his daughters. I can only tell you what will not tip the balance.” She considers for a long time, drifting off and forcing me to wait before she continues. “In every outcome, you know it is her.”

Ferren.

It must be. Omnesis said she was an abomination in more ways than I know. Yes, she is in danger, but not from Omnesis like I assumed. From a force much greater than any of us can fathom.

I step backward, wanting to put space between me and Omnesis’s words, but she does not relent her piercing stare.

“We have to warn them.” August’s tone is pleading.

“I-I can’t fold back. There is nothing on the other side,” I choke out helplessly, the ward around this temple blotting out any divine gifts but the ones Omnesis allows.

“I watched the very first conjunction, basked in the balance of the three worlds coming together for a brief moment. I will witness the coming one because you have freed me. I will permit you to breach through my ward as a show of my gratitude.”

The oppressing veil lifts instantly, a lifeline stretching out across the birthlands, waiting for me to take it. I grasp August’s forearms, ready to fold us, unsure, however, if we should truly leave without more information after we suffered to get here. But when I look to Omnesis, she nods.

No, she bows her head, the sparkly liquid of her skull stopping just before the edge.

“There is little else I can offer that would not send the scales of our worlds into chaos. The rest you will have to invoke on your own.”