Page 59 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)

The temperature on the breeze changes as the conjunction begins its ascension to its final form.

Today is the last eclipse before Cosima is cast in total darkness.

The strange lights on the horizon dance in flaring streaks around Viathan, eclipsing the world as the sun sets, and when it rises on Frith tomorrow, everything will be perfectly aligned.

The soldiers are antsy around us, moving and leaning to look at the scene below. The people lining the front of First Son’s army are shifting, gathering their robes and sitting on the ground. The army is far from the walls, but the eclipse light casts their white silhouettes in a haunting hue.

And then a low sound floats up on the next breeze, a deep, keening tone echoing off the stone wall.

“They’re chanting.” I tuck in closer to August, the distorted melody turning into a long whaling note that makes them sway in a formation like the high grass in Frithian valleys.

August’s wrist comm beeps with an incoming message. “What do you know of them?” 99’s voice comes in with static that was never present before, prompting us for more information than we had previously given him about the people suffering from the delirium in the birthlands.

“The ones we saw were ill, blinded,” August tells him and then holds out the device for me to speak as well.

I raise my voice over the humming chant, willing myself to tune it out. “The one we came across deeper in the birthlands sat very similarly, waiting for the eclipse, but we were not there long, didn’t hear chanting.”

99’s booming voice cuts across the entire wall, commanding his soldiers in what seems like a language of their own. The turrets lining the perimeter begin to move, stretching and engaging as if they are alive and taking commands as well.

“They can detect the front line, even if it is out of reach. An elder priestess showed us where the boundary of the ward ends. They are placed within it.”

August spent days helping wire them to the capabilities they need for this battle. His eyes flick to each one as they whirl to life, moving in synchronicity and adjusting their aim to the distant movements of the people swaying.

“Calliape.” Selene’s voice spins my attention to her. She glances at August for a brief moment before wrapping her arms around me. “Why are you on the wall?”

I hug her tightly, praying she will listen to what I have to say so August can leave before the army advances. “We are leaving for Frith,” I summarize, leaving out the details of when I will join them on the ship.

“Good.” She looks at August again, more approving than she ever has. “When are you departing? Soon, I hope.”

“Now,” I say and detect distance in the way she is speaking, as if she does not intend to leave with us. “You’re coming with us, right?”

“I cannot. There are ends that need to be snipped from years ago, things I should have fixed but ran from. I need to make sure that type of corruption never happens again.”

“Selene, you don’t belong here.” My heart strings tense.

“I will not remain here forever. My home is Frith.”

I hug her tightly again, doing my best not to weep and fall apart.

She harbors guilt that cannot be cleansed with the burning of that temple, and even though I want her to come with us, I can’t deny her this opportunity to free herself.

We are running out of time for August to leave safely, and now that we know Selene will stay behind, he has to go.

As I pull away from her embrace, wanting to say our final goodbyes, my ears pop as they did when we ascended to Omnesis’s temple.

Then, as if my hearing goes out altogether, I hear nothing, the chanting hum ceasing in a sudden, unnatural close like the flicking of a switch.

Tension slithers through every soldier on the wall, making its way across August’s wild yet confused eyes as he peers down at the enemy now rising from their seated sway.

“They are running toward the wall,” he mutters.

I plunge forward to find white dots moving at a rapid pace toward us, the second row of First Son soldiers standing firm in their position.

Controlled chaos erupts on top of the wall, soldiers getting into position to fight, voices coming over wrist comms of the higher ranking Viathans.

I recognize the voice of Lord General sending commands from the tower he sits in while 99 gestures wildly to the commanders, urging them to prepare as he strides toward the communication tower.

August looks to me with sad regret. This is it. He has to go, and I have to stay behind until the enemy is fully drawn in.

“Selene, listen to me.” I pull her close, away from the increasing dread around us. “I made it to the temple of Omnesis. She spoke to me. First Son is after divinity for some sort of ritual. He’s targeted Ferren and me. He already has one woman, and he needs all three of us.”

Her eyes dart back and forth between mine as she processes my words rapidly over the sounds of the forces preparing for war. “Where is Ferren?”

“She is gone. We can’t be together. It is too dangerous. Ferren heard the voice too, Selene, the same as I have.”

She grips my arms so tightly her nails scrape against my skin. “Frith is the safest for you.”

A blood-chilling scream echoes up from the running people below. I jump as another lets out an animalistic sound, more joining in the haunting chorus.

“Stand at the ready!” 99 yells somewhere in the distance.

Viathan commanders in the lookouts closest to ours aim their weapons, cursing at each other and trying to figure out what the enemies are.

The eclipse devotees run past the first set of measuring torches, black ooze running from the eyes sockets of some, their teeth displayed in snarls as if they intend to use them in their attack.

Viathan weapons ring out with deafening force all around us, cutting down the first few runners.

Several fall instantly, but others continue to run as if unfazed by the pain inflicted on their bodies.

The turrets adjust quickly, aiming and spraying violent beams of light in peppering flicks into the rest.

I cover my ears and tuck into August, the awful sounds blending together in a nightmarish howl. When I open my eyes again, the valley below is much different. The bodies of the eclipse devotees line the perimeter, hunched and lifeless, a grim pile where the turrets could reach.

After a cold, silent moment, First Son’s army moves, groups working with the formation and catching the attention of every commander I can see. Glowing orbs of light ebb from their towers, engaging, but instead of aiming toward the wall, they face upward, toward the sky.

“Callia,” August pleads, tension running through him like a chill. He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me away from the exterior wall with no explanation.

Just as I duck below an opening, I’m blinded by a beam flashing from the top of the pillar ship, shooting toward us. But we are not the target. The beacon in the center of the city hums like a swarm of bees, the vibrations from it felt even this high on the wall.

And then the beacon itself sends lightning into the city and the Estate, so bright my pupils sting from witnessing it swirl forward and above us like lightning across the purple-hued horizon, crumbling buildings with angry tendrils, each beam snapping like rope then disappearing as the structure falls.

August pulls me to the stone floor, covering me with his body.

They’re using Cosima’s beacon as a weapon.

And with one more flick of bright light, so blinding I can see it even as I close my lids, another beam shoots over our heads and into the very tower 99 entered.