Page 57 of Born of Starlight
I sighed out, “Well…I have a headache and could use a bath. You’ll be alright if I head back?”
“Of course.” He smirked conspiratorially as I rose. “Asterie—if he breaks your heart, I will delight in breaking every bone in his body.”
Emmerick’s eyes went lethally dark. The jovial boy who had swung helplessly at Specters, taught me to ride a horse and saved me from a Lynx would no doubt defend me.
I was not without attachments—Emmerick was a friend.
“How brutal, brotherly and completely unnecessary.” My tone became playful and lighter than I’d ever heard. I stole one last sip of wine before standing. “If it comes to it, I have a few tricks for that up my sleeve.”
“I would put a good coin on that.”
“Goodnight, Em.”
* * *
The songof passing light-bringers greeted me as my boots hit the stoop outside the pub. I stepped down into the crowd and was ushered by the flow of bodies moving through the streets. The night air cleared my mind, and the hymns of those celebrating were a welcome contradiction to my warring thoughts.
My muscles ached from the full day of travel. I’d rushed my bath earlier and was eager to return to the inn for another. Yet the celebrations looked so joyous—just a moment would be good for me.
I happily fell into stride behind a young family. Baskets of candlesticks were worn on each of the children’s arms. One child was tucked sleepily to their mother’s side, and a smaller child sat atop his father’s shoulders, eyes ablaze, staring with wide-eyed bewilderment at the glowing streets. My wine-softened vision followed the child’s eyeline. Thousands of candles lit the doorsteps of shops, flats and establishments. Itwasmesmerizing.
A tug on my dress made me look down.
The older child, a girl no more than six, grasped the dark blue linen of my dress and held a candle up to me. My eyes widened—I’d never actually been around children, and I didn’t know how to react.
Crouching down to her level, I awkwardly asked, “For me?”
Her tiny curl-topped head nodded. “For the Source of Sun, Astros—to win his favor. He rests at night only because it isn’t bright enough, so we must wake him up. He and the stars protect us from the Black Moon Prince.”
Her words made a lump grow in my throat—such steadfast belief in forgotten idols that no longer gifted them immortality or Source magic. Everyone could learn a simple spell or two, but for mortals, magic was always faulty, fickle and risky. It took years of training for a mortal or immortal without Source power to master even the simplest of charms.
“Thank you. I will leave it somewhere special for the Sun,” I promised.
The Black Moon Prince was not a name used in the towers.
“But who is the Black Moon—”
The child was pulled away by her mother, who cast a wide smile over her shoulder at me as they continued along and began a new carol into the night.
The chorus of celebration traveled east, past what looked to be a temple. It surprised me that such an old house of worship still stood—it looked ancient. Something made me stop at the temple and look up. Its spires were five stories tall and covered in intricate details of carved limestone embellishments and statues.
Practicing the old religions of the Brennac or Phynnic, or believing in the Sources, was not outlawed in the Order. Yet. But the old religions had grown less common over the centuries as magic waned.
The crowd continued, stopping at each doorway, each lit candle adding to the glow. My feet were rooted as I continued to study the temple architecture.
“Enter.”
I flinched.
That voice again.
My hand was on the temple door before thinking twice. I’d never entered a place of worship before. Each step against the slick marble ground echoed against the ornate domed roof. The stone ceiling was carved with the same rising sun symbol I’d seen on the celebration bunting banners. The space was mostly empty save for kneeling stools around the perimeter and a large sunstone at the center of the room on a pedestal.
As I approached the sunstone, it began to glow a golden hue as though responding to my nearness.A defense, maybe? Interesting.
“It has been a long time since a descendant of the Stars has been in this temple.”
Sources, save me.
