Page 75 of Born of Starlight
Amara said nothing as she shook her head in disbelief yet waved a hand at my apology, her golden-brown eyes wide.
“And then, the prophecy told me, ‘It is time to act, Sister of the Stars. Go to the young Queen,’”I recounted. “I didn’t trust the voice at first. But it was so alluring. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I understand,” Amara spoke softly. “Cassidee and Wyeth are coming around. But Firose, she will try to make an example out of you. It would help if you appealed to the Central Queen’s good graces. Seek refuge there—stay in Luz.”
I nodded my agreement before looking around the foyer. So much time had been spent here. Nonetheless, it no longer felt like home.
I was eager to leave for Luz, toward whatever damned fate lay ahead of me there.
“How do you know the warlock?” Too much curiosity bled into my voice.
Amara cracked a smile. “Have you never picked up any of the history volumes I gave you, dear? I had a life down in the world before the Sisterhood.” She motioned to the bookcases around us.
I rolled my eyes, allowing my lips to crease into a smile.
“I haven’t readeveryone. Regardless, he’s an insufferable flirt. But he seems especially fond of you. I wondered if it might be something more?”
A lump grew in my throat at the thought of it, and I hoped she didn’t press me on why I asked.
“No, no.” She waved a hand at me. “Handsome though, isn’t he?”
My cheeks grew hotter. “If you like men with egos the size of the Hussa mountain range, then yes, I suppose he is.”
Amara chuckled. “He used to be very popular with the ladies of both the Courts of Brennax and Phynx until Firose got her claws into him. They were together for some time—if you could call the volatile nature of the twotogether.”
Every hair stood on my arms. I stilled, and Amara noticed. The thought of Fen and Firose together sent spiders down my spine. “And were their ties broken?” My voice went rigid, pressing. Amara’s brow creased—she knew my tells when withholding information. If Fenris still had ties to Firose, then bringing him to Luz could prove dangerous.
“What do you mean?” Amara asked.
“Firose met my mother in an Orchard—in Fen’s family orchard. She bargained for me…why was she there?”
Amara’s eyes clouded. I wanted answers. Amara was my only hope of getting them.
“Firose took ownership of the Lamoreaux Estate after all prior tenants were condemned to the Wastelands and Fenris was thought dead,” she explained.
I nodded but my brow furrowed in thought. “In the memory, Firose was interested in my mother’s Reverist abilities.” I shook my head, unable to piece it together.
“She’d grown intrigued in finding what Reverist magic still exists in the realm. I thought it was out of a personal interest in studying the magic, but it seems it may be more sinister.” Amara paused for a moment. “Your mother—she wrote to me when you were born. She was so afraid for you…I regret getting to Ikanten a minute too late.”
My back straightened. “You were there? The night my mother died?”
“I was.” Amara swallowed hard. “I sent the star that restarted your heart.”
“You?” My head was spinning.
“It nearly killed me to use that much of my Source magic—but some instinct told me to protect you.” She paused, eyes glistening. “Your father was convinced you were cursed. He begged me to take you away and threatened to offer you to the ocean tides. I thought the safest place for you would be by my side—where I could protect you.”
So the legends were part truth and part myth. The stars didn’t save me. Amara had. The tides didn’t carry me to Eros. Amara had. She was the stars and moonlit tides. She was the sun like her Source magic, music and joy to all of my darkness and midnight.
“I’m sorry. I have kept so much from you…It seemed safer for you if you didn’t know. Safer if Firose didn’t know I’d had a hand in saving you. Despite her, I tried to fill your upbringing with as much laughter as I could. Asterie, I still believe you will be the one to right the wrongs we’ve rutted into this realm.”
My attention fixated on the amber liquid nearly drained from my glass. “If you knew she was so cruel, why did you stay? Why not take me somewhere else?”
Amara was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “We were friends once—Firose and I. At first, I thought we were doing good things together—that feeling was lost along the way. Like the moral ground we had built was crumbling. And one day, I realized that she held all the cards. That she could take everything I’ve ever loved from me. That she could turn the Corridors against each other with a snap of her finger.”
Turn the Corridors against each other. Was that her plan?
“The radicals at the northwest border,” I mused quietly. “They were unarmed when struck down by the eastern air raids and western soldiers.”
