The tension in the air pulled so taut, Cedric half wished he would combust again, just for the distraction.
It was Thraigg who finally snapped it, his voice gravelly and rough when he said, “I still don’t get what the bleeding fuck this has to do with anything.”
Nox smiled—a sharp, catlike grin. “We’re almost there, but if it would help, I can speed the rest along?”
“Gaia’s tits, yes.Please.”
“Fine. As Malakar’s power rose, Aurelia realized her mistake. Saw what had become of her generosity and sought to fix it. So, for the second time, she defied her fellow celestials and interceded—this time, forthe other side.”
Cedric’s ears perked up. This was one aspect of the story he was not as well versed with.
“As the ultimate symbol of balance, she crafted an artifact, fusing it with her own power, as well as that taken from Arcanian and human alike.”
Nox paused, as if for dramatic effect, and it took all of Cedric’s willpower not to roll his eyes. He glanced at Elyria, hoping to see a similar expression on her face. But she simply watched the nocterrian, expectant but patient. Cedric frowned.
“The Crown of Concord,” Nox finally said, “designed for just one person. A gift for the living proof that harmony between the peoples of Arcanis could exist.” Another pause. “The mixedborn princess, Selenae. Prophesied to bring everlasting balance—true peace—to the land.”
“The crown is a celestial-forged artifact?” Cedric clenched his teeth to keep his jaw from going slack.
“Indeed. Something that was only discovered at the culmination of the final battle between Daephinia and Malakar, when the queen’s sacrifice revealed its true nature.” Nox’s crimson gaze narrowed on Elyria, appraising her. “You were there, were you not? You should know better than anyone that the kind of power that burst from the crown upon its Shattering could only have been celestial in origin.”
Elyria was still as a statue.
Scratching idly at their horn, Nox continued. “What do you think made the other celestials so angry they would banish Aurelia from their ranks?”
Cedric drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “I thought she was exiled for siding with humans in the first place.” He didn’t give voice to any of the other dozen thoughts running through his head, starting and ending with what either the humans or the Arcanians could do—would do—after winning the crown. What might happen if either side wielded celestial power. What might happen if that power fell into the wrong hands.
Nox shrugged.
“How do you know all this?” Elyria asked, a bit of that familiar color returning to her voice, to Cedric’s relief.
“How does anyone learn anything?” Nox said.
“That’s not an answer,” Cedric grumbled.
Elyria stood. “Well, thanks for the history lesson, Tenebris, but I still don’t see how this has anything to do, nor how it will help, with our current predicament.”
“Do you not?” Nox looked amused.
“Spit it out.”
“Where exactly do you think Aurelia was banishedto?”
“I don’t?—”
“I believe it was a rhetorical question,” came a chorus of voices, speaking as one.
Cedric nearly jumped out of his seat at the sound. The voice was not ringing in his mind. It was in his ears. It was in the room.
He turned toward the source of the noise. To the white-robed figure standing directly in front of the doors at the far side of the chamber, hood no longer drawn, face no longer hidden.
“Hello, champions,” she said, something forlorn folded into the layers of her voice.
Zephyr gasped. Thraigg’s mouth dropped open. Elyria had frozen mid-step.
Tenebris Nox smiled. “Hello, Aurelia.”
47
