“Okay.” The word was a long drawl from my sister as shetook a drink of ambrosia that she was most definitely too young to be drinking. “So, to recap this shitshow?—”
“Language,” I scolded quietly, to which she only scrunched her nose and stuck her tongue out at me as a chorus of chuckles filled the living room.
“I had far too many males sneaking into my Marking Day ceremony—although we’ve identified two as members of Luc’s RSG. Angels are collapsing on the ground and being taken to a secret temple space in Solis Court. The fact that Lucanus is looking totakeaffinities for himself, which I didn’t even know was possible to do. The Temple District has a greater RSG presence than ever before, and the Astra Tech System is now less accessible. And we may need to consider looking into some old god that we know next to nothing about.Andwe need to figure out who or what a Remnant is,” she summed up.
“Oh, and you can’t forget the fact that my episodes have gotten worse, and supposedly, my markings have an issue.”
“I need another drink,” Emberly muttered after the summary my sister had provided. She stood to refill her drink before asking, “Anyone else?” as she waved the bottle of ambrosia and glasses raised across the space.
“Also . . .” Kira’s eyes narrowed on me. “Why didn’t you tell us about the bargain you made for Orela? Why keep it a secret?”
“I didn’t—” I felt her eyes narrow on me as I struggled to find the words. “It’s not—I’m your sister—I don’t know, okay? At the time, there was so much going on. Orela was breaking, and I just did what I had to. I did what needed to be done to ensure she didn’t have to serve in the temples, that she could have freedoms, even though she was marked as a seer. We all know how possessive Luc is of the seers. I didn’t want that for her. I didn’t want her any more trapped up with him than she had to be after he killed our father.”
“You could have told me,” she replied. “I could have helped.”
I smiled sadly. “I told everyone I could at the time. And you—you were far too young. You didn’t need that burden weighing on you.”
I took a sip of my drink, my eyes drifting across the living room. A space my friends and I had gathered at thousands of times, usually for nights filled with games and laughter, except now . . . now our path had been altered, and we found ourselves at the crossroads of oblivion and illumination.
“So,” Sage began. “What’s next?”
All eyes turned to me in that moment, and I froze, my heart racing faster than it had previously.
“Why are you all looking at me?” I questioned as my gaze fastened on Finn.
“The first thing we need is information,” Finn replied for me. “We need to learn what we can about the affinities—how they tie directly to the gods and what we’re missing about them.”
“And to do that, we need to get access to the historical records?—”
“Before you suggest anything, it’s not that easy,” Sage interrupted.
“It’s our only option.” Finn insisted. “The Temple District is known to have all the historical records of Aurelia. We need to find a way in.”
Sage sighed heavily. “I could lose my job over this.”
“I’m beginning to feel like there’s more at stake here than just jobs,” I said.
“Probably,” she grumbled. “But fine. It will take me a day or so to figure out how best to get you access.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
“Well, don’t thank me just yet. I can’t make any promises.”
“Until we do more research,” Finn added, “this stays between us.”
Everyone nodded in confirmation at the words, a heavy silence lingering in the air at the information we’d learned tonight.
It was at that moment that Loxl yelped in his sleep, springing up in a violent jerk and stumbling off the edge of the couch. A chorus of laughter broke out as the poor fox began to look around in confusion before he covered his face with his tail and slunk under the sofa in embarrassment.
A knock sounded at the door, and Finn jumped up from his seat, heading to open it. He returned a few moments later with two boxes of pizza, and we all grabbed slices.
“Well then, now that we decided on that,” Emberly stated as she drank the remainder of her drink and shifted on the couch, fully facing me. “Can we address the more important topic of the night?”
I shot the female a questioning look, my brow furrowing as I tried to determine what she was referring to. “What?”
“Don’t play dumb with me—” she chided as she took a bite of her pizza. “You . . . Blackwood . . . don’t even try to deny it. What’s going on there?”
My face heated at the insinuation, and I quickly shook my head. “Nothing.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Literally nothing,ever.”
