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Luke and Amber sat on the sofa. Luke looked a little more comfortable, but Amber still seemed disconnected. My heart hurt to think how good a friend Luke had been to me, and how strained things were now.
Venus seemed to pick up on my thoughts. “The seals, they change the wearer, Menolly. I’ve carried mine since I was first initiated as the shaman for the Pride. It changed who I was long, long ago. You have only ever known me this way. I was vastly different before I underwent the ritual that implanted it into my leg. This pair—this brother and sister—they are young still, in the way of the werewolves. The seals will work on them for many years and alter them. It is the nature of the artifact. Don’t feel bad. This is the way of the world, girl.”
His smile was genuine, if stern. I nodded, holding his gaze. He was a handsome man, that was for sure, in a seasoned, wounded way. I could understand how Nerissa had been drawn to him.
Camille let out a slow breath. “Can you tell us what Queen Asteria was planning to do with the Keraastar Knights? And if those plans are still viable?”
A crafty grin spread across Venus’s face and he let out a low laugh. “Oh, my fair girl, yes I know what she was doing. And I can, and will, let you in on her plans. As for the question of whether they are still viable… that I do not know. The seal Tom had, and Benjamin—if they can be recovered, we can bind them fresh to others who fit the energy signature. The spare one that Luke carries? We were seeking a match for it when the storm hit.”
“So what were you guys doing over there? What were Queen Asteria’s plans for you?”
The silence hung heavy. Venus stared at me, then his gaze moved to Delilah and finally to Camille. It seemed like he was debating whether to answer us—or rather—how to answer us.
“Should we tell them?” Amber spoke up. She didn’t seem nervous, but rather reticent, and I thought I could detect an edge of resentment in her words.
“Of course they must know, especially now. We are not autonomous, Amber. The Keraastar Knights were never meant to be. At best, we are pawns in the hands of destiny, and you would do well to remember that. And now, with the star who guided our destiny sadly under a mound of dirt, we must seek out another to lead us. We were never meant to rule ourselves.” Venus let out a long breath as Vanzir brought him a mug of soup and a plate of biscuits sopping with butter and honey.
Venus eagerly slurped the soup, and we waited patiently. Meanwhile, Smoky and Trillian returned from washing up, and Roz trailed in after them.
“Queen Asteria had stumbled over an ancient text—did she tell you? The Maharata-Verdi?”
This was a new one. We shook our heads. “No, go on. What is it?”
“A scroll from when the spirit seal was first created and broken into nine pieces. It comes from the great Fae Lords. They wrote it down… it is both a prophecy and an incantation. They predicted that one day, a force of nine knights would carry the spirit seals forth… that they would lead an army of magical warriors against a ‘great horde’ who was set to bring the worlds crashing in on each other again.”
“The Keraastar Knights,” Delilah said, staring at him.
Venus nodded. “Yes. The scroll directed that the knights were to be called the Keraastar Knights because of the central stone their Queen wore—the Keraastar diamond. When all nine knights come together, with the nine seals, and their Queen at their helm, it will create a shield that would repel Demonkin and hold the worlds apart. Because the Maharata-Verdi claims that if the portals implode, the worlds will crash together in a cataclysm that will destroy much of both. Not so much like a nuclear bomb, but it will have far-reaching impact on the future of both OW and ES, and release a fuckton of magical chaos.”
With that, Venus fell silent.
We stared at him. He’d pretty much dropped a bombshell on us.
“Okay, do you have the Maharata-Verdi?” It wasn’t that I’d ever doubt him, but had Queen Asteria truly possessed this document? She wasn’t the lying kind but we’d been taken in before.
Venus glanced at Luke and Amber, then slowly reached into the bag he had kept by his side and brought out a small leather tube. He opened it and withdrew a crackling scroll. The antiquity of the paper oozed off it, and at first I wondered how it had lasted so long, but when Camille whispered, “Magic… ,” I knew that it was enchanted.
As the old shaman spread out the vellum on the coffee table, the energy rolled off it so thick that even I could feel it. Camille and Morio knelt down by it, almost reverently. The writing on it looked old—very old.
Camille pored over it. “A very ancient version of Melosealfôr, it looks like. I can pick out part of a word here or there but nothing substantial.” She ran her hand over it, then stood up. “Venus is right, this is ancient beyond counting. I’d say it was created before they made the spirit seal—before the Great Divide.”
Morio nodded. “There’s magic in this scroll that even the Scorching Wars couldn’t rival. You said that there’s an incantation in it?”
“Queen Asteria could read this… and she herself performed the incantations. It binds the spirit seal firmly to the bearer on a soul level, but there has to be a match there—you cannot be bound to the spirit seal if you don’t resonate to it on an energetic level.” Venus took a big bite of a biscuit slathered with honey and butter. “In essence, this scroll creates the Keraastar Knights.”
The room fell silent. I stared at the ancient scroll. “You mentioned the Queen bearing the Keraastar diamond. Did Queen Asteria have that?”
He frowned, then shook his head. “No, but the scroll has a twin, and that twin bears the location of the diamond. And… I know the location of the twin scroll. Queen Asteria entrusted it to me. Why, I don’t know, but she had her reasons and told me one day I’d find out.”
“But if she’s dead, then what good would the diamond do?” Delilah frowned, a confused look on her face.
Venus took her hand. “Little Kitten, understand that the scroll predicts a Queen will wear the diamond… but not which Queen. Queen Asteria was not the one destined to finish the task. It was not for an Elfin Queen… but a Fae Queen. The great Fae Lords made the spirit seal to begin with. Asteria was not, at first, in favor of dividing the worlds. She came around, but it was the Fae race who forged the seals, it was the Fae Lords who rained terror down in the form of the wars that surrounded the Great Divide. They locked Aeval and Titania away. They drove the juggernaut that created Otherworld. So… my belief is that it will be a Fae Queen—an Earthside Fae Queen—who will wear and wield the Keraastar diamond, and she will finish rebuilding the Keraastar Knights and become their leader and champion.”
Camille let out a long breath. “But who… Aeval? Tita- nia?”
I slowly turned to her. “I pray it’s not Morgaine. We would be in for so much trouble if she rose to that kind of power.”
“We can’t let her know about it. But if we keep it from her, that means we keep it from Aeval and Titania. I don’t know how feasible that is.” Camille frowned, pacing the room. “For now, though, as long as the dragons protect the knights, we should be okay. But Venus, you must not let the dragons know about the Keraastar diamond.”
