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For the night of Valyati, the temple was always transformed from a place of ritual and contemplation to one of revelry. The pews had been replaced by dinner tables with place settings full of crystals and candles. A dance floor stood in the center of the temple, shaped like a seven-pointed star jutting into the seating areas of the seven rays.
We took our places in the middle of the dance floor, standing in waiting to greet the guests as they arrived. Noble Kavim, members of the Bamarian Council, the Soturi of Ka Kormac, and finally the one hundred members of the Emperor’s personal guard entered, taking their places in every corner of the Temple. We all fell to our knees as the Emperor entered, this time holding hands with his consort. The Blade walked slowly behind them. The Emperor made his usual greeting, his voice still unnervingly soft-spoken but resounding. When his remarks came to an end, we waited patiently for him to take his seat at the table of honor raised on a dais besides Auriel’s Chamber. He took his time sitting down and adjusting himself and then finally offered a wave of dismissal. We all rose to our feet, and the music began to play, a fast-paced drum beat to get the revelry started.
Tristan, who’d stood with the Bamarian Council, walked forward and took my hand to lead me to the dance floor. I wore a white gown, identical in cut and design to the one I’d worn the night before. Morgana had helped me secure Ramia’s necklace around my collar and shoulders. Beneath the torchlights floating across the ceiling of the Temple of Dawn, flashing and crackling their light alongside the eternal flame, my necklace was alight in every color of the rainbow. The torches had been spelled to mimic the shifting shades of the flame, and with every step taken on the dance floor, every swerve of my hips or spin on my heels, the room changed colors.
The fast songs continued until a slower tune was called, somber and heavy, the notes signaling the ritualistic moments of the celebration. The dance floor cleared, and Arkmage Kolaya walked into the center, her long white robes trailing behind her. All seven Watchers of the Light emerged from each of the temple’s seven rays. Their ceremonial robes had been pressed and trailed behind their feet. Their faces remained veiled, each in the color they served. As they joined, forming the shape of a star, a flurry of movement rained down from the high ceilings. Masks floated across the dance floor, dropping into everyone’s hands, along with glasses of white wine spelled not to spill over.
Cheers erupted amidst gasps of delight as every guest began grabbing for the masks that now fell in a dizzying frenzy. Shouts of triumph sounded, rising above yells of annoyance and small fights and skirmishes breaking out as everyone tried to acquire a mask in a style that complimented their Valyati attire.
I had my eye on a white mask with gold Valalumir jewels sewn along the eye cut-outs. Sparkling golden ribbon trailed along either side. The mask looked as if it had been specially tailored to match my dress. Tristan eyed it as soon as I did and winked, rushing forward and leaping for it. He’d been catching my mask for me at Valyati since the year before we began courting. The first time he caught my mask for me was perhaps the moment my crush began.
He drew his stave, blasting back another mage reaching for it, and thrust its point through the eyehole of the mask before he landed. A crowd of onlookers, all eager for their own preferred mask, rushed at him, ready to attack. Tristan turned back to look at me, a silly smile on his face before he accepted his fate and vanished into the crowd.
I laughed, stepping back to avoid getting myself lost in the fray. Mine had been won. Tristan would return with it at any moment. I tried to find him in the crowd. It was all in good fun, but the fight for one’s desired Valyati mask had been known to break an arm or twist an ankle from time to time. One year, when a certain shade of purple masks had been on trend, Jules had broken her middle toe.
Mages emerged from the crowd, their hair mussed and robes askew, clutching the masks of their partners in hand. Still, Tristan did not emerge.
For a moment, everything had felt safe, comfortable. I supposed holidays and traditions had a way of bringing one back in time, to earlier versions of the event and earlier versions of oneself, to times when loved ones were still alive, when things were still simple.
But the Emperor’s sentries stood out against the wall, their brushed golden armor easy to spot, and I was immediately reminded of the present and what was at stake.
I found my eyes wandering away from the skirmish and around the room—wandering in search of a pair of emerald eyes, a silvered scar through the left.
He was here. Somewhere. I suspected he’d be in the shadows, guarding, watching, not hunting for a mask.
“You seek him out even now. Even with the young lord of silver warming your bed. Oh, but he has been leaving it cold lately.”
I froze. Mercurial stood beside me. His skin had returned to its blue tinge. A golden cape fell in elegant folds over his shoulders, linked together by a chain of shimmering diamonds. A golden skirt covered him from waist to knees, and golden sandals laced up the lengths of his calves.
“Happy Valyati, Mercurial,” I said. “I did not know the Afeya celebrated.”
“Your grace.” He bowed low. “The Afeya celebrate anything that calls for a party. Especially if it can lead to debauchery. Then we are particularly fond of it in the Star Court.” As he rose, his eyes flickered over my body, pausing on my chest where my necklace sat, covering me as completely as armor.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment. This damned necklace. Everything about it made me uneasy, and yet I’d worn it again tonight willingly, wanting to cover myself, to not feel exposed before my enemies in the cut of my gown.
“You took my advice,” he said. “Very good.”
“It complimented the dress,” I said carefully.
“Of course.” He smirked. “And where is my humble not-lord? This is the first I’ve seen you without him by your side.”
“Perhaps if you came around more often, you would find that there are indeed quite a number of times he’s not by my side,” I said, heart pounding. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Morgana watching us wearily. Black eyebrows narrowed as she slowly shook her head. A warning.Get away from him.
“I’m around plenty.”
“Around to meet with my father,” I said, feeling cold inside. “Collecting on debt, I presume?”
A cruel smile spread across his lips, catlike and predatory. “All debts eventually must be paid.”
“I suppose it depends on the price whether or not it’s fair.”
Mercurial laughed, the sound so alluring I leaned forward as he said, “You seem very interested in understanding my prices. In the market yourself?”
“No,” I said, pulling myself back.
Mercurial shook his head, holding out his palm. A glittering Valalumir spun within it. “This is where the First Messenger first met Lady Lyriana,” he said. “When you had so many questions. And I can see now that you only have more.”
“Perhaps if the scrolls in the Library remained untouched, I’d have less questions to ask.”
