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I’d been surprised I hadn’t been removed from the inner sanctum and tossed to the Guard, but I wasn’t about to open my mouth and question it.
Instead, I performed Harlow’s vigorous sets—from push-ups and sprints to broadsword training and archery. Where many struggled, I excelled.
I’d been taken back to the forests of Cila with Micah, gaining bruises and getting knocked off my feet beneath luminous moons and starry skies. There was something calming about returning to a routine.
A week of training passed quickly, and while most nights I found sleep the moment my head hit the pillow, tonight, it refused to find me.
I missed my brother and my training sessions with Micah, and my aching heart was restless.
What I needed was a distraction.
Back home, when sleep evaded, I’d lie on my back and watch the sky dance, pretending the glittering stars were listening to my every prayer. Ones where I’d fill the hole inside my chest with adventures and quests. Where I’d be only myself, and people would stare at me in awe rather than in distaste or fear. Maybe then, I wouldn’t feel so hollow.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t escape the sanctum and lose myself beneath a cloak of stars.
But I could try the next best thing.
Swinging my legs over the side of the cot, I slipped from the room, sneaking through the silent corridor on soft feet. Thankfully, there wasn’t a soul drifting through the halls, not at such a late hour, and I was left alone to wander the Knights’ innermost sanctum in peace.
After exploring the kitchens and peeking into a few of the private offices, I strayed into a restricted zone, a winding hallway reeking of salt and rot.
The corridor, lined with several locked doors—much to my dismay—narrowed the farther I ventured, but I didn’t stop until I’d reached a dead end. An arched entryway with intricate suns beckoned me to a gilded handle in the shape of a crescent moon.
Unlike every other door I’d tried, this one was unlocked, the metal clicking loudly as I shoved my boot against the thick wood. My breath caught as a groaning creak echoed down the curving corridor.
Bathed in white-hot adrenaline, I slipped into what appeared to be a library, a lone sunfire captured within a sconce saturating the large room with a buttery sheen.
Leather-bound books weighed down tall shelves, and haphazard stacks were piled on every available surface. And in the center, surrounded by the towering shelves, wooden tables and chairs were covered in blank pages and splattered ink.
Occasionally, I’d been known to pick up a book, but I found knives far more entertaining.
When the tips of my gloved fingers brushed against the spine of a muted emerald tome, my heart immediately fluttered at the contact. A low call, the muffled sound of a drumbeat, heavy and sacred, echoed in my mind, the pounding growing wild as I pulled the book from the shelf.
Gripping the tome, which lacked a title and author, I flipped open the dense cover and turned to a random page.
I read the first passage my eyes landed upon.
The Goddess Raina was born the day the earth was created.
The world, one that had been cast in darkness, was now glowing and brimming with color. Raina brought joy to the inhabitants of the earth, her light giving birth to new foods and crops and lush verdant trees and shrubs. Flowers blossomed, blooms of bright red and blue and yellow.
The people were well-fed and content, and the God Arlo was pleased.
I paused my reading, wondering what such vibrant flora might look like. Our land cultivated a few species of flowers, though most were dull in appearance. The closest to colorful was the infamous Midnight Bloom. Its velvety petals only opened for one hour each day, exposing its grayish lilac hue, the center a silvery blue that shimmered beneath the moon.
I imagined that Lorian, God of Beasts and Prey, had been just as enraged by the goddess’s absence, as his creatures suffered nearly as much as the humans. The lack of edible flora killed far too many innocent animals.
No one had seen Lorian in many years; the last appearance the god made had been atop his temple thirty years ago, surrounded by the small animals and vicious predators of his own creation. Apparently, Arlo had shown up and chased him back to wherever he’d been hiding for all these decades.
I continued reading.
Raina brought many years of peace and prosperity to the people, and they began to worship her unlike any other god before.
Arlo, whose vanity was immense, grew jealous of the Sun Goddess. He attempted to pluck her from the sky, but she always danced out of his reach. It wasn’t until Raina had set her sights on one mortal man that Arlo’s plans changed.
This mortal—
“There you are.”
