Sapphire Falls (The Lost Realm #2)

10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kyla

I t stung, seeing Garnel and Savine leave her behind. She understood why Savine wanted her to stay. She could protect Avery and the others while they stayed behind in Nephel. Yet, it didn’t make her feel any better to know that her brother and soulmate would be entering Orofine in triumph without her.

Being marked by the Goddess had changed everything. She now had a purpose that was separate from her brother’s war or her father’s oppressive rule. She was chosen, she was set apart by Althea herself to help Avery and Morgan in their journey through Aeritis. Together, they’d figure out what the Divine Five were, and locate them to better serve the Premier Goddess in whatever way she desired.

As she walked down the quiet, empty halls of the Tower of the Moon, she thought about the experience of seeing the Goddess in person. Althea’s aura had been so overpowering, Kyla had been filled with a mix of awe and terror. She didn’t know if she could be strong enough to encounter Althea again, and hoped that it would be a once in a lifetime occurrence. Perhaps if she fulfilled this task of finding the Divine Five, she would be blessed from afar.

Kyla knocked quickly on Avery’s door. She hadn’t had time to share the story with Avery yet, and wanted to begin searching soon. Avery opened the door, wearing a casual Latian outfit. Of course Savine hadn’t left her without clothing. It was probably Raikin’s doing, procuring an entire wardrobe for the women.

“Kyla! Come in!” Avery said in a cheerful voice. Kyla entered the small bedroom and noticed Morgan sitting at the table. Her feet were tangled in a dark shifting shadow, and her pain was palpable.

Kyla approached Morgan gently. Morgan looked up at her with an empty expression. “Morgan, would you like me to try and heal those wounds?”

Morgan shook her head. “I’m going to run out of painkillers. The skin around my scars hurt, but I’m trying to wean myself off the medication.”

“There is no need for you to feel pain. I don’t believe I have the capabilities to remove the scars, but I can help with pain. I can also give you a salve to treat the tightness around your scars,” Kyla said, careful not to touch her, even though her fingers itched with the need to relieve Morgan’s pain.

Avery joined them at the table. “I offered to try and heal her, but she said no. Maybe together we could make it better for you, Morgan.”

Morgan shook her head. “Kyla, I’d appreciate the salve and if you could remove the pain. But the scars stay. I want to remember what I faced.”

“Very well,” Kyla said as she placed a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. A rush of agony washed through her. The girl shouldn’t even be sitting up with this much anguish coursing through her body. Kyla took it, wiping it clean from Morgan and replacing the emotion with peace and relaxation.

The tension in Morgan’s body dissipated, and she sighed with relief. “Thank you. I think I’m going to have to keep you,” Morgan said.

“Did you come to check in on us?” Avery asked.

Kyla shifted the headpiece she’d been wearing to cover the Goddess mark. “I came to show you this,” Kyla said.

“You’ve been marked by the Goddess too! What does that even mean?” Avery asked.

“Welcome to the club,” Morgan said, tracing the obvious line of stars and vines across her own forehead. Avery was the only one who had hers hidden beneath a glamour, and Kyla needed to figure out how to keep her own mark hidden from Rylo and the other Nepheli fae.

“Yes, I was marked. I appeared before Althea and saw her in her radiance. She touched me and left the mark, but not before ordering me to help you two find something called the Divine Five.”

Both women looked at Kyla with confusion. Morgan glanced at Avery before she asked her sister, “Did you know their deity could appear in person? Like she’s a real walking, breathing Goddess?”

Avery bit her lip. “Kind of… I asked Savine once and he said she was real, but I thought it was more in the sense that anyone religious says their god or goddess is real.”

“Of course she is real,” Kyla responded. “Althea formed Aeritis with her sister, Gaia. Althea’s daughters are the minor goddesses we serve in temples around Aeritis. You can meet one here in Nephel if you’re inclined, or in Orofine for that matter!”

Morgan pursed her lips. “Ave, you weren’t more concerned that you were marked by an actual Goddess? What does she want from us, other than to fulfill that foreboding prophecy?”

Kyla responded, “She wants us to find something for her. I think we should go meet the minor goddess here and see what she might know about the Divine Five.”

Avery worked her lip between her teeth. “You’re right. Let’s ask Susan what it might be as well. She seems to have a better grasp of history than we do, and we’ll bring Rue as protection.”

“I also came to ask if you knew how I could hide the mark in plain sight. Rylo can see through glamours, and it would be strange if I continued to wear a headpiece all the time.”

Avery and Morgan talked between themselves in the language of their people, leaving Kyla at a loss of what they were discussing.

“Why don’t we all get bangs?” Avery asked. “If anybody asks, we’ll just say we wanted to share a human hairstyle with you. Then we’ll all have our marks covered.”

“Bangs?” Kyla asked, unsure about the strange word on her tongue.

“Yeah, we’ll just cut the front of our hair short enough to cover our foreheads. It’s not like the mark glows or anything, so as long as we just cover them up we should be fine,” Avery continued, demonstrating what she intended to do by pulling the front of her hair across her face. “I’ve got scissors in my first aid kit.”

Avery

Avery and the others were making their way through the Tower of Stars, a tower across the river from the Tower of the Moon. Of course, there was no bridge so they’d needed help flying over from the Nepheli guards. Which drew unnecessary attention from Selene, who showed up just as Avery was trying to convince the guards that they wanted to pray in the temple. The lies slid off her tongue so easily, even Selene seemed to buy Avery’s sudden bout of devotion to the Aeritis religion. Unfortunately, Selene chose to join them, keeping her distance, but close enough to hear their conversation.

Just at that moment, Kyla came in close to Avery and whispered that she would sneak away to speak to the goddess. Avery nodded as she slid back to be closer to Selene.

This Tower didn’t have all the windows and open air views that the Tower of the Moon had. Instead, it was a dark, windowless enclosure with a winding staircase. At the center of the room was a burning altar. The smoke billowing up from the altar seemed to sparkle like the night’s sky. All around them, priestesses clad in black robes and wearing star-kissed masks chanted in a steady rhythm.

The sound of their unified voices made an enchanting and eerie echo across the walls of the enclosed space. Avery looked around for Kyla and noticed she was gone.

“Do you not plan to show your supplication before the altar?” Selene asked. Avery twitched as Selene’s breath brushed against her neck. She was far too close for comfort.

“I don’t know what to do,” she answered honestly.

“First you must be deemed worthy by the pool. If you are not, you will be expelled from the temple. After that you will throw stardust on the fire and chant the song of intercession to the Goddess of the Stars. As Althea’s second-born daughter, she holds great weight with her mother, but surely you know that if you are here?”

Avery lifted her chin, giving false confidence as she replied, “Of course I knew that. I wouldn’t come in here without knowing how to show my respect.”

Selene pursed her lips and began walking to a stream welling up from the ground. “Then wash. All of you,” she said, pointing to Rue, Susan, and Morgan. “It does not go without notice that Kyla is missing.”

As Avery approached the flowing water, she hoped with everything in her that she wasn’t about to be caught for her sacrilege or lack of faith. She took a deep breath and rolled up the sleeves of her tunic as she prepared to plunge her hands into the water. Maybe the expulsion meant that she’d be thrown out of the temple, but things weren’t typically that simple in Aeritis.

As her hands were about to touch the water, a sharp clang rang through the temple. Avery looked up to see hundreds of fist-size glowing balls tumbling toward the ground below. The chanting priestesses gasped and cried out as fireballs struck the hard rock floor of the temple. Cries of agony rang out across the tower, growing louder and more anguished.

Kyla was frantically running down the stairs as a glowing woman, so bright her essence burned Avery’s eyes, chased after her. “Run! Now!” Kyla shouted as she hit the rock floor, skidding to the ground. Priestesses were closing around her as she pushed herself off the ground and ran towards their group.

Avery didn’t need to be told twice. She sprinted toward the door, Morgan just beside her as she ran out of the Tower of Stars and into the crisp autumn evening.

They didn’t stop as they made their way over to the waterfall. Without speaking, Selene scooped Rue into her arms and flew across the river, setting her down before she came back with two other Nepheli fae to grab Avery and Morgan. She didn’t even seem winded as she set the sisters down. The two other fae landed with Kyla and Susan beside them.

“I should have let the goddess have her way with you,” Selene said to Kyla. “I know you’re keeping something from me.”

“It is nothing concerning you,” said Kyla, as she gritted her teeth at the other woman. It was possibly the harshest words Avery had ever heard Kyla use.

Selene rolled her eyes and spread her midnight wings wide. “It does not matter if you tell me why you left us. I know you were up to something, and I’m not keeping it from King Rylo.”

Kyla kept her expression neutral, and Avery admired her dedication to keeping the information from the Nepheli Sage. Selene kicked off the ground and began flying up toward the Tower of the Moon. Once Selene was out of sight, Kyla turned to the others and began talking.

“She was unwilling to meet me,” Kyla said, shaking slightly as she looked across the river. Avery reached out a steadying hand to support Kyla as she continued.

“I showed her the Goddess mark, and she became furious. She threatened to kill me for my sacrilege, for daring to imitate the mark, although I tried to explain that Althea placed the mark there herself. I tried to ask what the Divine Five were, but the Goddess of Stars slapped my face. When she struck me, the stars from the prayers began colliding and falling to the ground. That’s when I ran. I’m sorry, the whole journey was a failure.”

Avery pulled Kyla into a hug, knowing that Kyla needed comfort this way, before they began making their way back to the Tower of the Moon.

“We’ll figure something else out,” Avery suggested as they walked, arm in arm.