Page 112 of Threaded
That same magic was passed down from mother to daughter, weakening with each generation but always there, guiding us and keeping us hidden from the darkness that has steadily been seeping into this world.
I am the last Silver Priestess. And you, my light, are our last heir.
The night you were born, I felt something change. The small drop of silver power I carried roared in exaltation, as if celebrating the return of something resembling itself. And when I held you in my arms for the first time, I looked into your eyes and I knew. Somehow, Zadione had come back into the world, just briefly enough to bless the last of her chosen line with a power I could not yet comprehend.
You carry something in your veins that our world has not yet seen, something that perhaps has been forgotten since the days the gods and goddesses walked upon the earth themselves.
I do not know yet what you will have to do, but whatever it is, you must succeed.
I love you more than I love the stars in the sky, my light. Never forget that.
Lisabel Ginnelevé Salis
Asingle teardrop slid off Mariah’s cheek as she finished reading, the paper fluttering to the floor as she sank to her knees.
CHAPTER48
The room erupted into chaos just as Mariah’s knees hit the white marble floor.
Everyone was speaking at once, the sound a cacophony of resonant voices blurring together until they were indistinguishable from each other. She could sense the sudden nearness of other bodies as a few members of her court shot from their seats and clambered to her.
Numbness slid like sludge through her limbs, and she barely noticed the barrage of movement around her.
Mariah felt more than saw Sebastian and Trefor suddenly appear before her face, her vision blurry and unseeing. She forced herself to focus on the hazel of Sebastian’s gaze, the haze lifting just enough for her to make out his panicked expression. Behind him, Ciana and Delaynie pushed as close as they could, the rest of her Armature standing from their seats and taking lurching steps forward. Concern was etched on every face, but all those looks did was spark a flame of annoyance deep in her gut.
That flame ignited into an inferno as her court kept coming, coming, coming closer to her, crowding the space around her body. The air in her lungs grew thick and heavy, as if that blaze inside her belly was eating away all the oxygen available to her. It was becoming too much,too much…
Her lungs began to seize, her heart hammering in her chest.
Yet still they all pushed in closer, and she … she couldn’t find the words to stop them. She needed air; she needed space; she needed …
Her eyes lifted, instinct and magic reaching out for the only one in that room who was not crowding her in rushing panic. Eyes of forest green collided with those of tanzanite blue, and for one fleeting second the world paused, and she could breathe, a momentary reprieve from the panic laying heavily over her skin.
The moment was gone too fast, and the peace around Mariah snapped, shoving her back into the chaos closing in on her. She gasped, the weight of those around her once again threatening to drag her under, and for the first time since arriving in the capital she let all of her walls and masks and facades fall away. She lifted her gaze again, giving Andrian a look of pure desperation, letting him see all the panic gnawing and clawing and cleaving her in two.
A rumbling voice answered her plea, cutting through the din of voices.
“Get out. All of you.” Those words—thatvoice—were both Mariah’s temptation and her salvation.
The room fell instantly silent, the bodies around her stilling in surprise.
Sebastian, still planted directly in front of Mariah, whirled on his heels and stood, visibly bristling as he faced Andrian.
“Who are you to order us out, Armature? You forget your place. I am still your captain. She needs us. She needs herbondedArmature.” He nearly spat the word at Andrian, but the only sign of Andrian’s answering anger were the tiny shadowy tendrils that leaked from his shoulders.
“Sebastian. Stop.” Somehow, Mariah found her voice, shocked out of her stupor by Andrian’s intervention and Sebastian’s outburst.
Sebastian spun back around, glancing down at her with a look of incredulity in his eyes. “M, you can’t be serious,” he said, his voice turning panicked. “Let us help you. We’ll figure out what this note means, what we can do, how we can bring it to Ryenne and Ksee,together—”
“Do not presume to know what I want or need, Sebastian,” Mariah interrupted, her tone cold as she fought to regain some semblance of control. “I owe you so much—my life, my future,everything—but letting you dictate how I decide to cope with impossible information like this is not how I intend to repay you. So don’t make me ask you again.”
Sebastian paled slightly and leaned back on his heels as if he’d been struck, but he fell silent.
Ciana—bright, brave, observant Ciana—noticed the shift in the room, her amber eyes darting from Mariah to Sebastian to Andrian then back to Mariah. A look of resolve filled her face, and she shouldered her way past Trefor, coming to stand beside Sebastian, grasping the tanned skin and corded muscle of his upper arm.
“Come on, let’s go. Trust her; it will be okay. She just needs space.” She tugged lightly on his arm, attempting to wrench his gaze from Mariah.
Sebastian continued to stare at his queen for far longer and with much more intensity than Mariah wanted, but eventually he relented. He shut his eyes and turned, allowing Ciana to drag him from the room. The rest of the Armature, along with Delaynie, followed behind them, each casting worried glances over their shoulders at Mariah as they left her, kneeling and frazzled on the cold marble floor, her mother’s letter still lying there on the ground.