The heralded announcement was met as expected.
S’Kir was alight with joy throughout the city.
Elex had led a team back into the cave to confirm the new cavern was there and just as magnificent as we had reported. The masters had made the trek themselves the next day, with Elex and me in tow.
The cave was larger this time. Deeper, and there were more exposed crystals. They danced with light and once again when I laughed, the light tripped through them brightly.
The light also liked Mistress Lunella’s laugh.
As well as most of the other twelve masters and Elex.
The exception was Master Dorian.
He didn’t even try it.
Stick in the mud that he was.
But S’Kir’s people were satisfied with my report, and with what Elex and the others had reported, as well.
I didn’t have time to breathe.
Elex and I couldn’t find a moment to steal away.
Mere days went by, and there were already huge festivities in the planning, while many smaller parties erupted throughout the city.
My position at the temple changed, as well.
When I arrived that first day, there was a new teacher.
I thought Master Dorian had me removed.
But that wasn’t the case.
Mistress Lunella waited for me outside the classroom, grinning broadly. “You’re not meant to teach anymore, my dear. Your powers have expanded beyond your small lessons, and I will now be taking on your magical education. Tymon will be helping me, as well. There are parties to plan, and you’ll be helping Mistress Danai with those.”
“Mistress, will I never teach again?”
“Oh, you’ll teach again when you’re an accomplished high druid, my dear.”
I tripped over my own two feet at that one.
“High druid?”
“Of course, my dear. You’ve been chosen by the magic of S’Kir to be a part of the key that unlocks our world and borders. While teaching our young ones is certainly a noble calling, you have been called elsewhere now.”
I was both intrigued and terrified by the potential.
The next weeks were a whirlwind of lessons, learning, planning, parties, decisions, dresses, and formal audiences.
I could barely tell which way was up.
At the same time, everything was exhilarating. I was talking to people, high ranked officials, magic users, defense force leaders, educators, leaders of the people of S’Kir every day.
The biggest shock for me was discovering I was being moved from my lovely little apartment near the market to the biggest of the dormitories on the temple campus.
Not just the biggest building, but I was being given the biggest of the apartments.
I didn’t have enough to furnish it. Most of the rooms were empty, and that was equal parts sad and exciting. Instead, I was excited until Lunella came to tell me that I had to have a receiving room.
“What on S’Kir for?”
“My dear.” She took my arm and walked me through the foyer into the back of the apartment. “You are becoming a very important person if you haven’t noticed.”
“I have, excellency. I’m not sure I understand it.” Pausing, I added, “I’m not sure I’m ready for it, either.”
Lunella’s grin was indulgent. I was still a child in her eyes. “We are never ready, Kimber. Millennia, two, five… we are never ready. But the magic has chosen you, and you are a piece of the puzzle—the puzzle we have been working for all these thousands of years.”
The woman managed to even sit elegantly on the worn chaise I had in the corner. “I am not sure of your role in the Breaking Times. But the magic called you to the mountain, and that means that you are a part of this. Not everything is revealed to us, but we have to trust that we are being guided toward a purpose.”
Danai took over my days soon after. The list of tasks to accomplish was stunning, but she was a driven woman, and she pushed through everything. If something needed to be done, she would persist until it was done.
I was exhausted.
Days before the first of the large, public celebrations, the Breaking Fire was lit in the inner courtyard of the Temple Masters’ residence. Eleven of the twelve masters were there, along with Elex and a few elders of the city.
It rose from the pit with a thousand dancing sparks and burned a bright white and yellow, throwing heat against the chill in the air. We stood silent, watching the steady flames as they settled into their home. The fire was oddly beautiful.
And lasted approximately two minutes before Master Dorian swept out of the building and extinguished it with his magic. No one should have been able to extinguish the fire, even the powerful Master Dorian.
“I have allowed this to go on long enough!” His voice split the air around us with anger and impatience.
Lunella, Danai, Tymon, Hedregon, and two more turned to see where he was approaching us. Elex pulled me against his side, protective of me around Dorian.
Elex witnessed one of the master’s rude and awful outbursts at me during a lesson earlier that week and had been angry with the ancient master ever since.
“You have allowed nothing, Master Dorian,” Tymon said, stepping toward him. “You have hidden like a coward and tried to destroy our celebrations. You have belittled and berated…well, everyone gathered here. You act worse than a spoiled child, and we are all exhausted from fighting against you.”
“You cannot stop the Breaking Time, Dorian,” Danai said.
“Don’t you know it’s not a celebration?” His head whipped around, pinning each of us with his burning gold eyes. “Don’t you know that all this ‘good news’ bullshit is what happens to facts when they are infused with myths? There should be no joy in this! There should be no celebration! This fire”—his finger whipped out and pointed to the embers—“signals terrible change.”
Steady and angry, he parsed the group with his gaze, and I bore the brunt with a hard, unwavering stare.
Trying to keep the fear of him down, I straightened my spine and spoke. “It is time for change. We have been stagnant for thousands of years.”
Without a rustle of his black and green robes, Dorian was in my face, looming over me.
“You are an infant. You have no idea what the Breaking Time will bring. Your joy and effervescence are out of place and out of line with the truth. You will suffer the most out of all of us for your naïveté and innocence, and I pity your existence in the face of the magic and the mountains falling.”
Elex yanked me back from the imposing figure and dared to challenge him. “Gods and stars, Dorian! She’s a grown woman! You terrorizing everyone here will never change what has to be!”
Dorian glowered at Elex for moving me away from him, but it didn’t stop him from grabbing my wrist and pulling me into his circle of influence again.
“You will rue this day, child. I would have spared you this.” Lifting his head and sweeping his eyes around the gathered crowd, he raised his voice. “I would have spared all of you this! But fine! Have your celebrations and bonfires. Welcome the coming days when our world falls. Fools.”
Releasing me, but not unkindly, he spun on his heel and threw a hand at the fire as he marched away.
The fire roared to life again, but our joy had been stolen.
Until the moment I had mounted the review platform for the first of the parades and celebrations that Danai and I—mostly Danai—had planned.
Elex stood across from me. I could scarcely believe how handsome he looked in the formal dress. Seeing him on the other platform, smiling, his place among the Guilds assured now, allowed relief to flow through me.
He’d been so angry with Dorian. I was afraid he’d do something foolish. Elex’s magic was strong, but not as strong as the oldest of the Temple Masters.
I didn’t want Dorian pissed off at him.
I didn’t trust Dorian.
The thoughts about the master slipped away as the parade began to file by.
The ribbons intrigued me, shining in the midmorning sun. These twirlers must have practiced for dozens if not hundreds of hours, and it would be a good bet most of that had been since the announcement.
Floats, bands, troupes of dancers, entertainers, gymnasts—they all moved by us, showing off and showing each other up.
There was laughter and bubbling joy all around. Magic was abundant, and to my delight, wound through the crowds, both in the parades and in the spectators, indulging in the happiness.
I learned magic loved life. It loved joy, laughter, friendship.
It loved love.
It thrived on love.
It glowed with love.
It bubbled and danced around Elex, beckoning me over.
Danai’s voice, however, sliced into my pining.
“This is all so wonderful, Kimber. So wonderful. Everything is going off without a hitch. Have you decided where you are going to go this evening? There are so many different celebrations. There’s the temple, the city square, the mountain, several smaller ones. Wherever you go, make sure you let the guards know.”
She scrutinized me for a moment, and I tipped my head to look up at her. A slow smile spread across her face.
“You know exactly where you’re going after the feasts, and it has nothing to do with another celebration.”
I felt my own slow smile show. “Maybe.”
Her words were close to my ear. “Whoever it is—make sure there are guards at the door. Your place or his.”
The bright red blush heated my cheeks.
Catching my eye, she followed my gaze.
“It’s that handsome Elex, isn’t it?”
There was nothing shy about my smile. “Perhaps.”
“He’s a good choice, my dear. Handsome, loyal, and clearly keen on you. I am sorry that we haven’t left you two alone long enough to… get acquainted.”
“Elex has been my best friend for years. I didn’t realize there was or even could be anything between us.”
“And now you can’t wait to find out.”
My nod was short and sharp.
Straightening her chair, she also gave a short, sharp nod. “I will fix the seating arrangement at the banquet tonight.”
“No, Mistress Danai, you don’t have to—”
A pointed glance at me cut the words off. “Please. You can see the magic. . . You see how it works. I always do my utmost to accommodate and feed the joy and love that magic likes.” Her head tipped, and she found someone on the platform across from us, the magic flaring around her. I drew a quick breath as she found me again and smiled.
“Just wait until you’re in bed. Better than any fireworks show.”
* * *
Elex’s face was full of concern when he saw his seat had been changed. The moment he saw I was sitting next to him, he relaxed completely and headed over.
The formal dress was doing it for me. So much.
He slipped into the chair with a nod of his head toward me.
“Good evening, Lady Kimber.”
“Good evening to you as well, Lord Elex.”
The titles were new. I still felt odd when people used them, but in his delightfully deep baritone voice, I found myself really liking it.
Pressing a kiss to my hand, he triggered a mad cascade of electricity through every part of me.
How had we never seen this? And why had we let everyone keep us so far apart for the past weeks?
When he placed my hand back on the table, he didn’t let go. Instead, he trailed his thumb back and forth along my knuckles, and it very much felt as though he had no interest in letting go again.
“You look lovely tonight, Kimber.” His voice was just loud enough to carry over the din of the room. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything quite so… bold.”
I gave him a shrug. “Oh, this old thing?”
Chuckling, his head shook.
I had never, ever owned a gown like the one I currently wore. A rich, deep green, it sparkled with a thousand small crystals. The heavier fabric had a high cut neckline, and beyond my shoulders, the sleeves were a sheer material, also laden with the same crystals.
Naturally, Danai and Lunella had dragged me to the shops when they saw my ‘shades-of-beige’ wardrobe.
I really couldn’t argue with them. I was a ‘shades-of-beige’ kind of person until now.
Danai’s face was between us quite suddenly. “It’s an excellent color for her, don’t you think, Lord Elex?”
“I do like it on her,” he agreed.
Danai patted my shoulder and moved on. Elex watched her go and leaned over to me.
“I’d like even more to see what it looks like on the floor of my bedroom.”
With a heaving, false gasp, I whipped my head to him. “Sir, I am scandalized!”
“I can scandalize you even more when the dress is on my floor.”
This time, I just laughed. “You’d better make me regret keeping you at arm’s length, Elex.”
His chin landed on his fist, pretending to think. I slapped his arm and turned back to the table.
“How are your lessons coming along with the immovable boulder that calls itself Dorian?”
Sighing deeply, I rolled my eyes. “About as well as you’d expect. He’s…a boulder. He’s also brilliant, and I’m delighted he agreed to teach me. Still. He could be just a bit nicer.”
“I guess the older you are, the more of an asshole you can get away with being.”
“Elex! Don’t be jealous. We’ve both had too much going on to be jealous of those who have been around us. I mean, I could get jealous of that gorgeous Parli you’ve been around for the past few weeks.”
“Parli? She’s…Oh.” The comprehension washed over his face. His cheeks pinked, and he let a laugh out. “Okay, so I need to relax.”
I wrapped my hand around his. “We’ve been friends for ninety years, Elex. This new path is just weeks old. Give us both time to adjust.”
“Yes, of course.” The smile was genuine.
Not too soon after the last course of dinner, Elex stood and offered his hand. “Dance with me.”
I took the hand offered and moved away from the table. Without another word, he led me to the dance floor in the middle of the room as the orchestra started a beautiful, ancient piece of music, a traditional dance in S’Kir.
A traditional courting dance.
As Elex wrapped his arm around my waist, I leveled a bemused grin at him.
“Did you do this on purpose?”
“Perhaps.” The grin was in his voice.
“You don’t need to court me,” I whispered the words.
“I know.” His eyes alighted on the audience we now had. “But they need me to.”
It still struck me as odd that I had to show people what I was doing. Until the cave, I was nothing more than a slightly magically inclined teacher, the daughter of two humble bakers, who taught the young ones at the temple.
Now, I was a Lady of the Temple of the Lost God.
The eyes of S’Kir were on me
They were on Elex as well as he spun me across the dance floor in the traditional courtship dance.
He did this on purpose. He was claiming his right to court me, to be exclusive to me. It was a purposeful display to warn everyone that I was not for their pleasure.
I hadn’t realized it would, but his possessive stance on our budding relationship actually turned me on.
“The only reason we’re still here,” Elex whispered, “is because I wanted this dance with you. Else, you would already be naked on my bed.”
“You do not need to fan my flames, Lord Everettson.”
“I plan to do a lot more than just fan them.”
Butterflies fluttered through my stomach as we whirled our way across the dance floor and through just a few other couples. My nerves wound tighter as the song finished, and we bowed to each other and the other couples on the floor with us.
Elex’s words were breathy. “May I escort you to my bed, Lady Raven?”
Before I could answer, a hand that wasn’t Elex’s slid between us and grabbed me around the waist.
A tall, well-dressed man in formal clothes stood behind me, smiling. I didn’t like it.
“May I have the next dance, with your suitor’s permission?” His voice was full of snake oil and falsehoods, and it slithered around like the very snake he’d stolen the oil from.
But Elex couldn’t refuse because he’d asked permission. It would be rude, and in an unspoken agreement, Elex and I conceded this.
The snake oil aristocrat whirled me out on to the dance floor again, this time in a high-spirited dance that had a lot more people joining us on the floor.
I hoped Elex would cut in fairly quickly. He lurked at the edge of the dance floor for just that reason.
The music was joyful and light, and it was a song I would have usually enjoyed, but something was bothering me about the man I was dancing with. There was something dishonest about him.
Turning me out at the right moment in the song, another person wrapped their arms around my waist, and the hope it was Elex was gone instantly. This faceless man turned me out again in the song and sent me to another pair of arms.
Spinning me, again and again through a dozen different arms, it took me a moment to realize I was no longer on the dance floor, but being dragged away through a door opposite Elex and the masters.