Page 7 of The Oracle of Dusk

Aurora’s heart seized. She’d never seen Phaedra so furious. Would she truly risk a goddess’ wrath over a coward’s tears?

Silvanus stepped between the high priestess and Phaedra.

“Please reconsider, Your Highness. No one here has harmed Aurora.”

“Oh, will I be courting Justice’s wrath as well? Perhaps we should find one of Passion’s priestesses so that I can cover all my blasphemous bases.”

“Fae, stop!” Aurora pushed past them to get to her friend. Phaedra was too hot-headed for her own good. If she harmed either the high priestess or avatar, Knowledge and Justice would severely punish her.

The moment Phaedra wrapped her arms around Aurora, the wind died down. She could feel Phaedra’s heart beating wildly, her breathing unsteady. Phaedra was one of those whose wild magic made them more prone to let their magic have free reign in states of heightened emotion. Aurora was one of the few who could calm her. Crisis averted, Aurora’s legs trembled. Neither her heart nor her body would be able to withstand much more of this.

“Say the word, and we leave Trisia,” Phaedra whispered.

Goddesses, how she wanted that. To simply run away from everything she’d just been told. Some small part of her still believed it was all a mistake. Maybe if she left, the Beast of Old wouldn’t rise. It would be better for everyone that way.

“You would only bring Drakon with you,” Silvanus said, crushing her hopes. “He comes for her and her alone.” Silvanus turned to Orithyia. “We’ll be on our way shortly. I believe I know enough to answer any other questions Aurora or the princess might have. It would be best if you’re safely ensconced in the Boreas temple.”

“Very well. Aurora, do you have any other questions you would like me to answer before we part ways?”

Her mind was scrambled, her heart a jumbled mess. How was she supposed to think clearly in a situation as unprecedented as this? There were too many questions for her mind to hold at that moment, too many screams she was holding back. But one question in particular came to the fore.

“How am I to awaken magic when I’ve already failed to do so?”

If saving Trisia hinged on her awakening magic, then there was a deep and abiding issue with the threads of fate.

Magic flowed across the whole of Trisia. Some even awakened the power to see it. But in Trisia, there were only two ways to awaken magic—through listening for and answering the call of a wellspring, and through prayer. Wellsprings of wild magic rarely stayed in the same place for long, while the holy sites of divine power were more fixed in the landscape and temples built atop them.

As a child, Aurora had heard the call of the Viridian wellspring, answered it even, but had walked away empty-handed. She’d been rejected by wild magic, no matter that she’d heard its melody. And so, she’d rejected wild magic and devoted herself to the temple, to Knowledge.

And yet, no matter that she’d prayed for three days in front of her goddess, she did not receive divine magic. Half submerged in icy water as clear as crystal, wearing only the thinnest of linen dresses, her muscles had burned from cold and tortuous stillness. Tears had stopped streaming from her eyes after the second day of that ritualized torture. There had been no point to them. For three days she’d bent her head and clasped her hands in front of the statue of Knowledge. Only silence had met her mind’s pleas.

Orithyia knew all of this.

Silvanus cleared his throat.

“The high priestess mentioned that you had heard the call of the Viridian wellspring. Clearly you have some affinity for wild magic. If you heard it, you’ll be able to hear the other wellsprings, as I can. As luck would have it, I heard the call of Aureum’s wellspring while travelling here. If we leave quickly, we might catch it before it moves.” His smile was gentle. “I know this has all come as a great shock to you, and any right-minded person would be terrified, but there is hope, Aurora.”

“Fae?”

Having awakened her magic at the Viridian wellspring, Phaedra was more versed in these matters than Aurora. After all, wild magic was the pride of the imperial house of Trisia. Aurora had been so devastated by her failure as a child that she’d refused to learn much about the subject. Yet another glaring error.

“Technically, yes. There is a wellspring in every province of the empire. Though I’m surprised the temples would allow one of their own to admit as much openly.”

“You belittle the Triad and their devotees at your own peril, Princess.” Orithyia sighed.

“The temples have long suppressed wild magic rites in the empire. Don’t insult me by feigning ignorance,” Phaedra retorted.

“I’ll not have this debate again, Your Highness. Nevertheless, I can see Silvanus has you well in hand, Aurora. I will take my leave, and pray for your safe journey.” Orithyia nodded at her before leaving the tent.

“Good riddance,” Phaedra muttered.

“We should be on our way as well, Aurora.” Silvanus offered her his hand.

Phaedra slapped it away.

“If she’s going anywhere, then I will be coming along. In which case, she doesn’t need you pawing at her like some stray dog. And while we travel, keep your paladins in line. The next one who so much as breathes impolitely in her direction better hope they die at the beast’s hands, and not mine.”

Aurora’s heart stuttered in her chest.

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