Page 64 of Return of the Darkness
“You were my lineage before she put you on this path,” Vala murmured. “I did not know.” Elisara finally relented, turning her head to look at the goddess with a raised eyebrow, the only acknowledgement she was listening. “I did not know she put thatthinginside you or her essence—that speck of dark stone encased in her power. I suspected Kazaar’s potential heritage, though there are a few options. I also assumed the darkness I sensed around the pair of you came from that. I assumed he was related to Caligh and had tainted you after you merged your powers.” Vala paused, allowing Elisara a moment to reflect. She wanted to ask about Kazaar’s heritage—his parents, grandparents, if he had found peace with his passing, and if she would meet him again one day, somewhere else. “When I saw the mark of the celestial tie on your collarbone, I knew it was my mother's doing, though I had assumed wrong and knew far less than I thought.”
“Can you not ask her?” Elisara finally asked. Vala shook her head in the snow.
“My mother has been wandering the skies for centuries, trying to right the wrongs of Caligh and the others. I have not seen her in some time.”
“Others?” Elisara asked, and Vala gave a pitiful smile.
“There are many things you do not know, matters I cannot tell you, even here.”
“You are under the same curse, preventing Sitara and Osiris from telling me everything?”
“No. I was locked away here before that curse was put in place. Isimply know the paths you may take. Telling you too much would alter them. That and mysiblingsinsist we decide on everything collectively.” Vala rolled her eyes.
“You do not get along?”
“After spending an eternity with people, through war and peace, destruction and creation, chaos and order, you find that relationships becomestrained.” Vala raised a hand, as if wishing to reach for Elisara before thinking better of it. “It is why I was so angry when I thought you were tainted by a dark power. It is not the first time someone has taken my descendants and moulded them into something new. The Queen of Keres’s captain is a perfect example.” Elisara raised her eyebrows.
“Farid was once your descendent?”
“No, but one of his many ancestors from centuries ago was. But Keres used Caligh’s knowledge to twist them into something new.” Elisara frowned. Wings of flaming feathers seemed a far reach from the descendent of someone who simply controlled air.
“Caligh is truly that old, then?” Elisara asked. Vala’s eyes darkened.
“Older than you think,” she murmured. The two women lay in silence, staring at the stars. Elisara thought of all the questions she could ask the goddess, like how could they defeat Caligh? What did he truly want from Elisara? What were the rulers’ roles in saving other lands? She imagined Vala would respond with the same answer, which was no answer at all.
“How can you speak to me so freely here?”
With a look around them, Vala asked, “Do you know where we are?” Elisara shook her head. “We are on the Isle of Gods.” Elisara had never heard the term before but could quickly deduce it belonged to Vala and her siblings.
“This is your home?”
“This is my prison,” Vala said, her eyes glistening as she stood. The goddess reached for the queen, who hesitantly accepted her hand, the rough and worn texture etched with thousands ofstories. Elisara straightened and winced at the pain in her back. Muttering sounded from behind, but before she could turn to see who it was, Vala placed a hand on her shoulder and brushed the moon scar with her thumb. “I let the loss of a love almost destroy me once,” she said, the glistening more prominent in her eyes as they grew vacant, as though recalling a memory. “You are far more than your heartbreak, Elisara.” Vala smiled and stepped back, dragging her cloak in the snow as she walked. “Oh,” she said, glancing back again. “Sorry for calling you a whore.” Elisara smiled and kicked the snow with her boot.
“I could be, for all you know,” Elisara said, and the goddess laughed.
“See, you have my humour too.”
“Eli!” Vlad called. Elisara whirled to find Vlad, Helena, and Vigor trekking the Zivoi mountain. Before answering, Elisara turned back to ask Vala how she survived it—the loss—but she was gone.
“What are you doing here?” Elisara asked, navigating the snow to reach them.
“Great question. We have no idea.” Vigor wrapped an arm around Elisara’s shoulder as she shivered in the night air. They still wore the same clothes as they did on the Unsanctioned Isle.
“We were about to board the ship, and then the next thing we know, the trees are no longer red but snow-capped,” Vlad said, assessing his queen to ensure she was okay. Elisara nodded to reassure him.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
“We were trying to get as high as we could to see as far across the realm as possible, hoping to find you.” Vlad put an arm around her shoulder, and Elisara tried not to flinch at the touch as he steered her towards Vigor and Helena. “Once we reached halfway, we saw Larelle in the distance. She’s heading towards the Neutral City.”
“I suppose that should be our next stop, then.”
Chapty Forty-Two
Nyzaia
“Come. The others are already at the Neutral City,” said Keres with a wave of his hand, padding along the sand barefoot. Nyzaia and Farid shared a look.
“How? We have not been here long,” said Farid. Keres glanced over his shoulder to look Farid up and down. He straightened under the scrutiny.
