Page 52 of The Spark that Ignites
“She reflected my soul—a mirror I’d been afraid to gaze upon. And she saw every part of me and swaddled them in love, despite how fiercely I hid. It was our ember that banished the impenetrable darkness and devoured my fear. It seemed I was never afraid of death itself, but walking this world alone with only the memory of her spark.”
The Nameless Book
Chapter Nineteen
From the moment Emmery opened her eyes, her magic thundered inside her—a growling untamed beast stealing the air from her lungs. But as she rose and dressed, she convinced herself it would be fine.
There wasn’t time to deal with it.
So, she tamped it down as she always had, knowing they had places to be, and her worries could wait. They had to.
Vesper’s uncharacteristic quietness churned her stomach as they rode side by side on their steeds. All he told her, in a vague, cryptic way, was he needed to take her somewhere. He also hadn’t prepared her for the hundreds of stairs up to the temple, and by the time they reached the top, Emmery braced herself on her knees, her brow dripping sweat onto the tiled floor.
She panted, sucking the thin air in reedy breaths, but her heart stuttered as she took in the scenery. The sky, a heart stopping pastel, mirrored the lakes far in the distance and it was like the gods themselves had carved the snow-dusted mountains with deliberate hands. There was a quality about this view that bled magic, although it was hard to appreciate when she couldn’t breathe.
“It wouldn’t have killed you to warn me about the stairs,” she wheezed.
How had he not broken a sweat in those leather pants?Leatheron this unusually hot autumn day.
Vesper chuckled, leaning casually against a pillar. The stonework could inspire the most callous man to speak in poetry,images of wings and stars, waterfalls and spring flowers carved into the pale limestone, nothing like the stark coldness of the House of Gods. The abandoned temple was spotless, untouched, and not a scuff in sight. Honestly, it was strange.
Vesper gave her a lazy smile. “I warned you it would be a long hike.”
He hadn’t been exaggerating. She lost count of the steps after hauling herself up fifty, and Vesper had to coax her with food like some mongrel. Aera had opted to ride on Emmery’s shoulder and now sniffed every corner of the temple floor.
“Yes, but you didn’t specifystairs.” Emmery dragged the back of her hand over her sweaty brow. “If you didn’t bring me here for a good reason, I might knock you off the edge.” Saying it would be a steep tumble would be an understatement.
“Hey now, don’t be hostile. This is important.”
Vesper pushed himself off the pillar, his heavy boots echoing as he strolled to the center of the temple to a smoothly carved onyx basin on a waist height pedestal. Inside was what Emmery could only describe as stardust, holding an ethereal shimmer that screamed of other worlds.
He reached a gloved hand inside, retrieved a fistful, and let it slip through his fingers. “Do you know what this is?”
Emmery shook her head, joining at his side.
“This is ash made fromkhaosflame.” When she reached for it, he warned, “Careful. If you hold it too long, it’ll burn you.”
Fisting her hand, Emmery retracted.
“This is where we once performed the cleansing,” he added. Vesper turned his attention to the vessel beside it made of white marble, shimmering like untouched, freshly-fallen snow—opposite in every way. Inside sat eerily still water, the same lifeless black as the Whispering Spring.
“What’s that?” Emmery skimmed her fingers along the surface. It was frozen solid, and the faintest tinge of red cloudedthe black. “Is that—” She swallowed the unease climbing her throat. “Is thatbloodin the water?”
“It’s the second part. Once babes are cleansed in the fire, they’re bathed in the waters of the Hollow,” he said. “Legend says it’s Deimos’s blood. He’s the God of Blood and Ice for a reason.”
From the tension in her chest and the lifeless state of the temple, there had to be more. “What happened?”
“The flame was snuffed out. One night it was there, the next morning gone. The same happened with the frozen waters. And we haven’t been able to relight the flame or thaw the ice since. It’s been almost a century.”
Her stomach twisted and Emmery exhaled a heavy breath. Was that what he meant when he said the gods abandoned them? “So, this is obviously bad,” she observed.
He smirked though there was no humour in it. “Obviously.”
“BecauseKennacan’t be cleansed. So, they aren’t chosen or given the scars. And because they don’t have the scars, they aren’t beckoned for the trial to receive their magic.” Her gaze flicked to Vesper. “Am I missing anything?”
“That’s the gist. The extinction of our kind.” He eyed her wearily.
Unease stirred in her belly. “Why are we here?”
