It was as if the world had changed when they left the booth—grown brighter, lighter, fuller. Hope. Possibility. The other's felt it too. Rina could saw it in their careful tread, like they explored an alien world. The way they held their heads high, a slight quiver to their lips. How Anya walked with, not before them.

Was this what it was like to be equal? Was it what Pietro, Isaac and the others had wanted so bad they were willing to sacrifice their lives?

They rounded a bend in the corridor, and the floor sloped down, the temperature cooling as they descended the labyrinthine passages.

Could they—or, at least some of them—become equals? No, she wouldn't get ahead of herself. Her people—their ancestors—had destroyed their nation and almost dragged Eurora down with them. Leaving Eurora with the dregs of a standing army, their soft belly exposed to the teeth of neighbouring kingdoms. All because of Denese intolerance and greed.

The Denese descendants had sewn the seeds of xenophobia that choked them now, and Rina knew all to well that ripping out the weeds wouldn't stop them from growing back even thicker after the next rain.

The sound of boots on tile grew. Another bend and they encountered a pair of double doors that opened of their own accord.

They emerged in a cathedral-ceilinged receiving room, tiled in intricate terracotta patterns. An ebony desk sat toward the rear of the room, behind it, a fireplace—though Rina couldn't imagine why someone would need a fire in this city, and rows of books lined the shelves, their spines colourful jewels. The room reminded Rina of Media's solar, and it struck her again how things had changed since she had been called there. How far she'd come.

A door creaked open. Guards entered, fanning out, their eyes like marbles, focused on nothing and everything. The ninth and final guard was different. He marched with too-taught shoulders, his hazel eyes burning from within. Yet when they fell on her, she didn't burn. She turned to ice.

A flash of maroon. Something large and dark sweeping into the room. Then a twirling silverpoint, her eyes aching as they crossed, trying to understand what was before her.

An arm snaked about her chest, and she gasped, the breath squeezed from her lungs as her back met leather armour. When she could breathe again, she inhaled the scent of lye.

Olav.

She refocused her eyes and saw it: the tip of a blade spinning in the air, pointed at her forehead.

"Stay absolute still," Olav whispered.

Rina tilted her head. Olav's eyes were wide and black. She nodded.

His lips quirked, and he gripped her tighter.

"What's the meaning of this, guard?" asked a familiar voice. Mai, he had been the darkness.

He stood in his robes, the eight witnesses and the judge behind him, with his hand outstretched, the guard prone, hovering above him. The guard's eyes were mere embers now, the whites threatening to snuff out any colour as he stared down at Mai, hands helplessly clawing the air like he might drag himself back down to the ground.

Unlikely, Rina thought.

"Speak, I said."

Something about the guard was familiar: the salt and pepper of his hair and beard. She caught a sharp intake of breath from behind her, the tensing of muscles, and knew who it was. The guard from the tower. The one who had escorted her to the room. One of Olav's own. One of his—of Mai's—most trusted.

"It's unnatural, breeding with them," the guard hissed. "Don't think the people will accept it. If they do, they're traitors to everything our nation stands for. You're nothing but a lia—"

Snap.

The guard's neck lolled to the side, like the loose neck of a rabbit dangling in the larder. A moment later, the blade clattered to the ground. Long, thin, deadly. A thing that would have punctured her skull like a needle through leather.

Rina shuddered.

"Anyone care to second him?" Mai asked, walking in a casual circle about the room, his eyes grazing across every person. Rina trembled as they raked across her like a nail down a lover's spine.

No-one spoke.

"Good. Well, this all came about quicker than I anticipated. I had intended to announce the origins of the Magisterium in a less shocking way. Still, with recent events, I decided doing it at a public trial might breed sympathy toward one of my Chosen in her time of need. It seems I misjudged more than Lord Cassander and High-Magister Ro. Mark me, I will have zero tolerance for dissension—and I expect those of you here to enforce that."

His eyes lingered on his guards and the magisters and acolytes behind him.

The guards snapped their boots together in unison. "Your Magnificence."

Mai smiled, then shook himself. He faced Rina's small party. He stilled on Rina, tilting his head to the side. His brows rose, and he gave Rina, who was very aware of how close Olav stood behind her, a crooked smile that made the crystal beneath her skin thrum. She stepped forward. Olav released his grip, the fingers lingering a moment longer than the needed to before they let her go.

Mai's mouth widened, revealing white teeth and those sharp-tipped incisors. His attention flicked to Anya.

"My child, thank you for caring for these young women—and men," he added as if surprised at Mehdi and Nabu's presence.

My child? Rina frowned. Surely it was just a term of endearment though he was an emperor. A long-lived one. Wouldn't he have had children—children who had long died in their beds of old age? She clenched her jaw.

"My pleasure, Your Magnificence," answered Anya.

"It is good to see you again," he said, reaching out a hand to cup Anya's cheek. Rina ground her teeth together, breathing deeply through her nose, earning a questioning look from Mai, before he faced Olav.

"How is your mother, Olav?"

"Your Magnificence, she is well. I thank you."

By the tone in Olav's voice, Rina knew her friend was taken aback by Mai's forthrightness. His parentage wasn't common knowledge.

"I'm glad to hear. She is my strong arm in the north, and I do not know what I would do without her." He sucked his teeth. "And, I see you have been taking care of our Rina. I am indebted to both you and your mother," he said, his smile not reaching his eyes.

Our Rina?

"Rina is an exceptional young woman, I agree, Your Magnificence. I am certain she will achieve great things—should she wish to."

"Hmm," Mai mused. His eyes dropped to Rina's. "Come, my dear."

A hot wind whipped up about them as she neared him. Dry and desert-like, it tasted of salt. The room blurred at the edges, and it was as if he stared at her again as he had in her vision, from across those bleached bones in Hypat Bay.

Her eyes darted to the crown on his head. His Carnelian Crystal was enormous, wrapped in the gold-fillagree briars.

Look at me, not my crown, his voice said in her mind.

Those blue eyes pulled her in. Static zaps moved across her skin, across his, and between them in snaps of yellow light. A vein pulsed at his throat. Her mouth became wet as she imagined the copper tang of his blood on her tongue. She took another step and another. Closer. She smelled roses.

His lips stretched, and something gleamed in his eye.

Did he know what she was thinking—what she wanted?

I did that, the voice inside her head said. For you. Did it make you glad?

She nodded, knowing he spoke not only of what he did to save Sara, but also that he had killed for her.

Speak to me.

Rina opened her mouth.

Not like that. He looked down at the charge of energy from him to her, entering her where the crystal sat beneath her skin. Across this thread.

Self-conscious, Rina peered about her, wondering what the others would think. Did they feel the wind? Could they see the power? But the world had slowed outside their bubble—the writhing flicker of the mage lamps a barely perceptible crawl, the figures about them statues.

Loosen your focus on the visible world. Open your mind to the Carnelian Way. To me.

Swallowing, she let her vision blur. As in the infirmary, a yellow wash seeped across the room. She stepped through it, into another spectrum, and the world filled with light and energy. Mai stood there, shining with it. Like the sun.

Speak to me. This time, though she heard the words in her mind, his lips moved.

Mai, she said, her lips moving and not moving.

He reached out and took her hands in her own. Energy flooded her veins. He pulled her to him. Into his embrace, her head resting against his chest, just below his neck. She inhaled roses. Soaked in the sun that was his presence. He was light and summer and hope and the future.

His lips pressed to her throat. She shivered as his teeth pierced her skin, his tongue warm, wet and rough as he drank from her.

She clawed at his shoulders. Gods, she wanted to melt into him. To become part of him. To mount another plane of existence and join the divine. She wanted him to drink her until her blood was his blood, and they were one.

Rina? His words came sometime later, caressing her soul.

Yes.

She felt his smile against her cheek.

It's time.

No. Please, can't we stay here.

I'm sorry, my dear. I'd slow time for you forever if I could, but even that is beyond my power.

Cold overcame her when he released her. Her vision blurred, unable to keep up with the movement from one spectrum to another.

Another time, my dear. In her mind, his words were the whisper of the dying wind as she returned to the world.

She blinked.

Alone. He had left the room, and she was alone. Emptiness knocked her to the ground like a tidal swell and left a void.

I'm still here. You're not alone, he said down that thread and into her bones. Never forget.

In a daze, Rina let herself be pulled to her feet. Her hand came to her neck, expecting to find smeared blood and puncture marks, but the skin was dry and smooth. She was only half aware as Olav carried her back to the acolyte's level, her state put down to shock, and she spent the next few days in bed, in deep exhaustion. 

A/N: Thank you again for reading, lovely people. So, it is official. The chapters will get less and less edited from now on. I have a bad feeling I may need to publish fast-drafts soon to make the Wattys deadline 🙀 If I have to do that, I'll try to think of it as some exposure therapy for my perfectionistic tendencies! 

I doubt I'll have time to go back and edit before the deadline, but if anyone has any suggestions (large or small), don't hesitate.

Jas oxox