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Bearer. Queen.
A familiar pair of eyes shone with warmth. The delicate hands of the woman who owned her heart roved over her skin, tracking the line of her throat.
An elegant flow of syllables slipped into Ellie’s mind—more intimate and more true than what had come before.
Lover. Companion. Ixb’ahjun.
White tile and frosted glass slammed back into place. The silhouette of leaves danced against the window as steam rose slowly from the tub.
“I know,” Ellie gasped.
The scarred woman’s eyes softened with a gentle sadness.
No—notthe woman. She had a name.
She was Ixb’ahjun.
She brushed her thumb against Ellie’s cheek with a tired affection before she firmed again, straightening her shoulders.
“You want to know who we were,” Ixb’ahjun said.
It was not a question. Ixb’ahjun’s words were a statement that danced over Ellie’s skin. In its wake sparked the familiar, hungry feeling of a burning need tounderstand.
“Of course,” Ellie replied.
Even as she spoke it—as shefeltit—the shadows shifted along the walls. The washroom itched as though a horde of insects crawled behind it. A buzz rose at the back of her mind, whispering of other wants—recognition, respect, freedom.
Ellie did not realize that she had fallen to her knees. Ixb’ahjun stood over her with a calm, unwavering authority.
“Want it,” she ordered.
Padre Kuyoc’s words danced in the back of Ellie’s mind.
The mirror was made to grant knowledge… It seeks the answer in your heart—in your desire.
The woman above Ellie was a ghost—a memory. How was she here?
The grip on Ellie’s chin firmed. Another word fell from Ixb’ahjun’s lips, harsh and demanding. It felt like a title—a name.
Acolyte. Granddaughter. Warrior.
“Want it,” Ixb’ahjun said again.
Yes. She could want it. Ellie had always wanted to know—to learn.
“Show her,” Ixb’ahjun commanded. Her voice rang through the ordinary washroom as though it were the great, soaring nave of a cathedral carved from the earth itself, rich and resonant with power.
Knowledge flooded into Ellie.
She reeled against the onslaught of it as the tiled floor beneath her shattered into the sea of thousands of years of history.
Temples rose, curving into the mountains. A city grew and sprawled with elegant architecture and marvels of engineering. Water and stone, paint and music—laughter, joy, ritual.
Progress. Power… and deep beneath the earth—blood.
Pierced tongues. Severed earlobes. Birds and lizards. Greater creatures—a screeching tapir, the crimson-flecked pelt of a jaguar.
Captives of war—taut-bodied men with slit throats and opened chests.
