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There’s the uncomfortable silence you were waiting for.
Sisters save her but it mostly pissed her off.
“How, then, can any of you still believe that Thodelebor’s problems are not already our own? One of our chasms borders the Westrealm, and the creatures they’re fighting every day easily travel those depths. What’s to stop them from coming here if they break through?”
“Our? Our?” A formidable if older Sorcerit surged forward in the front row, the last of the Council she actually recognized. “How dare you keep saying that word.”
Lunara narrowed in on her attacker. On his crop of silvery, starlight hair and his pale eyes. On the sneer twisting his bitter mouth.
Auren the Hivewarden, capable of summoning hordes of bleeding bees to do his bidding. Of course he was the one being combative—it was his party everyone had been attending when Malachyr committed his greatest atrocity.
“You neglected the Evesong and your duties for decades in favor of larking about, doing whatever you wanted while we suffered without our Keeper, Moonweaver,” he said, huffing. “Since you seem to love everywhere else so much better than Nachthelliae, why don’t you go into Thodelebor and take care of it, hmm? Better yet, what’s stopping you from clearing all of the chasms in Bordoroth and saving everyone the trouble?” Auren shook his head. “Fucking child.”
The part of her that hated the way they functioned, that didn’t trust them, that thought every last one to be false—the part of her that absolutely fucking detested the Elder Council—reared its ugly head, fire licking through her veins.
But before she could say a word, Araxis misted to Auren, gripped him by the nape, and slammed his face into the front railing. They disappeared, materializing in front of her as Araxis shoved him to his knees.
No one even blinked at the violent display, cool gazes looking on as if this was entirely expected.
“Last I checked,” Araxis growled, “it was punishable by death to speak to a Keeper thus, as it is our common belief that any words we gift to them are communicated directly to the Sisters themselves.” He raised his voice to address the rest of the room. “Are there any who disagree with that sentiment?”
Not a single sound answered him.
“Lunara is the Head, I am the Hand she wields, and you are but a humble part of the Body that supports her,” Araxis said. “However, since arseholes aren’t supposed to have mouths, Auren, do us a favor and keep yours shut so I am not forced to do it for you. Permanently.”
“No.” Lunara’s voice echoed in the massive arena. “That is not the way I wish this to be.”
She spoke without thinking, horrified as gazes snapped to her from all sides. Trying to slow her pulse, she sucked in a calming breath, then another.
“I reject the notion that anyone here should be afraid to say whatever they want to me. I refuse to be falsely respected because they fear punishment for doing otherwise.” She looked down at Auren’s bloody face, despising him even as she defended him. “The Hivewarden may say as he pleases, even if his words prove him to be an ignorant fool.”
Lunara raised her voice, addressing the room. “To be perfectly clear, I had no inkling whatsoever that I was the Keeper until a couple months ago. When I was finally made aware of it, I was more than a little upset, and terrified for reasons I’m sure are well understood amongst the creatures in this room. The same reasons I hid for fifty-two years in this realm. I spent my time healing other Sorcerit who were in close proximity and generally living a quiet, simple life until I was…rescued by a friend. Months. It has been only months since I set foot outside of the Evesong for the first time in my life. Since I had my first glimpse of Solyrian and witnessed life in other lands. So yes, this is our realm.”
Her heart twisted, Brand’s face flashing in her mind as she locked eyes with Thaddeus—the one who started it all. Who changed everything.
Gritting her teeth, she loosened her hold on Illamiata, the light multiplying. “I do not simply control the Tear Stone. It is…part of me, even as it is its own. When I let go and freed our shared power in the Thodelemaia Chasm, there were forces at work still beyond my understanding. If I did the same in Thodelebor, I would likely, accidentally, raze the entire realm, the innocents included. I haven’t taken care of it, because I am not a complete idiot.
“As for clearing the chasms, I cannot and will not because I have good reason now to believe that some of the creatures trapped therein might not be totally lost to us. That we might be able to heal and save them.”
Gasps sounded as she stared down at the Hivewarden again, Caius and Thaddeus the loudest of them. “And I haven’t been a fucking child, Auren, since the day my parents were murdered in the Calamity while you and the rest of the Council drank champagne in your tower on the opposite side of the Upper Block.”
Everyone went very, very still at that. It didn’t feel like the triumph she’d been hoping for.
“Is that true, lass?” Caius rasped, his face a picture of shock. “You can heal them?”
Lunara nodded, shaking herself. “It isn’t a sure thing, and I’ve never attempted it with a dreadbeast. I’ve had exactly one semi-success. The creature still died in the end, but they went to the Veil as themselves and not a Forgotten.”
The amphitheater erupted at that, a roaring mix of excitement and doubt. Araxis misted Auren back to his seat and tossed him into it, bending down to whisper something in the Hivewarden’s ear before returning to his own place.
“Quiet!” he bellowed, voice booming over the chaos. “What would you have us do with this information, Blessed Keeper?”
Everyone leaned in, seeming to hold their breath.
Just because they’re doing it, doesn’t mean that you have to. Go on, fill those lungs and get to it.
Right. Yes. In through the nose, out through the mouth.
“First, thank you, Auren, for helping us clear the air and allowing me to provide an explanation for the concerns you were kind enough to raise.”
