The Alcazar (The Cerulean Duology #2) - Amy Ewing Page 0,123
noticed that as well, when Wyllin had mentioned the Cerulean who’d stayed on the planet of ice and roses.
“A Cerulean who finds her purpose on a planet,” Wyllin explained. She mopped at her brow, Sera’s necklace still clutched in one hand. “There was usually one, sometimes two, who would find a deep connection to a planet—whether it was romantic love, or friendship, or simply a love of the planet itself. It was often a traveler, but not always. Those were some of the most bittersweet goodbyes, a Cerulean who chose to leave her City.”
Leo tried very hard to ignore the way his blood was suddenly pumping through his veins, the tiniest ray of hope lighting up inside him. Sera was not a planet-keeper, no matter how much he might wish her to be.
“What’s a traveler?” Agnes asked.
Wyllin seemed bemused by him and his sister, as if she could not understand why they cared so much.
“Travelers were the first to go down when we tethered to a new planet,” Wyllin explained. “They would seek out life, assess the level of danger or intelligence, the richness of the earth and how long a tether might be able to hold. They would be the first to communicate, to make contact with the inhabitants if contact was deemed safe or necessary. Of course, there would be no more Cerulean travelers now. And there are no tether-tenders either, are there?” She dropped her head into her hands. “What have you done, Elysse?”
“So there were Cerulean who once looked after the tether,” Sera said.
Leela grinned. “Koreen will have to eat her words.” Then she frowned. “I am confused about something else, though. Elysse loved a male. That does not seem possible.”
Wyllin gave her a curious look. “But of course it is possible. There are Cerulean who love men, though I admit they are rare. There are Cerulean who love men and women, and Cerulean who have no interest in romantic love at all. There are Cerulean who love planets more than people and Cerulean who enjoy the physical expression of love but not the emotional. Not every Cerulean is meant for a triad. Not every Cerulean is the same.”
Sera seemed to be thinking very hard about something and Leo kept as still as he could. When she turned to Leela, there was a fierce sort of determination on her face.
“It is possible,” she said. “I am proof. I am attracted to males, Leela. But I did not know it until I came to this planet. Finally, I understood every part of myself.” She gazed up at the crystal-blue sky. “I had wondered if there were others in our City like me. Or not like me. Cerulean that are different in other ways.”
Leela’s eyes bulged. “Males?” She rubbed her forehead then and shot Leo a furtive glance. “Are you attracted to that male?” she whispered as if Leo wouldn’t be able to hear her, standing where he was.
Sera laughed and Leo felt a sharp tug in his chest, knowing this might be the last time he heard that sound. “I was not at first,” she said. “But yes. I am now.”
Leela looked Leo up and down with a sort of hesitant mix of approval and curiosity, and he hoped he appeared more cool and collected than he felt. All this discovery, all this new information about the City Above the Sky, it was all leading to one thing: Sera leaving. Agnes had tears in her eyes and Leo wished she wouldn’t—he wanted to be strong now. He didn’t want Sera to see him falter, to see just how much it would hurt him to lose her.
“The tether must break.” Wyllin had risen to her feet, breathing heavily. “The City must move. The tether cannot provide for much longer. And then the City will die, as it nearly did during the journey after the Great Sadness. The moonflower fields will wither, the seresheep and the bees and the birds will perish, the Estuary will dry up . . . and Elysse will cling to it anyway. Because her guilt has crippled her.” She ran her fingers along the edge of the fountain. “We used to speak, from time to time. I could see her through my moonstone, hear stories of my home and news of my friends. And then my magic and my stone grew weaker until at last this fountain froze over and I saw my City no more.” Her eyes gleamed for an instant. “I got