controlling her destination, but we have hope. Once we’re there, we’ll gather information. Ultimately, our priority is getting word to Order in Purgatory that Hrista has gone AWOL. It’s our final option. Thing is, it’s exceptionally risky for Astra to try and open a shimmering portal directly to Purgatory first, since that’s not in the realm of the living but far beyond. I don’t know how safe that might be. You have to understand… this stuff hasn’t really been tried and retried before.”
We all knew it would be anything but simple. Together and separately, we’d been through plenty already to understand that the task ahead would not be easy. And everyone might not survive… But something had to be done, and our beloved Astra was the key to our success. Hrista may have already confirmed it, but I felt it deep within my soul.
Derek and I had always said that the future generations would save us eventually. The children. The children are the future.
Unending
Dream, my ethereal sister, had been summoned to carry Tristan and me away from Biriane after the… incident. My bare feet touched the sea of reddish pebbles in Taeral’s palace gardens. Each of the pathways was covered with these smooth pellets of lacquered scarlet, and they swirled around the heated pools in the middle like ruby snakes. To my left and right, green and red leaf trees reached for the crystalline skies, skirted by rounded bushes and manicured floral topiaries. This place was an oasis of calm and precision, I realized, and I was infinitely more receptive to the physical world since I’d been put inside a living body.
I was still adjusting to every sensation. Even the people around me seemed different. I was forced to pay attention to the slightest details in their body language, yet I failed to find an explanation as to why I had this compulsion to study everything in obsessive depth. I could only enjoy the ride and adapt. In Tristan’s realm, it took three days for the human brain to adapt to fundamental changes in its perception. I did not have a human body, but I comforted myself with the idea that I, too, might need three days to adjust. We’d lost Anunit only yesterday. It was still early.
“This is beautiful,” Tristan exclaimed. “I haven’t seen the palace gardens in at least a year, if not longer.”
“It has been a while since you visited,” Taeral agreed, smiling. He seemed taller, though it was only my perception that had changed. It could have been the design of his red velvet jacket with gold-trimmed coattails, tightly closed around his waist and creating an elegant contrast with his black pants and leather boots with gold-brushed strap buckles. He wore a white shirt underneath and the band of gold and rubies on the top of his head. Truly a handsome mix. I could see why Eira had been so enthralled by the fae-jinni king.
Walking beside him, the Water Hermessi child was a vision in dark blue satin, her gown resembling an upside-down tulip with thin gold straps and elegant bodice embroideries that told stories through their motifs. “Now, don’t be a tease,” she told her husband. “You know Tristan and Unending would’ve come sooner, but their travels often take them so far away.” Looking at me, Eira narrowed her eyes, lips briefly pursed. “You seem… different.”
“You can tell,” I murmured, fires burning in my cheeks. Yet another sensation for me to grow accustomed to.
“My sister was dumb enough to put on a meat suit,” Dream said from behind us. From her flat tone, I could almost see Dream rolling her eyes even before I looked back over my shoulder at her. “After the hell she endured on Visio, you’d think she would’ve had enough of physical restraints.”
I turned around to face her fully. “For the umpteenth time, this is different. It was sanctioned by Death, and I’m in complete control of the situation. I can always choose to leave this body and return to my true self.”
“Prove it!” Dream shot back, crossing her arms. She smelled of lilies, reminding me of Death and my previous form. It was a fragrance we all carried with us as Reapers. It haunted me, still, like a distant memory.
“You know she can’t do that. She will lose this body,” Tristan interjected. “It’s not an actual suit that she can just take off and then put back on. It’s not how Anunit’s magic works.”
“Or any death magic, for that matter,”