Branches of Life

As luck would have it, we didn't have to do anything. We stepped out of the castle, to find the courtyard littered with the bodies of creatures and piles of ash. Unfortunately, the court wasn't without its casualties, with many sorcerers and sorceresses among the dead, and just as many wounded. None of the buildings surrounding the castle came out unscathed, not even the castle, with its missing front doors and large gouges in the walls. The damage varied from cracks and scorch marks to entire buildings being reduced to large shards of glass.

Guards wearing the red and silver armor of the Lunar Eclipse court helped move the injured and dead. Along with guards wearing the blue and silver armor of the Blue Moon court, and the gold and silver armor of the Solar Eclipse court.

The soldiers carried the wounded to a large green shop—other than some chunks missing from its walls, it had faired well—where we found Empress Estella of the Blue Moon court, using magic to help heal the injured. When she spotted the emperor, she bowed her head in acknowledgment, and he returned the gesture.

"Thank you for coming to my court's aid." He placed his palm over his chest and bowed his head again.

"You would've done the same for me." Estella waved off his gratitude as she wiped her hands off on a cloth and rose from her chair. To my surprise, she rushed over to Wyatt and pulled him into a hug. "I've missed you so much," she whispered, her hands clutching the back of his shirt. "Where have you been hiding?"

What the fuck? Ander and I shared confused looks, while Ari asked, "You two know each other?"

Wyatt pulled back from the hug and glanced our way. "Stella is my older sister."

Wait, what?

Now I'll admit, I wasn't too familiar with the names of the royal families—I knew the rulers' names and that was good enough for me—but never in a million years, would I have guessed Wyatt was a royal. What royal lived alone in the wilderness of the human realm?

Now that I knew they were related, I could see the obvious similarities. Her hair and eye color were the same shade as his. She even had the same relaxed and casual demeanor as him, but from the shrewd way she observed everyone and everything, I knew it was an act.

Estella gave us a curious glance, before turning back to her brother and raising her brows. "Friends of yours?"

"More like the bane of my existence for the past few days—it's a long story." Wyatt sighed.

"He says the sweetest things." I was now used to his dry remarks and found his resigned expression amusing. An expression he was once again wearing as he shook his head and stared up at the ceiling.

A hint of a smile appeared on Estella's lips as she observed the interaction. "Well then, I look forward to hearing all about it after we get this mess cleaned up," she said, returning to tending the wounded.

Leo went around and checked on his people, giving orders to those uninjured. Guards from other courts used their magic to aid in the repairs of the damaged property, Empress Ayla of the Solar Eclipse court was one of them. We helped out where we could, with Harmony helping Estella with the wounded, while the rest of us cleared the debris.

By the time we were done, the lunar eclipse had finally ended. Leo led us to a chamber with a round glass table, large enough to seat all of us, and still have empty chairs. As I sat at the table, I realized it was no ordinary black table. There were glittering stars grouped together in recognizable constellations. Lining the edges of the table were the different phases of the moon, and in the center was a lunar eclipse. The urge to reach out and trace my fingers over the smooth glass was so strong, I had to sit on my hands.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Rowan laying down in the back of the room, resting her head on her paws. She appeared to be napping, but I had the suspicion she could be up and ready to fight in an instant.

The empresses sat a couple of chairs away from me, with their intertwined hands resting on the table. Over thirty years ago, they shocked our realm when they discovered they were fated mates. Two rulers from different courts had never been mated to each other before. They shocked the realm further when they didn't go through with the mating ritual—not that they needed to with the fated mate bond. Since there was no precedent for what to do when two rulers mated, they apparently withheld from completing the mating ritual, in fear one of them would be forced to step down. Even without completing the ritual, some rulers still argued one of them should step down, that it was a conflict of interest.

Many Mythics had bets going, on whether or not they would one day complete the ritual or not.

"How were those creatures able to get past the Convergence point?" Ayla demanded.

We took turns explaining our trip to the creature's realm. When Wyatt told them about the new rift—permanently attaching the two realms—outside of this city, Leo left the room, coming back a few minutes later, and confirmed it was now being watched.

Throughout the conversation, I found myself glancing across the table at Koa. He was covered in the different colored bloods of the creatures. My hands clenched into fists at the smell of his blood mixed in with theirs—surprising, since I was sitting so far away from him, and the amount of monster blood covering his wounds. To avoid smelling his blood, I forced myself to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. It took every ounce of my willpower not to rush over to him. Based on the muscle ticking in his clenched jaw, and the way he gripped the arms of his chair, he was battling the same urges.

Wyatt pulled out three objects wrapped in rune-covered cloths from his bag, unwrapping them to reveal three of the mysterious vases from the hotel. Following his lead Ander and Koa placed the other two vases, which they had carried in their bags, on the table. The three rulers sat up straight, their faces a myriad of shock and awe.

Each ruler observed one of the vases, while we waited in anticipation-filled silence.

"Amazing. This is a variation of the deity's ancient sigils," Leo marveled tracing over the bronze writing.

"And you said you found these in some building, in the other realm?" Confusion was heavy in Estella's tone and face, as she slowly spun the green vase around.

"Not only did we find them there, but we also found a library filled with books written in those language variations," Ander confirmed, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair. Manspreading the fuck out of his legs. Huffing out an annoyed sigh, I shoved my leg against his, trying to reclaim my space back.

"Can you understand what it says?" Harmony asked, shifting around in her seat.

"I can understand a word here and there, but it's not enough to see the bigger picture," Estella murmured, squinted at a symbol near the top. "I would need to take this back to my library to even have a chance at deciphering this."

Wyatt nodded in confirmation before looking at the other two. "This probably goes without saying, but do not show these to anyone else. We have yet to find out who the other traitor is, or even the number of traitors in our midst."

Ayla nodded, her attention still on the black vase in front of her. Leo steepled his fingers and glanced around the table at each of us. "Meaning outside this room, we don't know who to trust."

"Are you expecting us to keep that damned rift a secret?" Estella shot her brother an incredulous look.

"We can't exactly explain its existence without telling them everything," Ander said with a shrug.

"We'll have to figure out some way of alerting the others, without raising any red flags or drawing too much attention," Leo said, rubbing his chin. Now that he had access to his magic, his eyes were no longer hazy with exhaustion.

"Back to the subject of those we can trust. We were sent on this mission by the Convergence point council and Alpha Callahan. I highly doubt they'd send us on this mission if they were in on it," Starling said as she drummed her fingers on the table.

"Callahan has always been a trustworthy man," Estella agreed, lacing her fingers together in front of her.

"I'd cut off my hand if Ember was a part of this. There's no way she would help the creatures," Leo added, talking about the queen of the fire court. Like most of the rulers, I had never met her in person, but Reed only ever had good things to say about her.

"She's always been a close ally of Callahan's," Starling confirmed with a small nod to herself.

"I'm still having a hard time believing all this work and preparation went into this attack, just so Meric could become emperor. Even with the new rift, they have to know they won't be able to come and go through it as they please. This couldn't have been the whole plan, there has to be something we're missing," Koa murmured almost to himself, staring down at the table.

"Having Meric on the throne could've been beneficial to the creatures," Ander said, shifting forward in his seat. "If he'd been successful, and killed Leo without anyone finding out it was him, it could've had some serious repercussions—not only on the lunar courts but the entire realm. Having an ally to the creatures on the throne would've spelled trouble for all of us, in ways we couldn't even possibly understand."

Ayla nodded gravely, agreeing with every word Ander spoke. From Koa's pursed lips, I could tell he was still on the fence, but it seemed he was letting it go for now since he had no proof otherwise.

Wyatt gave a weary sigh and raked his fingers through his messy waves. "Whether or not they were successful, doesn't matter now that they've shown their hands. Not only do we have proof they've all been working together, but we now have a direct line to their realm and can keep an eye on them."

He paused, smothering a yawn that I understood all too well. I was practically falling asleep at the table. "Until we figure out their next move, all we can do is be on the lookout and prepare ourselves."