Midnight's Blossom

by Corinn Heathers

“That doesn't explain why you never told me,” I choked, feeling my throat grow so tight I could scarcely breathe. “About my sister, about her father. You never even intended to tell me about Eiri, either? Not until I obtained her spirit blade and you had no choice.”

  “I'm sorry, little red lily.” Out of the corner of my eyes, I could tell that she dropped her hands into her lap and was now staring at them nearly as intently as I was at my toes. “I wanted to protect you from all of this. I wanted… I tried so hard to make sure you would escape this.” Tears dropped from her eyes onto her hands, clenching the thin dressing gown she wore. “You were supposed to stay here. Stay with Rose… a-and Yuka. Finish your training with the Shadow Cabal. I did everything I could to atone for my selfishness. Everything I could to keep you safe.”

  I stared at her incredulously. “You think I would have just left you to be executed?!”

  “Hoped you would.”

  “Mama, why? Why didn't you—”

  “Because I failed you.”

  “That's not an answer.”

  She sniffled loudly and wiped at her eyes. “When you were no more than a mote inside my womb, Eiri came to me late one night. I stood on the balcony as she slipped from the forests. It had become dangerous for her to be seen around House Alcyone, and I was worried that something terrible may have happened.” My mother paused and inhaled deeply, slowly, before letting the breath flow out of her in a ragged gust. “She knew that I was with child, of course. We both knew what that would mean for us—and for you. Eiri insisted that we flee the Empire as soon as possible, before my pregnancy became difficult to conceal.”

  “You refused,” I said, and the mists began to clear away.

  “I couldn't leave House Alcyone like that. I had been chosen as its Head, and if I were to disappear, the position would have passed to Lord Cyrus. I couldn't… I couldn't let my family, my own flesh and blood, be used to fuel that man's selfish ambitions.” A deep sigh pushed itself from my mother's lips. “Eiri and I argued long into the night. I said… things to her that I did not mean, hurtful things. She cared nothing for House Alcyone's fate; she only wanted to keep me and our legacy safe. I railed at her, accusing her of maligning my honor and duty.”

  “What did you think would happen once I was born?” I demanded, scowling.

  “I—I hoped that I would be able to nurture your water affinity, to strengthen it through infusions of my own mana as you grew.” Mother's fingers knitted together in her lap and a fresh tear rolled off of her cheek. “If you could have claimed your water Aspect, you would have been safe, even in the Empire.”

  “It didn't seem to make a difference,” I muttered. “My water affinity is so weak it will likely never evolve into a true Aspect.”

  Mother's head shot up and our eyes met. She shook her head. “It's stronger than you think it is, Lily. It would have worked, eventually, had you not stumbled upon the relic.” A shiver wracked her shoulders and back as she gazed at me. “House Alcyone perfected mana infusion techniques from parent to child centuries ago. It's how our family maintained such consistent strength of magic over countless generations.”

  I frowned. “What does the sword have to do with it?”

  “You had no inkling of how to wield its power. It continually drained your soul of aether to sustain itself—even when you weren't using it. Your connection to the darkness was always very strong, and so that part of your power was only temporarily affected, but your fledgling water affinity was all but blotted out by the shadow of Eiri's legacy.”

  I didn't respond to that immediately. I wanted to argue, to yell at her, to feel the anger that I'd felt before, but it wouldn't come. I knew the rightness of what she said. Had I never found the spirit blade in the first place, I could have developed my water affinity into an Aspect. It wouldn't have been anywhere nearly as strong as Mother's, but it would have been enough to keep me safe until I was old enough to leave the Empire on my own.

  “Then, shortly after our argument, Eiri was murdered,” she continued in a voice just barely above a whisper. “The grief, the rage, the frustration all focused my will on maintaining control of my family. I couldn't let Cyrus become the Head. I couldn't let him gain a seat on the Imperial Court. Not after he killed my beloved. I felt as if I had no choice. He was vicious. Relentless. He cares nothing for the family, only for power, and when you were born, his hatred for us both only intensified.”

  I stared at her, wide-eyed. “You were supposed to be his path to power, a springboard to send House Alcyone soaring to new heights.”

  “Yes. If I had accepted the mantle of Grand Mage, he would have become the Head by default, and House Alcyone's influence would have vastly increased.” My mother let out a bitter laugh, one that held no amusement whatsoever. “Eventually, his machinations would have given an Alcyone scion a credible claim to the imperial throne.”

  I snorted. “The irony of this situation hasn't escaped me.”

  “Word spread throughout the Court shortly after you were born. The matriarch of House Alcyone had perversely lain beside a dark fairy and bore a tainted, half-breed child!” Mother shook her head slowly. “Oh, how the people delighted in this scandal. Houses that had coveted our positions were quick to add fuel to the fire. It was not difficult to do. Solarians don't understand the fey peoples' views on gender, and simply the idea of a babe born from the union of two 'females' was enough to evoke disgust and fear of evil, demonic magicks at work.”

  “No wonder Cyrus hates me so,” I quipped, trying my best to sound lighthearted. “I crushed his ambitions before I was even old enough to be taken off the teat.”

  Mother's chuckle was more genuine this time. “Indeed. Oh, how it infuriated him as you grew and he could do nothing but watch, grinding his teeth in impotent fury!” Her expression became more serious and she paused. I stood up and moved off of the divan, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed. Our fingers entwined together and I leaned against my mother's shoulder.

  “Mama.”

  “I did fail you, Lily. I failed Eiri, too. I should have… I should have gone with her, ran away in the middle of the night, left the Empire behind forever. If I hadn't been selfish, stubborn, so very arrogant and sure of myself…” Her voice broke and she trailed off. “I'm so sorry, little red lily. I made a terrible, terrible mistake and I compounded that mistake in trying to atone. If you had stayed in Fialla, Cyrus's rage may have been expended upon me. My life would have been forfeit, but in exchange for your freedom and happiness. I would have gladly made that bargain.”

  “I wouldn't have been happy if you died, Mama,” I pointed out.

  “I know. I'm grateful you came and pulled me out of the darkness. I don't deserve you, Lily. I'm a failure of a mother and you still risked everything to save me.” I felt her free hand start to smooth my deep red curls. “You look so much like her. I know she would be so proud of you if she were here today. I know I am.”

  I blinked tears from my eyes and nestled in closer to Mother's shoulder. As always, she felt cool and soothing, her heart and magic both like the calming waters of the sea. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply of her scent.

  “Tell me about my sister, Mama.”

  I heard her soft hum of approval and felt gentle fingers upon my head.

  “Claire was a beautiful, innocent child. She laughed when she gripped my fingers, and she would smile every time she could sense my magic. Alexander and I felt as if we were the luckiest people alive, to be so blessed…”

  Chapter 37

  Unity of Soul and Mind

  I closed my eyes and focused on the magic within. Not the shadow; I pushed past that, letting my consciousness slip beyond the inky-black threads that linked my spirit with the Dark. Down, down into my soul's depths I descended, until I came to a sparkling spring of pure blue waters. It felt a little unfamiliar, but somehow right. It was just as natural to tap this font of power as it was to draw out a tendril of darkness.

  I opened
my eyes and held out my right hand, snapping my thumb and forefinger.

  With a brilliant flash of cerulean light, magic surged from my body and out into the world. The target in front of me, a plastic jug filled with water, was enveloped in shimmering mystic light for a split second—

  Then it burst outward, the water inside flash-freezing into beautiful spikes of frigid crystal. I wasn't done, though, and my gaze hardened. I stared at the chunk of ice, the shredded remains of the plastic container hanging limply from the needle-like shards, and issued a silent command to the magic I'd just worked.

  With a thunderous crack, the mass of ice shards violently detonated. Deadly spears and daggers of frost exploded outward from the center. Most of them buried themselves deeply into the walls and ceiling of the training room, but others—those that flew toward me—disintegrated against a barrier of translucent shadow.

  “Seven Holy Stars,” Rose swore, blinking repeatedly in astonishment.

  Shion grinned next to the two of us and released the barrier they'd raised. “Juno Alcyone was right, it seems.”

  “How in the Yawning Hells did you catch up so fast?”

  I shrugged. “According to Mother, the spirit blade isn't draining me anymore. Now that I've learned how to use my necromancy, I can focus on honing my water affinity.”

  “That's not just an affinity, Lily,” Rose retorted, gesturing sharply toward all the ice shards still deeply embedded into the walls, ceiling and floor of the training hall. “You've got a genuine dual Aspect. This is proof of that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Rose rolled her eyes and jerked a thumb at the ice shards. “They're not melting. You haven't released the magic yet, and you didn't even notice.”

  I turned to gaze upon the ruined training hall, filled with dozens of deep punctures in the wood paneling. If Rose were right, I was still instinctively maintaining the materialized water mana that kept the shards from fading away. They weren't so much pieces of frozen water, but of the idea of ice, and the form and state they assumed was entirely a result of my power.

  I released the magic. The effect was instantaneous. Each individual shard crumbled into wet slush and pooled on the floor of the training hall. As I watched, the water mana began to dissolve into nothingness. Within a few seconds, there was no indication at all as to what had caused all of the damage.

  “I still don't understand why I can do this so easily,” I murmured. “It was always difficult at the Academy. Drawing forth water mana felt as if I were trying to move the foundations of the world with my bare hands.”

  Rose cocked a white eyebrow. “Didn't you just say your mom explained it to you?”

  “She gave me an explanation, but it was light on details.” I sat down on a nearby stool and sighed, reaching over to the table where we'd set our drinks. The bottle I'd been given by Shion was filled with some sort of citrus-tasting cloudy liquid that made my blood sing as I drank. It was some kind of energy supplement, no doubt. “Why did the spirit blade offer power rather than consuming it? I still don't know very much about it. Certainly not enough to qualify as competence.”

  Rose glanced at Shion, and then back at me. “Well, what was different about the last time?”

  I'd thought about this before, but it didn't make any more sense to me now than it did at the time, when we were fighting with Claire—with my sister. Caustic emotions threatened to bubble up to the surface and I shoved them back down, angry with myself. This wasn't about Claire, it was about me.

  “Let's consider the differences,” Rose continued. She began counting off her long fingers as she gazed at me. “One, you were smack in the middle of blighted land and you'd already cast a handful of powerful spells. Your soul was about as close to empty as it could get, so there wasn't much for it to take. Two, you'd already wielded the sword a few times before, and each time you did so, your level of control increased. Three, your mom was right there with you, and she specifically told you to draw it…”

  I closed my eyes and pressed my palms to them until I saw starbursts. Of course it had been so simple. The answer had been staring me in the face the whole time, and I'd missed it. I chalked it up to the sheer overwhelming nature of the events that had taken place over the past week.

  “My body was infused with Mother's mana only moments before I called on it, but she'd been in that prison so long she couldn't possibly have had any free aether.” I opened my eyes again and took a long gulp from my bottle of whatever-it-was, sighing as the sweet-salty-sour liquid traced an icy line down my throat. “She didn't just heal me, but… more. It’s like she broke off parts of herself and pushed them into me.”

  “Seems a little far-fetched to me,” Shion mused.

  Rose shook her head. “No, Lily's exactly right. I remember how Juno's magic felt the first time I met her at House Alcyone. It feels somewhat less now, like it's missing something fundamental. A lot of that something, whatever it is.” My partner walked around behind me and leaned forward to draw me up into a warm embrace. “Conversely, Lily's magic feels… larger, for lack of a better word, than it did before. I'm sure you can sense it, too, Adept Aoki.”

  My former magic instructor snorted at Rose's mention of their title. “I did notice a change, but I had suspected it was caused by the spirit blade itself.”

  I raised my hand out and called forth the relic. Violet-black flames burst from my outstretched palm and coalesced into the slender, lethally-sharp sword. It was so much easier now; drawing the sword felt as natural as moving my arm or taking a step.

  For a long moment I just studied the weapon and marveled at its intricate, seemingly impossible design. No mortal swordsmith crafted the relic, no hammer or anvil had ever touched the dark metal of the sword's blade. It was a construct entirely formed of magic; the mind had been the steel, the soul the forge.

  Rose eyed the spirit blade with more than a little trepidation. “I know you can now draw it without so much as blinking, but it's still a bit, um…” She trailed off, her brows knitting together as she tried to put her emotions to words.

  “Unnerving,” Shion supplied. “The relic's power is… dangerous.”

  “Yeah. And as you already said, you still don't really know how to use it.” Rose took a step back from me, and not wanting her to feel anxious, I sent the spirit blade back into its little sub-reality, folded adjacent to normal space. The spirit blade's intense aura winked out as soon as it vanished.

  “Don't worry,” I told her, a serious look on my face. “I don't plan on just waving it around like an ordinary sword. I'll be careful. I promised Mother I'd only use it in emergencies, and I extend the same vow to you.”

  Rose nodded in obvious approval. “Going to stick with your mom's dagger, then?”

  “It does have a name, you know.” I smiled and nodded, patting the sheathed blade at the small of my back. “But yes. It doesn't interact with my magic and it's what I know best. I trained for most of my life with the short blade.”

  “You never told me it had a name,” Rose complained.

  “I didn't think I needed to, since it's inscribed near the maker's mark.” I pulled the knife out and laid it on my lap so that Rose could see the small runes etched into the flat of the blade near the hilt and guard. Her face scrunched up in confusion, and I frowned. “What's wrong?”

  “I can't read that chicken-scratch. It doesn't look anything like any Solarian I've ever seen.”

  I chuckled and put the dagger away. “It's Old Solarian script, from before we adopted the new Avindran alphabet. Solarian master smiths still use it for makers' marks as a sort of… certificate of authenticity, I suppose.”

  “So what does it say?”

  I smiled. “Starshard.”

  “Really?” Rose sighed and shook her head. “That's rather on-the-nose, isn't it? For a blade forged from steel containing celestial iron.”

  “You could tell by looking?”

  “The wavy grain structure is a dead giveaway,” Shi
on interjected, snickering. “Remember who you're talking to; the daughter of Fialla's most accomplished trading magnate. Rose has an eye for quality goods.”

  “It'd be impossible to slave away for Dad all these years without picking something up along the way.” Rose's lips brushed against my ear and I shivered from her touch. She kissed my cheek, and then the line of my jaw. “Can you be done with training already? I want to go out.”

  “I suppose,” I began, glancing at the mess I'd made of the training room. “The Cabal will need time to um, make the necessary repairs, after all.” I sent an apologetic look at Shion and they shrugged.

  “Don't worry about it, Lily. The training hall has seen worse in the past.” They waved a hand at Rose and me, shooing us away. “Go on, you two, get out of here and go spend some time together. We all know it's going to get a lot more hectic soon enough.”

  *

  Rose and I left the Cabal building and headed north down one of the lesser-used highways that spiderwebbed their way across the Fiallan mainland—and also to several of the outlying islands, as well. This far toward the undeveloped part of the country made it feel more open, more quiet and peaceful.

  Fialla was a large country in both land area and population, but the northern reaches of the nation were a far cry from the bustling metropolis of the capital. The city of Fialla comprised nearly all of my experience with the nation of Fialla, and Rose liked to take me places outside the city from time to time, to show me more of her homeland.

  Not to mention get me alone more often, of course.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, perhaps for the fourth time. I was wondering when Rose would grow tired of deflecting and finally give me an answer.

  “You'll see,” she replied, just as she had on each previous occasion.

  I scowled at her. “I'd like to know.”

  “It'd hardly be a surprise if I just told you. We're almost there, I promise. I know it's been a long drive.”

  We'd been on the road for maybe two hours at this point, and I was starting to get more than a little restless. I wasn't used to sitting down in a mechanical conveyance for hours on end to get from place to place. As a daughter of a highborn House, even one who was barely considered a real person, I always traveled throughout the Empire via Gates. There was just something odd about having to rely upon machines.