“You need not protect me from the past, Zev,” she said. “Ignorance does no one any good, and I nearly died because of it.”
He cringed at the reminder. “There is no happy ending to this story, Dyna.”
That was something she was familiar with.
She caressed the beveled lettering of the book on her lap, the edges silken against the pad of her fingers. “Please, I would like to hear it.”
Zev relented with another heavy sigh and stared off into the fire. “Gamor was a small unremarkable city, but Celestials would visit often due to the short flight from Hilos. Humans were in awe of them for their beauty was unrivaled. They never fell ill and lived for centuries. Humans believed the God of Urn sent these sacred beings to defend them from demons that once roamed the Mortal Realm.”
Dyna straightened in her seat. Demons?
“They healed humans on the brink of death from fatal wounds and sickness with mere drops of their divine blood.”
She glanced at Cassiel’s hand, recalling how the wound had so seamlessly healed. The ability to self-mend was incredible and much more advanced than anything she could do.
“And their feathers? They hold magic too, don’t they?” The black plume she had found must have pertained to the Prince. Its power had blended with her Essence, giving her strength she hadn’t developed herself.
Zev nodded. “Their feathers carry innate magic capable of heightening the most delicate spells. People traveled to Azure from all corners of the world as word of Celestial power spread. They came seeking miracles for themselves, and to find a cure for their dying loved ones, or for the magic they could gain.
“Most traveled to Gamor knowing Celestials congregated there, and it brought commerce to their economy. The Lords of Gamor saw an opportunity in this. They convinced High King Rael, the ruler of Hilos during that time, to form an exclusive trade deal with the Azure Kingdom and to sell only in their city. It didn’t take much to convince him. The Celestials gave their blood out of compassion and kindness but as the city grew in size and wealth, the humans grew in their greed.” Zev paused and Dyna stilled, sensing the tale had reached its dark turn.
Quiet sadness gathered in his next words. “Once humans killed the first Celestial for blood, King Rael ended the trades. But the Lords refused to surrender the source of their riches. They employed poachers to hunt them. And so, The Decimation of the Celestials began.”
A coldness crept over her. Dyna glanced down at the book on her lap, heavy dread weighing on her again. She opened the cover and turned the frail, yellow pages full of faded script until she came upon a section of ink illustrations. Each one displayed the horror that had taken place in Gamor. Celestials trapped in nets, bound by their hands and legs, and some screaming in pain as humans sawed off their wings.
Her vision blurred with each turn of the page. A tear rolled down her cheek and splashed on the illustration of a Celestial hanging by his feet from a tree branch, blood pouring out of his jugular into a barrel beneath him. This was why the Watchers wanted to kill her, and why Prince Malakel detested the sight of her.
Humans had murdered them.
The next illustrations that followed were of Celestial women with child. They were kept in small cages, sobbing with their hands outstretched through the bars begging. Men pinned them down to tear the newborns from their arms. But these babies didn’t have wings. Written beneath the frame in thick, harsh letters was the word HALF-BREEDS.
“Dyna.” Zev stopped her from turning another page, but she yanked her hand back. She needed to see what her people had done.
The next picture was so horrible, her stomach heaved as bile surged to the back of her throat. Zev slammed the book shut, taking it away. She closed her eyes, but it didn’t erase the image burned in her mind.
Dyna covered her mouth, afraid she would scream, or sob, or do both at what had been done to those children. Her stomach churned with bitter grief.
“They took our females to sire Celestials of their own,” King Yoel said softly. “Most of them did not survive.”
“Your Majesty, please. She need not learn this,” Zev pleaded.
But the High King continued despite her horror. “They bled many of the younglings dry before realizing they couldn’t heal. Their blood was useless. Not because they were half-breeds, but because Celestials don’t develop divine blood until their wings sprout at three-years-of-age. That is where our power centers. Without our wings, we are essentially human.”
Dyna’s vision blurred. How many had died for greed? Why had it reached such a wretched point?
She must have spoken aloud because King Yoel answered, “The Decimation went on for many years for we feared perhaps this was the will of Elyōn.”
“Ehl-youn?” she repeated the foreign word.
“You call him the God of Urn. To us, he is Elyōn, the maker of The Seven Gates that each soul passes through at their beginning and their end.”
A ripple of goosebumps prickled along her flesh to hear the God of Urn’s true name
“We do not live in the Mortal Realm out of our own volition,” he said. “Our ancestors were the Seraphim, but they were also the Forsaken. He cast them out of Heaven’s Gate and they fell into this world in the First Age to serve a penance. As their descendants, it was our purpose to aid humans in hopes it would one day redeem us so we may return to Heaven’s Gate.
“Elyōn had forged us weapons of divine fire meant to cut down demons while protecting his making. Taking a human life would go against his order and eternally damn our souls. Therefore, when humans hunted us, we did not fight back. We hid.”
King Yoel sighed and looked out the window to his kingdom, seeing something she could not see. “Humans reveled in their wickedness and greed. The Decimation spread to the Four Celestial Realms and King Rael left Hilos to aid them. In his absence, his wife, Queen Sapphira, met with the Lords of Gamor to beg for peace. She believed words of reason would turn them from their ways.” Sorrow flooded his gaze as an overflowed stream after a storm. “She was wrong.”
Dyna held her breath.
King Yoel linked his hands together and leaned his forehead against them. “Our blood gave them wealth and power. Invincibility. That was something they would never surrender. King Rael was thousands of miles away when he experienced every depravity the Lords unleashed upon his wife. Felt every torture and violation. Her screams echoed in his mind.”
Dyna’s heart sank within her chest, through the many floors of the castle and into the earth, falling.
Falling.
And falling.
“He tried to fly to her.” The king’s voice was a sad whisper, weighted by the tale of what once was. “Even as he withstood the agony of their bond breaking.”
“Bond?” she asked faintly.
“Once a Celestial chooses a life-mate, they are wed with a binding of blood,” he said without looking up. “It connects their souls eternally until they are torn from each other at death. King Rael and Queen Sapphira went beyond Blood Bonded; they were True Bonded. It is difficult to explain other than to say they were one: mind, body, and soul. Losing a True Bonded is the worst agony a Celestial can endure, for when the bond breaks, they are losing half of themselves.”
“Did … did King Rael reach her in time?”
“No.”
An ache burned in Dyna’s chest and stung her eyes, welling them with unshed tears. She couldn’t imagine King Rael’s pain but she knew the pain of loss and feeling powerless to stop it.
King Yoel exhaled a shaky breath. “Once the Lords drained the Queen of her blood, they hacked off her wings and dumped her naked body in the street. They had mutilated her so far beyond recognition … I nearly did not recognize her.”
He found her? She puzzled over how he fit in the timeline for he didn’t look a day over fifty years, but Zev said Celestials had prolonged lives.
“I’m much older than I appear. I was about your age during The Decimation.” King Yo
el unveiled his laden eyes and met hers. “Queen Sapphira was my mother.”
A sob lodged in Dyna’s throat. She bit her lip to keep it in, trapping it behind a dam she struggled to build. They killed his mother, and he had to see what they had done to her.
Dismay hovered on the Prince’s features, too raw and surprised to have heard this story before.
“When my father lost her, he lost all reverence for Elyōn. He no longer cared to return to Heaven’s Gate. Nor did I.” The High King’s quiet tone smoldered with a rage that sent a tremble down Dyna’s back. He straightened and lowered his hands, curling them over his knees. “We gathered the armies of Hilos and the Four Celestial Realms and descended upon Gamor with swift retribution. We were not kind, nor merciful. We laid waste to the city. And everyone in it.”
Everyone.
The guilty and the innocent. She knew it to be true by the sharp edge of his sapphire gaze.
“The Celestial children as well?” the question slipped out before she thought better of it.
King Yoel’s stare bore into her, holding her in place. “They were misbegotten half-breeds born from sin. We could not allow them to live.”
Dyna closed her eyes and looked away, no longer able to stop the tears from spilling down her face.
Chapter 10
Dynalya
Her cousin had been right about celestial history, Dyna thought. It was dark, much like her own. The men remained quiet, allowing her a moment to lament. The only sounds were the crackle of burning wood and the muffled sniffling she tried to hide. Prince Cassiel fidgeted with his flute, twirling it in his fingers as he looked at anything else but her.
“Your pardon,” Dyna said, wiping her eyes. “What happened next?”
“King Rael isolated his people for their safety,” Zev said carefully, studying her face. “He made new laws to avoid this from happening again, and the Watchers were posted at the borders of the Realms. They executed all who trespassed on their land, and King Rael threatened war against the Azure Kingdom should humans continue to hunt them.
“The destruction of Gamor was enough warning. The Azure King ruling at the time was young, and Azure was not the prominent kingdom it is now. He didn’t want warfare. So, he commanded his citizens not to venture past the Zafiro Mountains under penalty of death.”
Dyna wondered if that was why her village was founded within those mountains. The decree indirectly protected North Star.
Zev continued, “Eventually, the poachers stopped hunting them, and no one searched for miracles any longer. Once the humans who lived during the Decimation passed on, Celestials formed the Accords with those who rule the mystical to maintain the secrecy of their existence. After five-hundred years, most of the world has forgotten them.”
“We have not forgotten nor will we ever,” King Yoel said. “We are not the peaceful beings we once were.”
Another shiver passed through her. Captain Gareel would have killed her if Prince Cassiel hadn’t stopped him. Sparing her life and granting her immunity had gone against the security of his people.
“It was a long time ago,” Zev said, patting her hand.
“It weighs on my heart all the same.” Dyna blinked her watery eyes. “Forgive me, but I ….” She had to pause so she would not cry again. “I find what befell the children was such undeserved cruelty. No one deserves hatred or death for their birth. Coming from two species doesn’t make them or you any less valuable.”
She needed her cousin to remember that.
Zev sighed. “I know.”
Dyna sensed the change in the room and met the stares of the royal Celestials.
“He’s a half-breed?” King Yoel asked.
She flinched.
“I have upset you, Dynalya.” He canted his head when she hesitated to respond. “This is not the royal court, my dear. You’re free to speak what comes to mind.”
“Zev is my cousin, Your Majesty,” she said, cautious. “He is half-human but I’m not fond of that distinction. To be called half of anything suggests one is incomplete or a mistake.”
“You do not see it that way?”
“We exist because the God of Urn willed it. He is the God of Life, and he created life in all varieties. To be of mixed lineage doesn’t revoke one’s right to exist and the right to live.”
A slight curve tugged on the corners of the King’s mouth, but she wasn’t sure if he agreed or if he found her belief amusing. The Prince’s brow furrowed as though her answer was strange.
Dyna bowed her head. “It may be of little value coming from me, but on behalf of humans, I’m sorry they did this to your people.”
“You carry no blame, but I am honored by your apology,” King Yoel said.
She met Cassiel’s gaze. “You had no reason to spare me but by some grace you did, and you continued to see to my safety. Forever will you have my gratitude. I owe you an eternal debt.”
He finally spoke after being quiet since their entry into the study. “As I have said, I relieve you of your debt. This is the last we speak of it.”
Dyna smiled. “As you say.”
The High King raised his brows in bemusement but made no comment. He focused on Zev instead. “On lighter matters, Master Wolf, I’ve been told you can shapeshift at will. That is unusual for your kind.”
She glanced at Cassiel and he looked away. He was the only one to witness Zev’s shift.
“Might it have to do with your … pedigree?” King Yoel asked him, giving her a wink. She flushed, embarrassed that a king would accommodate her.
“Perhaps, sire,” Zev said. “I’m uncertain. There are no others like me in the Lykos Pack.”
“In your pack, you mean.”
Something flitted across Zev’s expression before he hid it behind an impassive shrug. “I have no pack.”
He hadn’t been part of the Lykos Pack for many years. Werewolves were social beings, and they thrived in a group setting. It was a great shame to be a lone wolf. Often it was the death of them.
“We are a pack,” she said.
Zev gave her a faint smile. “Aye.”
“Is that so?” King Yoel asked. “But you do not live in Lykos Peak. You’re of a small remote village that lies within the Zafiro Mountains, about a day’s walk south-west of Hilos.”
“You have heard of it?” Dyna asked, surprised he knew its location.
He looked away for a moment then back at her, his blue eyes now guarded. “Tell me, what brought you here? It must be important enough to risk your life.”
She shifted her ankles around her satchel where she had placed it. He didn’t press, but he waited for an answer, as did the others. She had planned to tell Zev when they were alone, but something about the High King and Prince told Dyna she could trust them with her secret. They had trusted her with theirs.
She brought the satchel to her lap. “I came because I needed to see you, Zev. To tell you I found the answer.”
His eyes widened. “Do you mean …”
“I found a way to defeat the Shadow.”
“The Shadow?” King Yoel interjected.
“I’m referring to a shadow demon.” Dyna looked to the grand windows in the study, seeing the demon’s profile that had filled the frame of her small bedroom window. “North Star is cursed, sire. Each decade on the night of the winter solstice, the Netherworld Gate opens in our village, and the Shadow comes through to hunt …”
“Children.” Zev finished under his breath.
Cassiel’s eyes narrowed. “Impossible. Shadow demons cannot leave the Netherworld. Their forms are insubstantial. If they passed through the Mortal Gate, they would dissipate.”
King Yoel frowned at him. “I see you have been neglecting your studies. If you had read the demon dissertations, you would know it is very possible.” He turned his frown to Dyna. “A shadow demon may cross both the Netherworld and Mortal Gates if it is summoned. Then it would be quick to possess a body so it can remain in this world.”
&nb
sp; Dyna nodded. The Shadow came to North Star because a villager had meddled with dark magic.
The Prince crossed his arms. “Then you have brought it upon yourselves.”
She lowered her head. He was right.
Zev growled. “We had nothing to do with it. The shadow demon was summoned before either of us was born. Yet our generation is suffering the repercussions. During its last attack nine years ago, it took Dyna’s brother and her parents perished in their attempt to fight it. Don’t you dare say it’s her fault!”
“Zev.” Dyna laid a hand on his taut arm. His claws retracted from the upholstery.
“You have my sympathies, Dynalya,” the High King said after a short pause.
She nodded, not knowing what else to say.
Prince Cassiel turned to his father. “If the demon has possessed a body, it can be destroyed.”
King Yoel shook his head. “This is no simple matter, son. Possession gives the shadow demon a solid form to walk the Mortal Realm, but it does not lose its vitality or its abilities. They are smoke, spawned from the fires of the Netherworld. Quick and vicious. Humans cannot stand against them.”
“It was not for our family’s lack of trying,” Dyna said. “My grandfather and my father lost their lives trying to stop the Shadow. Now, it is up to me. I have dedicated my life to prepare for its next coming by reading all the books in the village about demons, possessions, and The Seven Gates. I believed there had to be a way to end the ten-year cycle or some manner to defeat the demon, and I was right.” She smiled at her cousin, blinking back her misty vision. “I know how to destroy the Shadow once and for all.”
His mouth fell open, traces of shock and joy on his face. “You do?”
Dyna pulled out the journal from her satchel and set it on her lap. She caressed the embossed sigil of House Astron on the aged leather. It responded with a gentle warm energy seeping into her as it connected with her Essence.
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