Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

" T ea?" Allister gestures to the serving tray of mismatched cups and a metal kettle rested on a low table in the middle of the room.

Viathans and their tea.

I sit myself next to 99, who pulls me in tighter against him, moving his arm to the back of the lumpy settee. I stare at him until he turns to me, a slight twinge of a smile on his handsome face. His eyes flick to my lips for a long moment, then back to my eyes, like he wants to kiss me again, but I know he never would in front of the others.

Allister's movement catches my peripheral, and then I see him holding out a cup to me with a sly smile. I duck my head as I take it, knowing he must have caught the little moment between 99 and me.

"Thank you."

"You are most welcome," he says, still smiling, and hands 99 a larger mug with a little nod, like he is trying to express something without words.

"It smells wonderful," I add as the steam hits my nose.

"Calliape gathered some kind of tree leaf." He looks to her for confirmation. "I normally get mine from the depot in town, but this is much stronger."

August sits up to pour himself a cup and then reclines in his usual casual pose. He seemed completely uninterested in drinking the tea until it was announced Calliape was to thank.

"What you buy at the depot is not tea," Calliape jokes.

Allister practically barks a laugh before taking a large sip.

August looks a little jealous at their easy teasing and takes out a flask from under his jacket, splashing some of the contents on the top.

The act elicits an exasperated eye roll from Allister for some reason.

"August, the lord general has requested debriefing," 99 informs.

"No capital talk," Allister snaps into his mug but winks at me like we are both being subjected to it.

"Tomorrow, my friend, I'm off to see my parents and sisters for yet another meal with them tonight."

"So spoiled," Allister murmurs.

"You haven't seen your family yet?" I ask.

"No. I, uh. I came straight here," he stammers, taking a larger swig and all too obviously ducking his eyes away from Calliape.

"Lucky us," Allister says into his cup.

"I brought bottles to replace whatever August drinks," 99 says to his father, interpreting his comments as innocent frustration.

It's then that I see the liquor cabinet with the door askew, like August may have raided it before our arrival.

"Ah, thank you, my friend. I have some making up to do." August smiles slyly.

He never drinks while he flies, one of the vows he made to his family when he took the job.

We chat for a long while in the little gathering room, and eventually Allister serves his savory stew to us, gathered around the low table in the true Viathan style of dining.

After August gets me to try whatever is in his flask, I wash it down with the liquor 99 brought as backup. He laughs at the faces I make at the crudely distilled Viathan drinks and then even harder when I tell him about the wine priestesses are given in the Estate with the fermented fruit still floating in it.

Allister joins us in trying the bottles, downing his cup in a single swig. After a couple servings, we notice him leaning back in his armchair, a little heavy-eyed and looking like he could fall asleep.

"That's enough for me. I'm sure every one of my sisters has made something for tonight," August says, putting his empty dessert bowl on the table.

"Your whole family will be there?" I ask.

"All eight sisters and both parents acting like they have not seen me in years when it has only been weeks."

Picturing him with all his sisters makes me think of Leema. The stories he has told me of them are hard to imagine through the lens of my own relationship with my sister.

"Speaking of sisters . . . ," I start before I can stop myself. The drinks are finally catching up to me. "We got word from mine today."

Calliape and August notice 99 stiffen next to me.

"Did you?" August says, a little too high-pitched like he is nervous.

"Mm-hmm, and apparently I'm going to be an aunt."

"Well, that's wonderful! By the three worlds!" August holds up his cup and clicks it to mine with the phrase Viathans use to toast.

"Congratulations, Ferren." Calliape smiles at me.

"Thank you."

"August, how many nieces and nephews do you have?" Calliape asks to my surprise, and by August's dumbstruck look, his surprise too.

"Um, well, that was a question for earlier in the night," he answers, laughing and taking another sip.

"Twelve," 99 chimes in.

I stare at August in shock, and he just shrugs. "Are you serious?"

99 smiles with a little nod when I look to him for confirmation.

"Yes, and may First Mother bless your sister or whatever it is the priestesses say." August raises his cup again, a little drunk but sincere.

"She made the pilgrimage to give birth in the temple, so that is actually a possibility." My joke doesn't land, and he furrows his brows. "My sister is not divine," I remind him.

"She's in the Temple of Divine Mothers?" Calliape interrupts.

"That's what the message said."

"No, Ferren, the message said she was in the Estate," 99 corrects, his tone making me turn to him, a little defensive and confused.

"Well, if she's in the Estate and pregnant, then she has likely taken vows at the temple for her pregnancy." I can't help the snip in my answer.

"She is hoping for a divine birth?" Calliape pieces together slowly.

"Seems that way."

"Am I missing something? Is there more than one temple?" August looks back and forth between Calliape and me.

"The Temple of Divine Mothers is . . . separate. It's where women live during their pregnancy if they are divine or have made a pilgrimage," I answer quickly, simplifying it as much as possible.

I glance back at Calliape. I am clearly missing something too. Her face is serious and it's not like her to probe me with questions like this so directly.

Allister's snores suddenly break the odd tension. August clutches his chest like he forgot Allister was still in the room with us and scared himself.

Calliape sits back and takes a sip of liquor August poured for her that she hasn't touched until now.

"What is it?" I ask, and my guts do a little twist at how pale she looks.

"Sorry, Selene has spoken to me about that temple before."

I bristle at the mention of Selene. "What did she say?"

"On Frith, it has been said the elders of that temple manipulate the rate divine children are born. Selene said it was like a loophole."

My first instinct is to be defensive, to push back so hard on anything negative about the Estate, but what does Calliape have to gain from telling me this?

"I don't see how that would be possible." I think for a minute, trying to still my thoughts. "Oh, you mean encouraging pregnancies, conception rituals."

"Conception rituals?" August's expression is a mix of intrigue and horror when he gawks at 99 to see if he heard the same thing.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to scare you or ruin the night."

"You're not ruining the night," August assures, placing a hand on Calliape's chair's armrest. "Strange rumors come out of the Estate. Ferren knows that."

"I have heard the rumor," 99 says in a flat tone, like it is painful to confess.

"You have?" My neck snaps to him. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

His eyes soften. "I did not know she would be in that temple or her motivations. I only thought of you leaving."

"You're leaving?" Calliape asks in a stricken voice.

"No. I'm not leaving. 99?" I turn back to him, prompting him to elaborate.

"My predecessor spoke about that temple before I became the 99th. He said they looked into the rumors of elders intentionally letting mothers succumb to complications in birth so the child would be more likely to be divine. I was not intentionally keeping that from you. It was not relevant until now. Viathan investigated but found nothing."

"Oh, well then, just another rumor. Solves that," August slurs.

"Yes, and like I said, it was something that was spoken about on Frith. Selene may not have had all the information; she was in the Estate a long time ago." Calliape speaks so quickly, it sounds like all one word.

"Are you alright?" 99 asks.

I answer him aloud, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just difficult to hear things about Cosima still, and something like that? I don't know. It doesn't seem plausible, but I don't know if that's the temple talking through me or my own instincts."

99 runs a sympathetic hand down my arm. "Would your sister reply to a correspondence from you, confirming she is in that temple?"

"I doubt it would even get to her."

"I would make sure it did," he vows, deadly serious.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't keep that from you." Calliape looks a little teary.

"No, no, Calliape. I know you didn't mean it to scare me. I've seen the elders and the mothers from that temple. They are well taken care of. I do not know much about childbirth, but I'm sure it's dangerous. Maybe that's how the rumors started."

"And things could have been very different when Selene was an Estate priestess," she adds.

"That's true," I say and can't fault my friend for something Selene has told her. Calliape has been influenced by Selene and her beliefs as much as I have with Crixa.

The rumor seems too outlandish to be true, and I am not surprised 99's predecessor didn't find anything.

August has told me the crazy stories Viathan parents tell naughty children about priestesses to get them to behave. The bile that rises every time my world's shortcomings are brought to the forefront isn't as often as it was when I first arrived.

I no longer lash out in blind defense. The things said and rumored about my former home and vows do not matter now. What matters are the people who bring them to my attention with empathy, even if it is flawed but good-natured.

We are together again, and what happens on a world far off on the other side of the space between doesn't seem so important when I am with my family here.

Leema has a right to choose her path, and so do I.

"Now, I want to hear August recite all twelve names of his nieces and nephews," I say, trying desperately to cling to the love and warmth in this room.

August downs his flask without hesitation. "Alright, this will be easy. Four of them are named the same thing."

"No, they're not," 99 says, perplexed.

I have to grab my stomach and lean forward to stop the cramping feeling of laughing so hard at August's genuinely confused face, like he's been calling some of his young family members the same name for years.

My head is pounding as I lie in bed next to 99. I have vague memories of him cradling me while trying to slowly drive us back to our little house nestled in the market street.

But terrible dreams of my sister have woken me, ones that still have my heart pounding and sweat coating my skin. I am used to the nightmares about the Estate stopping us from leaving, of Crixa killing Calliape when she threw her, but tonight was different.

Tonight, I dreamed of the Albright.

A fresh wave of panic ebbs through me when I acknowledge its name, even within my dreamy state. My light casts outward from our bed in a bright green glow like fog billowing over water rings. It ripples outward, reflecting off every metal surface. The illuminated room casts distorted and horrific shapes onto the walls, and my heart sinks as a shadow takes the shape of a dark monster crawling down from the corner.

I shoot upright and hold an orb out, ready to throw it at the creature that has spilled out from my nightmare into our home . . . but there is nothing there. Only 99's armor lay upright in the chair near the window, the wardrobe askew but as it was this morning.

99 shifts beside me, and I try to dissipate my orb quickly so the light doesn't wake him, but it's too late.

I've woken him many times with my nightmares, but tonight he can sense it is different. He grabs me by the waist and pulls me tighter until his breath fans against the back of my neck.

"What was it about?" he murmurs, knowing immediately I had another nightmare.

I gently stroke his hand on my waist, the image of the Albright in my head kept safely away from our tether.

He sits up when I do not answer. "Ferren?"

"I dreamed of the creature in the cave," I whisper, not wanting to say its name aloud.

He pauses, waiting to see if I will elaborate on any detail, but I can't. I have no idea in the three worlds why I dreamed of the Albright, and for some reason that terrifies me more.

"What was the dream about?"

"I was there again, playing out the same events that happened. You were stuck and I was alone. The conversation was exactly the same, what it said to me, like I wasn't having a nightmare but replaying a memory exactly how it happened, down to every detail."

"We can walk or read if you like," 99 offers, but his voice is so sleepy.

"No, no." I pull his arm back to my waist, prompting him to lie back down.

He kisses the back of my neck, and even though his breathing evens out, I know he will not fall asleep again until I do.

However, in our dark, silent room and with a clearer head, I am able to fully process what Calliape told me.

I have to keep resisting the instinct to be defensive when bad things are brought to my attention about my former world, because if one thing was not what it seemed and right under my nose all my life, then it's probable that another is too.

Admitting that sends another wave of terror.

"Do you think what Calliape said about the temple is a rumor?"

I can't get past the feeling of unease that has taken root in me. I keep picturing the way Calliape looked at me even after we'd moved on and laughed into the evening.

It was like she had more to say but didn't want to be the one to cause panic.

"I do."

"My mother died in that temple. Now, Leema is walking around that same place." The moment I say it, I remember what the Albright said to me. "She seeks balance, that's what the creature said. It said she would have it. My dream was not random tonight, 99."

"She seeks balance?"

"The creature plucked her from my mind, with some sort of premonition. Maybe Leema wants a divine child of her own, knowing it will be raised in the priestess order and eventually ascend. Maybe that is her way of balancing our mother's death where I failed to. I am not sure." I run my hands over my face to stop my rambling words.

99 squeezes me. I have told him many times before how complicated my love for my sister is. How strained our relationship turned the more it became clear I was not going to ascend.

I can't help but feel like she is there because of me. She left the Estate because of my shortcomings and now she could be in danger, possibly mistreated in that temple.

I want so badly to just be happy here, whatever that ends up looking like with 99, but I can't ignore this. If I can just make sure Leema is ok, that she is happy and isn't in some far-fetched danger, then this almost pinching and ebbing sense of panic may ease up.

My palm itches as if it's covered in crawling insects the more I debate the validity and outlandishness of what Calliape said.

99 shifts, reaching for the data pad on the end table capping the exposed side of our bed.

"What are you doing?" I ask, squinting from the light it casts on my unprepared eyes.

He impatiently taps his fingers on the shiny screen, typing as if he can no longer let me bear the worry he hears through our tether. "I am requesting an audience for us both, to make sure Leema is taken care of."

"An audience . . . with who?".

He places the data pad in his lap and searches my face. "The emperors."