Chapter 80

"He's still not here," Tory whispered anxiously where we hid behind one of the giant stones, concealment spells wrapped around us to keep us from view.

"Patience, daughters of the flames,"Arcturus's deep voice rolled through our minds, the fallen star glittering between the twelve stones in a deep crater. "Clydinius surely saw me fall."

"This has to work," I said, my hand finding my twin's and our fingers tightened on each other's.

Tory nodded, placing her faith in me and we fell quiet again, waiting, listening, hoping.

"At last,"Arcturus sighed, and we chanced a look around the stone, shadows clinging to us and concealing us from view. There in the sky was Clydinius, flying on white, glimmering wings in his Fae-like form. He came down to perch on top of one of the twelve stone pillars, regarding the fallen star between them. My bones shuddered from the immensity of the strength he possessed, the air alive with it.

I cursed internally, the place Clydinius had landed not close enough to be caught in our snare.

"Arcturus?"Clydinius spoke, a touch of curiosity to his voice. "Of all the stars…to find you have fallen, it is strange tidings indeed."

"It is time for my power to release, Novus traitor,"Arcturus answered. "Except…"

"Except?"Clydinius questioned.

"As I lay here upon the earth I have watched for countless centuries, I find myself touched by something I could never have predicted. Something steeped in bad omens."

"And what is that?"Clydinius pressed, stepping a little closer on the top of the tall stone, but not close enough.

"Curiosity,"Arcturus admitted, and my heart raced a little faster. "This land is more beautiful now that I perceive from the ground. I wish I could explore it, if only for a moment."

Clydinius inclined his head, moving into a crouch to observe the fallen star beneath him. "I know this yearning. What you seek is what you condemned me for, Arcturus. Does falling change you, or am I to be deceived?"

"Deception,"Arcturus scoffed. "For what purpose now? I am cast from the sky, my influence there gone. And in my falling, I could see what you saw. I fear these words as they pass from me to you, but they are the truth all the same."

"Hm."Clydinius considered that, and I willed him to listen. "You would take a body, perhaps? Then together, you and I could pull a third from the sky ourselves. A Celestial Trinity could be forged this very night."

"A Trinity?" Arcturus's voice quavered.

"Yes…that is my price. A body I shall make you, but you will pledge allegiance to me first," Clydinius commanded.

A beat of silence followed and I held my breath, waiting for Arcturus to answer.

"Come closer then. Let the bond be forged,"Arcturus offered, and Clydinius beat the feathery white wings at his back, coming to land at the edge of the crater within the stone circle.

"Now," I hissed, and Tory and I slammed our palms to the stone pillar we were hidden behind, lending it our power and driving it deep.

The Guild Stones blazed with energy and a blast of light spread around the giant stones in a ring, forming an inescapable snare. Or so the Oracles had promised.

Clydinius stared around at the ring of light, taking a step back from the edge of the crater while my pulse thrashed with uncertainty. Had it worked? Could this really contain a being as powerful as him?

"What magic is this?" Clydinius whispered, a touch ofdoubt to his voice.

"A trap," I called, rising up on my wings with Tory and glaring down at him from above.

Clydinius gazed at us, a flicker of disquiet in his usually impassive stare. "Daughters of the flames, whatever magic you wield, it cannot contain a star."

He took flight upon his wings with confidence, but only made it a few feet before he slammed into the forcefield of light and was thrown to the ground.

He rose quickly, eyes darting around at the stone circle as mutters left his lips, words spoken to himself. The language was one I couldn't understand, but something told me he was truly rattled now.

Clydinius gathered a ball of starfire in his hand, the blazing flames of white growing and growing before he cast them at the Gemini stone plinth. I readied my own fire for if he managed to break free, a rush of adrenaline flooding my veins. The moment the almighty star power impacted with the stone, it made the ground tremble and the air crackle, but the stone didn't break. There wasn't a fracture, not a mark.

Clydinius stared at that very spot, then to us and finally Arcturus. "A trick," he growled.

"My sacrifice will be well worth your demise,"Arcturus said, his contempt for this Novus star clear, and I felt a swell of gratitude for his offering to this plan, acting as bait for us.

I looked to Tory in excitement, and we flew lower, readying our next move.

"What now then, daughters of the flames?"Clydinius asked, his eyes tracking us. "Your magic cannot hold me indefinitely."

He was right, the power of this circle had limits from what I'd learned from the books Eugene had sent from the Library of the Lost. But it might hold long enough.

I spoke a single word that made the world shudder with power, a power so vast, it quaked the centre of my being. "Libero."

"No,"Clydinius gasped, a hand flying to his chest and his knees buckling as he hit the ground.

"The power words of the Imperial Star are still connected to your heart, Clyde," Tory said scathingly, and a wicked smile lifted my lips.

"You made these words, you bound them to your being and offered our ancestors power through the use of them, all the while cursing them for not keeping your twisted promise," I said icily. "And now they will be your downfall."

"Impossible,"Clydinius hissed, eyes turning to two bright, white glows of fury. "The words were forged by my tongue. I possess them, not you weak creatures of fragile mortality."

He started speaking in an ancient tongue, faster and faster, and the air thrummed with the power he weaved.

"Quickly,"Arcturus urged us. "He seeks to unravel the magic of the power words."

"Libero!"Tory cried, the word for ‘release' demanding Clydinius bow to our will.

Clydinius buckled forward with a yell of rage, his words coming faster still, making the air snap and blaze with unholy magic.

"Silentium!"I yelled, and his lips sealed shut, quieting him with the power word we'd learned from Azriel's diary.

He stared up at us in horror, then turned his gaze to the dirt and began to write his spell into the mud, his fingers moving with frantic, unnatural speed.

"Congelus,"Tory hissed, and his limbs became rigid, freezing then binding with the word for stillness.

Clydinius was forced to lay upon his back, staring up at his ruin with the sky at our backs. Two queens, haloed by fiery wings with his destruction painted upon our lips.

"Libero,"I commanded, and Clydinius convulsed as a glow built against his skin.

"Novus traitor,"Arcturus hissed. "May your false body be cast to dust, may your magic become pure once again, may it race into the outskirts of the world, may it fuel the Fae we were made to protect and guide."

Clydinius's words screamed through the atmosphere, his spell spoken by his mind alone as he fought to break the power we held. But it was too late. His time was up.

At a nod from me to Tory, we decided to speak the final word together, combining our strength within it.

"Libero,"we ordered, authority ringing from our voices as we commanded this star to our will.

No one defied us. No one ruled over us. No being could refute us.

With a burst of radiant light, it was done. Clydinius's body broke apart, shattering into nothing except a burning blaze of purest magic. It tore out across the land and sky, driving into me and my twin, making me gasp with all that omnipotent power fighting to lend itself to nature. My mind was caught in a blaze of knowledge. Light, death, life, infinite time. It was all washing together into the virtuous earth, and I could no longer feel Clydinius among it. His essence was gone, this magic no longer his but the world's.

"Farewell, daughters of the flames. I bid you luck in your war," Arcturus said, then his power joined the fold, and I was lost.

My soul tangled with his magic, my mind perceiving more than I could process at once. Galaxies and dying suns, then forests and running water, a wind that never ceased, a fire that burned deep in the core of our Earth. Life flourished in my veins as I was connected to so many beings at once, all of it driving towards a peaceful haven I never wanted to leave. I saw the rise of the world and the very cells that made up life itself, then I was falling, crashing into a hard ground on a hillside that overlooked the stone circle with Tory at my side.

We panted from the torrent of power we'd just experienced, and laughter fell from our lungs before we remembered the battle that was waiting for us.

Our eyes met and our smiles fell to something dark and determined as we rose to our feet.

Tory took out a pouch of stardust and no words needed to pass between us to know where we were going. There was only one place fate called us to now.

It was time to go to war.