A Third of the Moon and the Stars Struck

by Jade Brieanne

  “Jin!” Aiden rasped from on top of the table. “Jin, talk to me!”

  “No,” and she laughed through the gasp of air. “I’m okay! I’m…” she laughed even louder, to the point where the only thing Aiden could do was frown down at her.

  “What are you laughing at?” he coughed, his voice weak.

  “Oh, god.” She couldn’t stop the laughter. It raced around in her core and caused her to throw her hands around her middle in an effort to control it. “Oh, god! Aiden!”

  “What?” Aiden said, panicked.

  She twisted and threw her hands around Aiden’s neck, pulling back when she heard him hiss in pain. That didn’t stop her from peppering his face with kisses, sobbing and making a mess of things as she laid a long, fierce one on his lips. “I remember.”

  He didn’t say anything in response, just stared up at her, cautious.

  “I remember my name.”

  “Your name…”

  “My name is–”

  There was a roar that filled the cabin of the lake house and Jin remembered one other thing. The fire! It’s growing! She had to get them out of the house! When she looked out of the window, she saw the entire shoreline was filled with Tule-Tule, all waiting for Aiden.

  Do not be afraid of the fire.

  Jin knew that voice. “AJ?”

  Do not be afraid of the fire, Jin. You are not a lioness but a bird. A Phoenix. You embody the Phoenix, your life proves it. Do not be afraid of the fire. You are fire.

  The fire will burn! We will die!

  Yes. You will die but it will be the person as you are! You will be reborn! Do not be afraid of the fire!

  The fire roared to a mighty height, so high Jin couldn’t see past the flames out the window. The inside of the lake house became unbearably hot, searing as smoke and embers gathered near the ceiling as the fire began to engulf the house.

  She felt Yansá’s words in her mouth. “Sometimes we burn the old, so the new can grow.” With her bottom lip trembling, she looked down at Aiden. “Aiden…I can’t leave this house. I don’t…,” she cried. “I don’t know how to protect you.”

  He grabbed her hand and nodded, holding it to his face. He kissed her knuckles, her palms. “If you can’t leave, then I won’t leave. I will stay with you.”

  Tears began to flow down her face. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

  “It’s okay. I trust you. I’m just happy I was able to see you again,” he whispered. “You know what you are doing. You are strong, Jin. I trust you with my life.”

  The windows in the lake house burst as the flames rushed inside. Jin squeezed her eyes close, fear welling up inside of her, her heart caught in her throat. The fire licked at her back, singed her hair, and stole the breath out of her lungs. She bent down and covered Aiden the best she could but it didn’t help.

  The fire burned.

  It burned everything.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX

  The Eden: Luxury Suites

  Elysian Territory, Caelian Realm

  “Are you okay?”

  Aria’s hands shook as she tried to affix the Rose pin, a symbol of her noble house, to her dress. She tried again but when the pin almost stuck her in the thumb, she slammed the pin down onto the top of her vanity. A servant came up from behind her and tried to take over the duty but Aria waved her away and commanded for her to leave.

  When the servant was gone, Aria turned to Elle, the young girl sitting on an overstuffed ottoman, her legs curled up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. “Have you ever seen a judicial duel before?”

  The young Astral guard shook her head. “I’ve only heard of them. My aunt barred me from Letènite Jungle after Lunah’s death.”

  “Hm,” Aria hummed. She glanced around her chambers, feeling as cold and empty as it was. It was supposed to be warm, at least that’s how they decorated it to feel. Rich reds and oranges and bright gold were everywhere. Treasures from all over the realms occupied every corner and wall. A fireplace that dominated an entire wall was warm. Hot, even, as a fire burned logs to white ashes. A large window, one that spanned from the floor to the ceiling, let in the warm rays of the sun. But this wasn’t the warmth Aria desired.

  She wanted to be back in Aeon Terra. She wanted to be away from the cruel politics of this city. She wanted her cousin safe.

  Aria couldn’t save Ahn. She couldn’t do anything. She would have to watch the one person who fought through hell to bring her back to life…die. The thought was shocking because Aria was brought back to save everyone right? Right?

  “I believe a trial by combat is fair…clean,” Aria said as she smoothed down the royal blue cotton and silk skirts of her dress. She grabbed the Rose pin again and this time, deftly pinned it through her pale blue leather bodice. “On Earth, humans can be…barbaric. They’ve invented so many ways to kill a person. They boil them alive, set them on fire, and carve the skin from their bodies. Sometimes it’s deserved. I won’t say I haven’t smiled through an execution before. Yet…” she blinked away the tears that sprung up. By the Creator, she hated crying.

  “Weak,” Okoro Selene would say. “Crying is weakness. Therefore, your tears make you weak. That is unthinkable. You are not allowed vulnerability. You are not allowed wants and desires. You are not…normal so you must not give them a reason to doubt or hate you. You must be perfect.”

  “My cousin doesn’t deserve this. Even in its mercy, he doesn’t deserve this.”

  Elle lowered her head. When she bought it back up, her eyes were shining with tears as well. Aria wanted to hold the young girl but they were still testing the boundaries of their budding friendship. She held her hand up to at least pet the girl’s head but froze at the look beyond the tears.

  “You don’t get to decide that.” Elle stood and her hands clutched the hem of her Astral guard uniform, her knuckles turning pale, the fabric wrinkling. “I don’t care about Balladan’s death. I never liked that man to begin with but Ahn…Ahn…he was going to do terrible things.”

  Aria frowned. “You love Ahn like an uncle. What would make you say something like that?”

  “Do you deny what I’m saying?”

  “Yes, child, I do. Answer my question.” Aria took a step closer to Elle, hovering over her. She had to give it to the young woman. She only took a small step back, a bit of fear in her eyes but she covered it well. “You’re acting strange all of a sudden. Just yesterday–”

  “He signed off on Cobra assassinating my mother! That’s what-what they are going down there for,” Elle ranted, her face twisted with anger. “They haven’t even attacked Caeli and they are going down there to kill them!”

  Aria took a step back and laughed. “Who told you such a ridiculous thing? We can’t and we wouldn’t attack The Eleven. It would be breaking our treaty with them and declaring a war, a war we do not want! The treaty I created! The treaty Ahn championed! He basically begged Shemhazi to sign it! Anyone who told you otherwise is lying to you.”

  “They have to die because they have a way!” Elle screamed. “They have a way to cross the Blood Border! Ose told me so! Someone powerful is helping them do it!” As soon as the words left her lips, Elle slapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Ose told you?” Aria said evenly. “They told you The Eleven have a way to cross the Blood Border?” She took a step forward and her voice dropped, sounding deep and dangerous. “Did they tell you how?”

  Elle opened her mouth to answer but confusion and doubt washed over her face. “They…they did not.”

  “Someone powerful…” Aria snapped her fingers and paced as she thought. Then it came to her. “Anais,” she concluded. “Anais is connected to this somehow. Only she would go to such lengths to get Ahn out of the way. She’s been trying since she came down here!” Aria turned on her heels and stormed for the door. “Why can’t she just mind her own damn realm? And why is Ose always involved!” she riposted.

  Elle raced her to the door and slid in fr
ont of her. “You can’t! Ose said that if Ahn wasn’t executed then Caeli would fall! They said that she could get my mother back! She can’t get her back if Ahn lives!”

  “Ose doesn’t know what they are talking about, Elle! They are using you, just like they used my son! You want the truth? Your mother is a traitor. She could be living in Aeon Terra, right now, with you, if she’d thought beyond her own selfishness, but she couldn’t. She abandoned you to rally behind some rebel bullshit.”

  “Shut up,” Elle hissed.

  “You are jeopardizing all of Caeli because of her mistakes. That’s treason, Elle. You want to be treated like an adult…then act like one!”

  “My mother is a hero!” Elle screamed, her lips wet with spit. “My aunt is a hero, too! She has been doing good things for this realm but because no one respects her, she did it in disguise. That’s how much she cares!”

  Aria glared down at the Astral Guard. “Disguise?”

  “Yes!” Elle cried, “Aunty Anais is Ose.”

  The revelation almost knocked her off her feet. She could still feel the breath feathering across her neck as the figure in black crept over her, their sword plunged through her back.

  “This Ose wishes you death. This Ose brings you death.”

  Aria laughed.

  “She laughs.” Ose paused to push the sword in even further. Aria grunted as blood filled her mouth. “The great Aria,” Ose hissed, murderous intent gleaming from them, “brought down by this Ose’s hand…with the help of her son. Laugh about that as you enter The Nothingness.”

  “She thought she could cover it up but I figured it out when Aunty Anais hugged me. She smelled …burnt, like the ends of her hair had been singed. Ose smelled the same way. I just… put two and two together. I don’t know why she did it, but she has helped me in so many ways. She allowed me to talk to my mother, she got information to me, information you people wouldn’t share with me because I’m a child of a rebel.”

  “What did you tell your mother?” Aria asked between clenched teeth.

  “Nothing!” Elle cried. “I swear! I sang songs Ose taught me to sing but-but I didn’t tell them anything! I’m not stupid! I don’t want any harm to come to this realm. I just…I want my mother back. To get her back, Ahn has to die! It’s for the good of the realm!”

  Aria was seeing red.

  Before Elle could get another stupid word out of her mouth, Aria grabbed her by her throat and lifted her off the ground. “You foolish child!” she raged, snarling in her face. “I want my son back but because of your aunt, he betrayed me and died because of it! Because of your aunt, I died. Your aunt is the one who sided with the rebels to try and bring Caeli down! And now…now she’s going to finish it!”

  Elle’s face began to turn blush red, her eyes bulging and she scratched at Aria’s hand. Aria rolled her eyes. She opened a closet near her suite door and flung Elle into it, locking it the moment it was shut. “You don’t leave this room. Whatever plans your aunt has for you will be the means of your death. Emotions mean nothing in war, child. Family means nothing in war. Remember that.”

  “Let me out of here!” Elle banged on the closet door. “Where are you going?” she yelled from the other side.

  “To stop your dumb ass aunt.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN

  The Pit of Eendulah

  Later Ụwa Territory, Caelian Realm

  If this were an execution, Aria would be standing on the edges of Awọn Idajọ. An execution would have been simple, fast, and painless. At least Aria had never heard anyone scream in out in agony before their demise. The E’phors’s–Onijo, Talaga and Tagata, and Efusa–methods were as mystical as Later Ụwa was.

  Pry the soul. Expel the spirit. Exterminate the vessel. Cast away the umbra.

  Instead, they were at The Pit of Eendulah, located deep in the jungles of Later Ụwa. The Pit of Eendulah stood in the same jungle where the last battle between Caeli and the rebels took place. The same place where Lunah, Pythia Del’s niece, and Pythia Phi’s daughter, had fallen.

  The irony that Ahn may die in the very same jungle where a war had

  ended while trying to prevent another one from happening was not lost on Aria.

  The pit was another one of the coliseum-like structures located on Caeli. The architect, Ernest, the noble son of the Coghill clan, spent many years living along the Caelian Hill, a namesake of his beloved realm, and brought back the style of building he saw to the buildings in Caeli. It was a circular enclosure built into the side of the only inactive Volcano in Later Ụwa. It was a beautiful sight, one Aria didn’t see often because Later Ụwa wasn’t the most sought after vacation spot. The hot, humid jungle stole your breath and the smell of moist soil and heat from the molten rock was searing. Only those who grew up in Later Ụwa could stand Later Ụwa.

  “Thank God for the ice vents,” Aria murmured as she entered the lowest level of the Pit and began to climb the stairs towards the grandstand, the section where she and the rest of the upper echelon of Caeli would be seated for the duration of the duel. A few birds flew to and around her and it was enough to call attention to her presence. Before she could get to her seat, the press flocked to her like the crows and Aria rolled her eyes at who was leading the charge. She didn’t have the time for M’Chelle Kane.

  “Your Greatness,” the young reporter started, flourishing her intricate jewel encrusted gloves in the air towards the camera.

  M’Chelle Kane was the star reporter for the nationally syndicated news station Elysian Broadcast News Halo. According to Reem, who thought the sun shined out of her pert little ass, she’d covered numerous major events on Caeli, but she’d made her name with her somber broadcast during Aria’s funeral. Reem said he wept. Aria pretended to throw up.

  “Your Greatness,” the reporter repeated, bowing low. “It is such an honor to meet you. I mean honestly! The Lioness of Caeli, noble of the house Eliyah! Sekhmet reborn, The–”

  “Please,” Aria stressed between clenched teeth. “Just Aria.”

  M’Chelle Kane nodded. “Yes, yes! Of course! As I mentioned we here at EBNH are honored–”

  Aria provided her with a tight smile as she eyed her seat. “I’m sure.”

  “And we just have a couple of questions for you if you don’t mind.” The reported stepped closer, shoving the microphone in Aria’s face. ”Do you think your cousin is innocent?

  Aria reared back and failed at covering the shock on her face. “Wh–what?”

  The look on M’Chelle Kane’s face morphed from admiration to one of conspiratorial determination. “Are you going to avenge your cousin’s death?”

  Aria didn’t have time for this shit. Not even close. She placed a hand over the camera’s lens and shoved it away from her. “Interview is over.”

  She began to walk off when M’Chelle Kane stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. When Aria turned to look at her, she didn’t remove it. Bold, very bold. “How dare you,” Aria seethed.

  M’Chelle Kane grinned and mischief glinted in her pale eyes when she removed her hand. “You’re at least curious, aren’t you? Why this trial was rushed? Does it make sense that a woman who was seen fawning over him, in public no less, is so eager to see him die now? Aren’t you curious at all because I don’t buy any of it.”

  M’Chelle Kane stepped closer and Aria could pick up faint traces of peppermint. “Are you Caeli’s lame duck, a proxy for this war with no authoritative power…or…”

  Aria was silent. She felt something being slipped in her hand. She looked down at a business card.

  “I am interested in keeping the power you deserve in your hands. You haven’t been here long. You don’t understand this place anymore. If you ever want to …talk about things as they currently are, give me a call.” And with that, M’Chelle Kane and her cameras were gone.

  In her opinion, although she held a seat of honor, which in other circumstances she would appreciate, Aria didn’t like where she was seated. Hated it.
This wasn’t an honorable event.

  Aria didn’t like the situation either–the lot of them gathering around to watch the probable death of one of their own. She didn’t like the glee she saw on some of the faces in the audience. Vultures, the lot of them.

  The procession to The Pit had been somber and long. It took a month to make the march. They could have taken the trains but for a realm that coveted life, they honored death. Ahn may be a criminal in their eyes but he was still an angel, he was still a member of the Above, he was still one of them. They would march in recognition of his life in spite of.

  The long distance they had to travel had been cumbersome and was compounded by the wailing of those loyal to Balladan. They wailed as if this was his funeral procession. It wasn’t. His remains would be transported back to The Glory Beyond after the duel. Ro’b, the ambassador from Balladan’s clan, refused to be in the same place as Ahn. He stated, “The day his stench no longer clings to the air of power and life is a day much anticipated.” The Glory Beyond always got their wish before and would get it today.

  During the march, Aria had tried in vain to get Khavah f alone to speak to her at length about her daughter. But all eyes were on the matriarch who had vouched for Ahn in light of his previous crimes. Her power in The Glory Beyond wasn’t absolute. Her actions held consequences and even if they’d been reasonable, Aria was sure the great noble houses would blame her in part for Balladan’s murder. If Ahn had been locked up and given a proper trial per protocol then maybe Balladan would still be alive.

  Now they sat side by side. Aria sighed. “How the hell am I supposed to stop this?” she muttered under her breath.