“Do you still wish to take the diamond?” The Guardian’s voice penetrated the fog of fear that had banked around me.
I wanted to say no. I wanted to say Forget about it, I’ll be moseying on home and thank you very much for your time. But I did neither. I was my father’s daughter. I straightened my shoulders. Sure, there were places I could hide, but if he broke through, the worlds would burn. And I could help prevent it from happening.
I found my voice. “Yes. I will take the diamond.”
“Once the Keraastar Diamond goes around your neck, you will never be able to free yourself from it. Are you ready?” She sounded almost sorrowful.
“I’m ready.”
“Then, Queen of the Keraastar Knights, I bestow upon you the Keraastar Diamond. What is about to be done can never be undone. Only the will of the gods, or your death, will sever the ties about to be made.”
She led me to the tree. There was nothing else in the room—not Chase, not Venus, not the demons in the shadows. I only had eyes for the Guardian. She backed away and motioned to a hole in the crotch of the tree.
I stared at the black hole, knowing that once I placed my hand inside, anything could happen. But I reached in the crevice, sliding my hand into the inky blackness. I was prepared for something to grab me, or for some creepy-crawly to clamber up my arm.
The space inside the tree was cool and dry and shallow. And there, right below my fingers, was a smooth, icy stone. Taking hold of it, I withdrew my hand. In my palm, the size of a tangerine, rested a brilliant, round, faceted diamond set in platinum with a long chain, also made of platinum.
The light in the chamber hit the facets and set them blazing like a prism. I stared at the massive diamond. It must have been almost one hundred carats, and the energy was spinning off of it, reverberating through me, racing in rivers up my arm. I wanted to recognize this diamond, though I had never before laid eyes on it. But something inside wavered. Something was wrong. I held it out, shaking my head.
“No, this—this is wrong.”
“Put on the necklace, Camille Sepharial te Maria. Put it on now.”
Something wasn’t tracking. “Why the rush?”
“Don’t ask questions. You must put on the diamond now, or it can—and will—destroy you. You must wear the necklace.” The Guardian’s wings rippled, as she moved toward me. “Put it on. Now.”
I stared at the necklace. Everything felt so odd. I had thought there would be more…pomp and circumstance. More ritual. But instead, a winged faerie was pushing me to toss the diamond over my head before—wait.
The diamond began to slowly turn in my hand, moving on its own. At that moment, everything became clear. This wasn’t the Keraastar Diamond. As it began to edge toward my wrist, where it grabbed hold with the chain trying to slither up my arm like a snake, I threw it long and hard toward the other end of the pit, where it exploded in a puff of smoke.
“No. That’s not the Keraastar Diamond! Give me the real gem.” I turned to face the Guardian, hand out.
The Guardian backed away. “Read the incantation, if you have it.”
Of course—the Maharata-Verdi’s incantation that the monk had translated for me. I pulled it out and read it, my voice dancing over the Melosealfôr words.
The Guardian paused, looking hesitant. I tried again, using the ancient form, cautiously following the pronunciation guide Keth had prepared.
As soon as the last word left my mouth, the Guardian shifted form into a ball of blinding light. She flew up and out of sight. The tree began to shudder, quaking as though the earth rumbled beneath it. It let out a wheezing cry as it crystallized, then shattered into a thousand shards. I quickly dropped, covering my head so the glass wouldn’t slice into my face. A moment later, the cavern lit up as though it were filled with sunlight. Venus rushed forward, offering me his hand as I stood, Chase right behind him.
I slowly turned. Where the tree had been stood a simple dais, and on the dais sat a black velvet box about the size of a paperback. The pulsing heartbeat of the cave seemed to be concentrated within that box. I could feel it clearly now. Slowly, I reached out and picked up the case. The demons in the shadows began to fade.
Venus and Chase stepped up to flank my sides. I glanced at Venus and he nodded for me to go ahead. I sucked in a deep breath and slowly cracked open the lid, pushing it back. Inside the case, on a black velvet cushion, rested a diamond necklace. The stone was similar in size to the fake one, but this gem was a fantasy cut—with hundreds of facets making up the circular cabochon. Set in a black metal that I didn’t recognize, the pendant was on a velvet black ribbon.
Mesmerized by the stone, I lifted it out of the case, setting the box back on the dais. As I held it up, the energy resonating off the stone sang to me and I realized it was singing a song I knew in the core of my heart. I turned to Venus and handed him the pendant, then slowly knelt in front of the old shaman.
With tears in his eyes, he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Camille. I know what this will do to you—it’s a double-edged sword. It makes you the mistress, and yet, the slave.” And then, he placed the necklace around my neck.
As the stone touched my chest, the demons gave one last howl and then vanished forever from the cavern. I slowly reached up to finger the pendant and I knew in that moment, I’d never be able to remove it. For good or ill, I was the Queen of the Keraastar Knights, and I would wear the diamond until the day I died.
THERE ARE MOMENTS that define the rest of our lives. Crossroads in the path of destiny, as it were. As I stood, I wasn’t sure how I felt—there were changes going on, I could sense them, and yet this chapter would have to play out for a while before I knew what was going on. I sucked in a deep breath and forced a smile to my lips as Venus knelt before me.
“My Lady of Twilight,” he whispered. “I am your servant.”
I lightly touched his head, stroking his hair. “And I accept your service.”
Then, as I turned, I saw Chase standing there and I knew why he had come. “And you, my friend.” Even as Venus had wept while he placed the stone around my neck, my heart echoed with sadness. I gazed into the detective’s eyes and he let out a choked sound.
“I-I can’t be. Can I?” He looked caught like Bambi in the headlights.
I reached out and traced his cheek with my fingers. “You will join my Knights. The amethyst seal belongs to you.” I could see it as clearly as though I were holding it—the seal belonged with Chase, and he would wear it and take his place among my Keraastar Knights.
“But I’m FBH—” he started to say.
“So was Benjamin. And Tam Lin, or at least he was at one time. You also have elf in your background, and you have taken the Nectar of Life. There’s no choice, my friend. This is your destiny—you’re going to be the leader of my Knights. When we return home, I will summon the dragons and have Vishana bring you the stone. You and your daughter will move out to Talamh Lonrach Oll and live in my Barrow.”
“What about my job? My life I’ve built?” But then he stopped short, and knelt beside Venus. “I know,” he whispered. “I think I’ve always known that something like this waited for me.”
I smiled then, suddenly feeling gleeful as a rush of joy began racing through me. The stone was softly pulsing against my heart and I gazed up at the ceiling, where the rippling lights spread out like the aurora against the horizon.
“Stand, my friends.”
They stood.
“Tell me, if I have to be queen of an army, who better to lead it than the two of you?” I looped my arms through theirs and—quite giddy—began to laugh. “We’ll take Shadow Wing down.”
Even as I spoke, I could see that I would form a powerful circle with my Knights, and the seals would be linked through the diamond so that we would all be stronger than the sum of our parts. I wasn’t clear on how yet, but it would come to me. The Keraastar Diamond was a living, sentient entity. In a flash of vision, I could
see the Spirit Seal before it had been broken. It had been nine seals, all right, but they had all been linked at the center with the diamond I was wearing. That, no one ever spoke of when repeating the legend.
I was taking my place in history, as were Chase and Venus, as were Luke and Amber. And as would Tanne Baum and still others yet cloaked from my sight. Reeling from the diamond’s energy, I slowly began the ascent up the stairs to where the others were waiting. I was grateful I hadn’t realized until now just how deep this transformation was going to be. If I had, I might never have had the courage to go through with it.
THE OTHERS WERE waiting topside for us. As we emerged from the pit, Smoky stepped forward, then stopped, waiting for my cue. I swallowed hard. At least I still had my loves. And I would need them in the coming months.
I touched the diamond around my neck. “It’s done.” I didn’t want to tell them about Chase yet. That was his news to tell and the others would know soon enough. “We need to go home. I want to leave this mountain behind and never return.”
In fact, now that I had the diamond, the only thing I could think of was to get home and get away from this barren land. All the stress and strain from the trip was overwhelming me, and I couldn’t face another day of hard walking. Not with the shifts and changes going on. “Can you take us back to the monastery through the Ionyc Sea?”
Smoky considered the question, then nodded. “I know where it is, and I know where we are. I can take you two at a time.”
Bran cleared his throat. “I can go on my own.”
Smoky motioned for Delilah and me to join him. “I’ll take the two of you, then come back for Venus and Chase, then Shade.”
The giddiness vanishing as fast as it had come, I wearily leaned into his arms and closed my eyes. Delilah joined me, and—in the blink of an eye, or the expanse of a lifetime, depending on how you looked at it—we vanished from the cave and a deep sleep pulled me under.
I WOKE TO find myself in my bed, the comforter tucked over me. Delilah was sitting beside me, looking worried, and Smoky was standing behind her.
Struggling to sit up, I squinted, trying to figure out what time it was. “How long have I been asleep? Are we home?” For a brief moment, I felt very Dorothy-like. Was it all a dream? Had it been one long, extended potato-chip and chocolate-induced vision? Instinctively, I reached for my neck. There was the pendant. It was real, all right.
“You fainted in the Ionyc Sea and you’ve been asleep ever since. We decided to follow through with the plans we had in the first place, and Shade and I transformed into our dragon selves and went back for Trillian and Roz, taking the monks with us so they could lead the horses up to the monastery. When you still weren’t awake by the time we got back, we decided just to fly down to Svartalfheim. We came through the portal there last night and when we got home, we called Mallen. He examined you and said you were just exhausted. That your body was adjusting to the energy of wearing the diamond and was pretty seriously confused.”
Mallen was the head of the medic unit at the FH-CSI. If he thought I was all right, I trusted his judgment. “What’s today?”
“The seventeenth. You’ve been asleep about thirty-six hours.” Delilah handed me a glass of water, which I eagerly downed. She paused, then said, “Chase told us what happened. I’m not sure what to say.”
I handed the glass back to her. “Remember how we always felt there was something slightly different about Chase? And then when he drank the Nectar of Life, he started to change, and we found out about his heritage? I think…this was meant to be all along.”
Touching the pendant around my neck, I could sense the gentle pulse of energy. It had aligned to me and I had aligned to it. I could never give it away, or remove it. “I understand now, a lot that I didn’t. I can’t put it in words, but there’s this sense I have that destiny has been playing into all of our lives since the day we were born. We know it has with you—with the Autumn Lord claiming you from birth. But I think all of us—we all have parts to play in this world. Menolly does with Blood Wyne and the Vampire Nation. We’re being drawn apart not because we shouldn’t be together, but so we can fulfill our fates.”
For the first time in a long while, I felt at ease with the thought of moving to Talamh Lonrach Oll. It was what was meant to be. I couldn’t stay here and run the Court from our house. I couldn’t lead the Keraastar Knights to whatever fate they might have from around the kitchen table. I still ached to think of moving away from my sisters, but the ache was muted by the realization that we would still be close, and we’d be growing into the women we were meant to be.
“So…what now?” Delilah glanced up at Smoky, a look of resignation on her face.
“We ask Vishana to bring Luke, Amber, and the seals to the coronation. I finish packing. And then…come Summer Solstice…I walk into the twilight.”
And with that, I pushed back the covers to step into my coming life.
Chapter 17
ON THE AFTERNOON of June 19, I stood in my bedroom, staring at the pile of boxes. Menolly’s lair was pretty much in the same condition. Tomorrow, our rooms would be cleared as she and Nerissa moved into Roman’s house, and Smoky, Trillian, Morio, and I left for my Barrow. And then, tomorrow night I would go through an all-night ritual that would culminate at just past midnight with my coronation. We would greet the sun on Litha with a party like none I’d ever attended before. I folded my arms across my chest as I walked over to the bed and sat down, silently assaying the room. So much had happened in this house, but it was time to let go and walk away.
Delilah peeked into the room. “Are you ready? Iris and Hanna are finishing the baskets for tonight.”
We were going on a walk, Delilah and I, down to Birchwater Pond. I nodded, still conscious of the weight of the diamond around my neck. The energy had muted itself—or rather, I was used to it—and I no longer was acutely conscious of the thrum and sizzle of it, but the fact that I was wearing a gem worth probably at least four million dollars was taking me awhile to adjust to. The one thing I had discovered, for which I was incredibly grateful, was that I could mute the visibility of it. To the outer world, unless I chose for them to see through the glamour, I could shift the stone to look like fancy costume jewelry.
I was wearing a leaf-green skirt and a plum-colored bustier, and I had slipped into my granny boots. Draping a black shawl embroidered with gold and silver metallic threads around my shoulders, I joined Delilah and we clambered down the steps and into the kitchen.
Iris and Hanna were cooking up a storm and I hugged both of them, kissing them soundly on the cheek before Kitten and I headed out the back door. The back porch smelled like freshly turned soil. Hanna had been taking clippings from my witch’s garden for me and potting them on the long plank table that we used for gardening. They, too, would travel to Talamh Lonrach Oll.
Once we were free of the porch, I dropped my head back, enjoying the feel of the summer sun on my face. Summers in Seattle were generally pleasant, with only a handful of days climbing into the nineties. It was about seventy-five degrees with a light breeze, and the fresh air did me good.
I grabbed Kitten’s hand as we headed toward the trailhead and wound our way into the forest that divided us from the pond. The scents of cedar and fir were thick, and even with the summer sun there was a perpetual feel of moisture in these ancient forests, with the moss and lichen trapping the dew from early morning.
“I wish Menolly could be with us.” Delilah frowned. “I know she can take all the walks she wants during the night but it seems so unfair that she can’t ever again see the sun.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is, you know? I know she misses sunlight, but the stars have their beauty and the moon shines down. It’s all lovely. I wonder, do you think there’s anything like a reverse-vampire somewhere? A person who cannot walk abroad in the night, where the moon will scorch them cold?”
Delilah gave me a funny look. “I don’t know, but
that seems just as painful in some ways. Give me a balance any day.”
We rounded the curve leading to the clearing bordering our pond. As we entered the glade, the lapping of the currents on the pond were like music to my ears. We had been busy over the years, decking out the area with picnic tables and benches, with built-in grills and a stone circle in which to hold our rituals. I wandered over to the edge of the pond where we had placed a low bench that was perfect to sit on and think. As I sat down, Delilah joined me, cautiously edging onto the seat.
“You’re still afraid of water, aren’t you?”
She laughed. “You can take the girl out of the cat but you can’t take the cat out of the girl. Water will always spook me, I think.”
I picked up a smooth, flat stone and sent it skipping across the pond’s surface. “I think…I think I’m glad I’m staying over here, Earthside. I love Otherworld but somehow, Mother’s home feels comfortable to me.”
“Chase is going to have one hell of a transition to make.” Delilah leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees as she stared at the water. “Did you know when we went after the diamond?”
I shook my head. “Not really. Maybe I did, but if so—I can’t pinpoint any real thought about it. I just knew that Chase had to go with us. I wasn’t sure why.”
“How do you think this will affect his relationship with Sharah?”
“I think perhaps it will make it better. Maybe the elves will accept him as a Keraastar Knight more than they would as an Earthside detective? I don’t know. He’ll be living out at the Barrow, so he can soak up a lot of cultural mores that way.”
“Elves aren’t the same as Fae, remember. Except maybe for the Svartans. Everybody tends to forget they started out as a branch of the Elfin race.” Kitten shrugged. “I hope that it helps. It can’t make it worse, I think.”
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