Karyne Norton

Aeliana held her breath as she stood on the threshold of the Stargazer’s gate. It was the third place she’d tried that week—the thirteenth that month. She was running out of Stargazers.

A priest stood before her, guarding the gate as if the property held boundless treasures. Instead, it contained a modest stone tower and a freshly tilled garden, just enough for two servants of the Stars. He stared at Aeliana, his bushy white eyebrows furrowing in thought.

“A golden arrow?” he asked.

“It would fit in your palm,” she said. “It’s meant for decoration, not as a weapon.”

He shook his head. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen one. Not since I’ve been here.”

Aeliana bit her lip, and the old man’s frown shifted to a fatherly smile.

“I’ve only been here thirty years, though. I could be wrong.” He patted her shoulder. “Come in from the cold. Just because the Stars aren’t out doesn’t mean we can’t pray over what ails you. The Stars are more likely to help than an old arrow.”

She tried to refuse, but he tugged on her arm, drawing her into the sanctuary of the tower. Stone walls interspersed with narrow windows rose high to reveal a small opening at the tower’s zenith. At night, it would reveal the dance of the Stars, and worshipers would come to bow and pray, but for now, it showed blue sky and the edge of the Sun.

“So many priests and priestesses put stock in old artifacts,” the priest mumbled. “Too much stock. They’re objects, nothing more. Here is where you can find comfort and aid.”

He gestured at the dirt floor, and Aeliana reluctantly kneeled.

She wasn’t opposed to the faith. She’d spent a fair amount of her youth in Stargazers because her guardians had no intention of raising her. Back then, she’d thought Arvid and Vera were lazy. She hadn’t realized they’d been biding their time, waiting for her to become useful. In the meantime, she’d grown to love the priests and priestesses who’d guided her, or really saved her, from the darkness her guardians sought. Those years of Arvid and Vera’s neglect had been peaceful compared to the last four years.

“Sometimes I find my daytime worship even more restful without all the crowds,” the priest continued, half grunting as he kneeled beside her. “There’s something magical about it.”

Aeliana choked back a bitter laugh. If he only knew.

They both bent their heads, Aeliana’s wavy bronze locks wrapping around her like a blanket from head to elbow. The Sun warmed her skin even through the windows and her thin blue dress, its power flooding her blood, though she wished it wouldn’t.

Despite her agitation, the priest’s murmurs left her sleepy, and soon she sensed the Sun’s warmth flowing not just through her, but also out of her.

Aeliana peeked between her lashes. Green shoots poked through the hard earth. White petals unfolded from a fresh stem by her knee, far too early for the long winter and far too fast. She swept her skirt over them, then squeezed her eyes shut again, as if she could hide the involuntary magic not just from the priest but also from herself.

After several long moments, the priest rose. When his back was turned, Aeliana reached under her skirt, plucking the half-dozen daisies that had grown around her, eager to dispose of the evidence of her wrongness.

“Oh!” The old man turned.

Aeliana shoved the bouquet behind her back.

“You might wish to try Gahldric Valley’s Stargazer,” he said. “I hear they’ve received dozens of shipments of artifacts. So many Stargazers in the eastern provinces are closing down. Not enough worshipers.” His eyes grew troubled, even though he still offered her a small smile.

She gave a half curtsy, careful not to reveal the flowers, and backed up toward the open door. “Thank you, Father. May the Stars bless you for your guidance.”

She slipped through the doorway before he could keep her longer, then tossed the daisies behind a cluster of wintergreen bushes. It would have been bad enough for the priest to discover her magic, but it would be even worse if Arvid and Vera discovered she’d used magic without them. Not that Aeliana had any control over it.

She raced to the nearby woods, ducking between pine trees and around the remaining patches of snow. Under the cover of the trees, she was no longer warmed by the Sun, and she rubbed the goosebumps forming under her thin sleeves.

She was careful to retrace the miles back to where she’d camped the night before with her guardians. For the millionth time, her mind and body warred over whether to return. Aeliana could continue the search on her own and use the golden arrow to cross the barrier back to Vendaras, the land where half-lights like her lived. Descendants of humans and Stars with starblood in their veins. People with magic. She’d leave behind Lorvandas and its fragile humans and be rid of her guardians once and for all.

But they would keep searching too. What if they found it first?

She wasn’t even sure she could escape them. Supposedly, they’d saved her as a child from the witch burning that had taken her parents, but they’d told too many lies for her to believe that. They treated her more like a prisoner. Every time she’d tried running, she always ended up right back with them. Sometimes they tracked her, but more often, she returned. They needed the energy in her blood to do their magic, but Aeliana needed them to pull the energy out before it tore her apart, or worse.

She tripped over a root and caught herself on the sharp branch of a tree, the cut across her palm bringing fresh pain, followed by a hint of relief. The scent of iron met her nose, and she shook away the desire to examine the wound, to squeeze out more blood for more relief. As the energy built in her blood, it was like steam rising to fill a room. Releasing it would be like lancing a boil. The pain would be worth it.

But that was Arvid and Vera’s way, not hers.

She tore off the hem of her skirt, wrapping it tight to cover the wound and stem the flow. Her hands trembled with the effort, more from the mental control it required to staunch the flow of energy than any physical pain. She sat for a moment, closing her eyes and counting out ten shaky breaths.

Accidentally growing daisies was one thing. Her blood was fairly harmless when contained in her body. But once the blood was removed? She shuddered. Her guardians had used it for unspeakable things. And when she’d tried running, she’d unwittingly done far worse.

“What are you doing?”

Aeliana started at the sharp voice, the familiar tone filling her with hatred. She tucked her injured hand behind her back as she turned to face Vera, who stood several feet away, arms crossed over her ample chest.

“We’ve been waiting all morning. It shouldn’t take that long to check one measly Stargazer.” The older woman grunted as she turned her stout frame back toward their camp.

Aeliana bit back her retort. They’d slept within two miles of each of the Stargazers her guardians had checked, but Aeliana’s had been twice that distance. She slowed her pace to match Vera’s shorter legs.

“Well, did you find anything?” Vera asked.

“Nothing,” Aeliana said, hiding her smile. If Vera had to ask, that meant they hadn’t found it either. “I was hoping to try Gahldric Valley next.”

Vera squinted up at her. “Why’s that?”

They topped a small hill, and Arvid came into view, sprawled out on a blanket in the middle of a clearing. His eyes remained closed, a half-eaten loaf leaving a trail of crumbs from his hand, across his belly, and up to his beard.

“It’s not too far. Seems logical,” Aeliana lied, then mentally begged the Stars for forgiveness.

They crossed the clearing until Vera could kick at Arvid’s girth. “Get up.”

The old man jolted awake, pawing at the crumbs. “What is it?”

“Aeliana wants to go to Gahldric Valley.” The way Vera said it made Aeliana tense. “Said it ‘seems logical.’”

“She did?” He stood, towering over both women, his eyes narrowed.

Her guardians were opposites when it came to height and girth, but they shared enough other features—a rounded nose, pale blue eyes, and black hair lined with grey—that Aeliana suspected they were siblings. After being stuck with them for fourteen years, she knew better than to ask.

“No other reason?” he asked.

Aeliana shook her head, even though she knew it was the wrong answer. It was too late to back out now.

“Don’t lie.” Arvid slapped her across the face, jolting her head back.

Her eyes stung with tears, and her cheek was like fire when she touched it. Before she could respond, he grabbed her hand, holding it out palm up to reveal her torn hem and hastily tied bandage.

“What’s this?”

“A cut,” she whispered.

“You used your blood?” His face took on a red hue, and he squeezed her hand tighter.

Aeliana winced. “No. You know I don’t know how.”

He yanked off the fabric, stretched at the edges of the wound until it reopened, then pressed his thumb over it, drawing energy from her blood and into himself. He stood straighter and rolled his neck, bouncing from one foot to the other like a young man ready to enter a street fight.

That same sense of relief flooded through Aeliana as the pressure inside her lessened, and she hated herself for it.

Arvid dropped her hand and sucked in a long breath through his nose, closing his eyes. “We leave for Gahldric Valley now. Seems we found similar leads.”

* * *

Night fell as they approached the valley. Buildings fanned out as far as the eye could see. Light flickered to life like fireflies as home after home lit their torches. The path they traveled split, one way heading east and winding down into the valley toward the city. The other forked west, extending around the far side of the city’s Stargazer to eventually meet up with the main traveling road.

They took the path to the west, heading toward the Stargazer, which stood on the edge of the hill overlooking the city in the valley. The path that led through its gates was already occupied by worshipers trickling in. Aeliana drank in the sight of the simple stone buildings. Several small chambers held what was likely the quarters of the current priests and priestesses and their few servants. Moss and ivy climbed up the walls, filling the dead nooks and crannies with life.

The holy quarters surrounded the grandest building of all—the Stargazer itself, its roof left open to provide worshipers a constant view of the heavens. It towered over the grounds, higher than four of the buildings stacked together. Windows the height of a man broke up the stone exterior all the way to its apex, and Aeliana craned her neck to take in their stained glass. Candlelight from within lit up the displays depicting dancing Stars, a mix of their lithe human forms and their distant sparkling existence in the sky.

Small clusters of people crowded the garden, which met up with groves of trees extending far beyond the land directly surrounding the buildings. Somewhere past the trees, out of sight, the walls of the property stretched out to encompass and protect the Stargazer.

Clouds threatened rain in the distance, but for now, the Stars were out. She leaned farther back to take in the Stars’ dance, their movement and brightness distinguishing them from the plain static stars they darted between. They shot through the sky, spinning in patterns that held a rhythm desperate for a melody.

“Move it,” Arvid muttered, pulling her past the Stargazer.

“But I thought—”

“Not yet,” Vera said.

They kept to the dirt path that wound west of the property. Eventually, they stopped to settle against the boundary wall between two large oak trees, the roots rising like a nest of snakes.

They waited for what felt like hours, the task of walking so much in one day taking a toll on Aeliana. Her eyelids drooped, and her head listed to the left. Hardly anyone came from this direction, but each time someone did, Arvid and Vera tensed, studying the stranger before leaning against the wall once more.

As the clouds rolled in and blocked their view of the Stars, they all donned cloaks. The wall did little to protect them from the rain, and Aeliana wasn’t about to huddle with her guardians for body warmth.

Finally, a girl approached, maybe a year or two younger than Aeliana’s seventeen years. Arvid and Vera stood, pulling Aeliana to her feet with them. The girl hesitated, her eyes widening as she took in three strangers blocking her path. Without warning, Arvid snatched Aeliana’s hand and took a knife to her palm, reopening and extending her wound.

The girl screamed, but Aeliana only sucked in a breath, too shocked to notice the pain, then too overwhelmed by the mix of fear and euphoria that always came with a larger loss of blood. It pooled in Arvid’s hands and with it, her magic—magic Arvid would harness.

Aeliana’s mind dimly registered that the girl’s scream had cut off, blocked by Vera’s hand. Not that anyone was out here to hear her anyway.

“No,” Aeliana murmured, her focus hazy with the internal shift. She tried pulling her hand from Arvid’s grasp, but he tightened his fingers around her.

“You want to get back home, don’t you?” Vera dragged the girl closer. “Be with your own kind?”

Aeliana’s vision swam, and she reached for a branch from one of the oak trees to steady herself. “Not… not like this.”

Arvid scoffed. “You think these humans matter? The Stars separated them from us for a reason.”

He stepped away from Aeliana, bringing himself closer to Vera and the girl.

The whites of the girl’s eyes flashed in the moonlight as she screamed against Vera’s hand and thrashed to get out of the older woman’s grip.

“We’re human too,” Aeliana said.

Or she thought she did. Her words came back to her muffled. Maybe she’d only said them in her mind. She let go of the tree and instinctively pressed against her palm to staunch the flow of blood. Blinking rapidly, she tried catching up with Arvid’s intentions.

When he reached a bloody hand toward the girl’s throat, Aeliana lunged for his back, pawing at his arm to pull him away. His arm was like a rock, fueled by her blood, and her efforts were like clawing through sludge. In moments, the girl went limp in Vera’s arms, eyes just as wide but absent of life.

Arvid shrugged Aeliana off with a glare. “Be grateful I kept it painless. Next time you interfere, I won’t be so kind.”

Aeliana’s shock pulled her from her stupor as they lowered the girl to the ground. Rain splattered on the still, pale face, tears twinkling in the moonlight. Arvid placed bloody hands on the tree roots, which came to life, slithering around the girl like the snakes they’d resembled. They wrapped around the body and drew it down into the rain-soaked earth. Despite the hard, icy ground, the body was buried in moments, the leather satchel the girl had been holding the only proof of her existence.

Aeliana wanted to ask why, but even if they answered her, she couldn’t trust it to be the truth.

Arvid ran his thumb over her right palm, healing her wound with her magic. A faint pink scar remained, one of many on her palms. Arvid frowned, using his cloak to wipe away the smudges of blood that remained on her skin. She jerked her palm away.

“You need to look presentable.” He nodded toward the Stargazer.

Aeliana scratched at her scar, then ran her thumb across the tear-shaped patch of skin that was raised and deep red on her left palm. It was more like her other scars than the permanent ink she’d seen others use for tattoos. They’d never cut over that mark, and she’d had it as long as she could remember.

A cold rush of blackness swept across her arm, even through her cloak. She shuddered, wrapping the fabric more tightly around her, glancing around for the shadows that might be the dark spirits drawn to her tainted blood. Arvid and Vera would welcome them like old friends, which was reason enough to hate them. She begged the Stars to protect her, to keep the dark spirits from fusing with her guardians. She couldn’t bear another night of that.

Vera rifled through the girl’s bag, pulling out a set of papers. “Looks like you’re Celeste now.” She held the papers and the bag out to Aeliana. “Celeste, the future priestess-in-training.”

Understanding dawned, and Aeliana swallowed hard. “You knew she was coming. You planned this.”

It wasn’t the first time her guardians had killed using her blood. But it was the first time they’d done it for her. Her stomach churned, the broth she’d had earlier threatening to surface.

“You get in, you find the golden arrow, and you get out,” Arvid said.

Aeliana shook her head and crossed her arms. “They would have let us in. They’re letting everyone in. You didn’t have to—”

Arvid grabbed her arm, making her wince. “You think they would have let us rifle through their artifacts? No. This is the fastest way. You’ll have access to everything now. The sooner you bring us the golden arrow, the sooner we can take you home and leave all your precious humans alone. Don’t waste the girl’s sacrifice.”

He snatched the bag and papers from Vera before shoving them into Aeliana’s arms, forcing her to take a step back. She glared at him, hating the way he put the blame on her shoulders, the way it even felt right. He’d used Aeliana’s blood—her magic. The reminder stung, but it also gave her hope. He needed her blood. He needed her magic.

She slung the leather bag over her bony shoulder and folded the papers, tucking them inside her sleeve to keep them from getting too wet. She gripped the strap against her cloak, hoping her guardians wouldn’t notice how her hands shook. “I’ll find the golden arrow.”

“The one that hums at your touch,” Vera reminded her.

“And then we’ll take you home,” Arvid said. “We’re giving you two weeks to do this your way, but if you haven’t found it by then, we do things our way.” He didn’t have to explain how many would suffer in that scenario. By then, without any bloodletting, the Sun would have filled her blood with energy ten times over. She’d be so bloated with her magic, releasing its valve would create a deadly geyser.

Aeliana clenched her jaw and nodded, turning her back on them.

She would find the arrow, and she would take it home to Vendaras without them.

She prayed to the Stars for strength. Celeste never should have been killed, but Arvid and Vera were right about one thing: Aeliana wouldn’t waste the girl’s sacrifice.