House of Eclipses by Casey L. Bond

23

Beron seethed as Caelum calmly folded the blanket he’d brought for us and we tucked what was left of breakfast into the basket. The Wolven was still brooding. Anger sizzled beneath his surface.

I snorted. “Let me guess. Citali?”

“How?” he barked, throwing a frustrated hand in the air.

“How what?”

“How can you possibly be related to her?” he asked, waiting for an answer.

I shrugged. “She takes after our father. I favor my mother.” I flicked a glance to Caelum, who bit back a knowing grin. “What could she have possibly done to get you so riled up this early?” I asked.

“She snuck out of her room and slipped right by me. Twice!” He held up two rigid fingers.

I pinched my lips together to keep from laughing.

Beron saw my face and I lost the fight. He growled and shook his head. “You could have warned me about her.”

“I have! On several occasions, I might add. And if my warnings did not suffice, why didn’t her actions tell you exactly who she was? She wears a beautiful face, Beron, but don’t let her fool you. And don’t let her get under your skin. I promise you’ll regret it.”

“Under my skin?”

I peered at him earnestly, all trace of laughter gone. “Don’t fall for her. Don’t give her your heart. She’ll shred it. She might even eat it.”

“Never.”

Never say never…

Caelum quirked a brow. Beron growled. “I didn’t come to speak about Citali. I came to fetch you.”

I burst out laughing. They sent a wolf to fetch the Lumin?

Beron wagged a finger at me, a warning flashing in his eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m no trained dog.”

“I know. I know how completely terrifying you are, Beron.” I bit the inside corner of my lips to stifle the smile he’d dragged from them.

Caelum looked to me regretfully. “I have a few things to do…”

“Go,” I told him. “I’m fine.”

He glanced at Beron, who also waved him away. “Go, Lumin. Do your Lumin-ly duties and leave Noor and me alone.”

Caelum took the basket and blanket, then leaned in and kissed me on the lips, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’ll try not to take too long.”

Beron groaned. “Go. I’ll look after her.”

My hackles raised as if I were a Wolven, too. I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t need looking after.”

Beron smirked at me, content to have riled my temper.

My hands heated. I flexed my palms, trying to cool them off.

Caelum chuckled as he walked away. “Good luck!” he called over his shoulder.

I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me or the Wolven.

Beron watched his brother’s retreating back until he disappeared into the House of the Moon. I watched the sea. Foam drifted on top of the churning surface. I wondered what it would look like during a storm, when the sky roiled and rumbled and lightning struck the waves.

“So, Beron… you turn into a rather large wolf. Do you have any other neat tricks?”

“Other than prophesying for the Lumin, no.” He shrugged. Besides being a shapeshifter, I’d almost forgotten he was the Luminan equivalent of our Sphinx. Thank Sol he didn’t speak in riddles as she did.

“Where is my sister now?” I asked.

“My second watches her.”

“Your second?” I asked, dragging my toes through the sand to draw a line.

“One of the only people I trust with my life – besides my brother and mother.” He jerked his head toward the sea. “Do you swim?”

“I’ve never tried,” I admitted. “In Helios, there are crocodiles in the river. People still go down to it to swim, wash, and collect water, but my sisters and I were never permitted to.”

He offered a toothy grin. “Do you want to learn?”

Did I trust him enough to teach me? “Do you promise not to drown me?”

He rolled his eyes. “A fellow makes one mistake and he’ll never live it down. Sheesh.”

“You made more than one, and they were huge,” I corrected, crossing my arms over my chest.

In the moonlight, the differences between him and Caelum were much more obvious than they were in the dusk lands. Caelum’s brows were thick and dark, but not as thick or dark as Beron’s. I noticed one of Beron’s brows was split with a thin scar.

“Are you immortal?” I asked.

He ticked his head back, a smile finally emerging. “I wish.”

“I don’t,” I told him. “I want one amazing life, but I don’t want to live forever when everything I loved would perish. I want to go to the hereafter with my loved ones to fuel Sol’s fire.”

He nodded slowly. “So… swimming?” His dimple flashed hopefully.

“In the shallows? That’s where you seem to want to keep our conversation.”

He grinned. “Absolutely not. If we’re wading in, we’re going until we can barely touch the bottom. But you can’t swim in that dress. You’ll get tangled and drown.”

“I have nothing else to swim in.”

He waved me toward the House. “I can fix that.”

“I’m not sure your clothes would fit me, Beron.”

The Wolven chuckled. “Kevi has something you can borrow.”

“You know Kevi?” I asked, hurrying after him.

“I do now. Citali was with her this morning when I finally tracked her down by scent.”

Citali had asked why Kevi and her girls came with us. She suspected there was more of a reason than just to escort us or to dance for the Lumin, and since I’d refused to tell her anything, she went straight to the source. I wondered what she thought when she realized Kevi had a power all her own and wouldn’t allow Citali to walk all over her.

I also wondered if Citali would be short a bangle or two the next time I saw her…

Would Kevi tell my sister the truth in exchange for gold? She was in a new land, and while Caelum promised to keep her and the girls safe and I’d vowed to provide them enough gold to live comfortably on, Kevi had taken my bribe once. Would she take Citali’s now?

Kevi and her girls were in a cluster of rooms on the second floor. Beron knocked on the wooden door and waited until Kevi answered. Her eyes lit when she saw him standing there, then caught on me. “Atena! Beron,” she purred. “What a lovely surprise.” She waved us inside.

“Did my sister come to see you?” I asked once the door was closed.

Kevi’s easy smile fell away. “She asked why we came to Lumina.”

“What did she offer you?” I asked, watching Kevi as she sauntered further into the room and sat in a plush chair.

“What makes you think she offered me anything?”

“Kevi.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. She offered me gold.” She jangled bangles on her wrist, some of them I knew belonged to Citali – or had before this morning.

My stomach dropped. “Did you tell her the truth?”

Kevi scoffed. “Do you take me for a fool?”

A feeling of relief washed over me.

“We are simply here to dance for the Luminans at the celebration when one of you joins with Caelum, uniting the kingdoms. That’s all,” she said, fluttering her eyes at Beron.

He tugged at the collar of his tunic and shifted his weight, then cleared his throat. “As you and your friends went swimming last night, I was wondering if you might have something Noor could borrow to wear in the ocean.”

“And you know this, how?” she asked, standing and walking toward him. Beron was a Wolven when he needed to be, but Kevi was like Citali in some ways, like me in others. She’d eat him alive or roast him. I wasn’t sure which. But he would learn it the hard way if he kept poking that lioness.

“I saw you from one of the balconies.”

“In the dark? We could barely see. One of the guards was kind enough to set candles out in the sand for us.”

He nodded. He knew that, too.

“Did you like watching us, Beron?” she asked, running a finger down the center of his chest.

“No. I probably would have enjoyed it if I wasn’t focused on trying to keep tabs on Citali,” he grumbled.

“She’s clever, that one. Sneaky, too. I bet you had your hands full.”

He laughed and shook his head. “You have no idea.”

“Kevi,” I finally interrupted. “Do you have something I could borrow to swim in?”

She left Beron to clasp my hand, drawing my wrist close to her face. “No bangles to offer?”

“I plan to offer far more than that. With what you did to help me at the House of Dusk, I owe you more than a bangle, Kevi. I’ll see that you and your dancers are cared for.”

Kevi’s sly smirk fell away. She nodded and tugged me behind a folding screen. “You should wait outside, Beron,” she snipped. “If your brother knew you lingered to watch the Atena’s silhouette, he’d snap your pretty neck.”

The door closed a moment later.

She and I giggled together. “I’m not wrong, though, am I, Noor? The Lumin is smitten with you.”

“I think so,” I told her, admitting it to someone else aloud.

“I know so. I know men,” she said. “I’ve known plenty of women, too, but let me tell you – the Lumin doesn’t even know others are in the room when you’re with him. It’s like the two of you are on a separate plane of existence.”

I let my dress fall and cringed when I saw the dark blue scraps of fabric she brought over. “What are those?”

“For you to swim in. You don’t want a lot of fabric, Noor. The water will weigh it down and pull you under.”

“Those are mere scraps, though.”

She laughed. “Wait and see. Arms up.”

Kevi waited until I stretched my arms and then folded the fabric over itself, thickening it. She bound it around my breasts, tying it tightly at my back. She folded a slightly larger scrap in two again and tied it around my waist.

“It barely covers my backside!” I gasped, scandalized, bending to see if it even did.

“It does,” she playfully defended. “You look divine, Atena. The Lumin will enjoy it. I promise you that.”

“Caelum might kill Beron if I go swimming with him in this.”

Kevi shrugged. “Invite him along.”

“He’s busy.”

She grinned knowingly. “He won’t be if he sees you in that.”

“I want to invite Caelum along,” I told Beron as we walked out of Kevi’s room and down the hall. He quickly thanked my friend and jogged to catch up.

He took one look at what I was wearing and groaned. “You can’t saunter through the halls wearing only that. He’ll kill me!” he lamented.

“You were the one who wanted me to swim. You took me to Kevi to be outfitted properly. I don’t see what all the fuss is about.” I had nothing covering me but the skimpy swimming garment, but I didn’t see a problem with it. I wasn’t ashamed of my body in the least.

He pinched the broken bridge of his nose.

“Take me to him, Beron, or I’ll smile at the next guard I see, flutter my lashes, and ask him instead. Then he would kill you.”

Beron gave a soft curse. “Fine. Follow me.”

He led me back to the first floor to a set of double doors engraved with Lumos rising over the water, the likeness from what I’d witnessed this morning uncanny. Then he knocked. As we waited, I let my fingers drift over the bumps and ridges and dips until the door was jerked open. Caelum stood there, his face surprised when he saw me standing there. Then his eyes raked down me and back up.

I had read once that ice could be so cold, it would burn the skin of someone who held it long enough. Burning ice was such a paradox I never dreamed could be true, until I saw Caelum’s icy blue eyes catch with silver flame and felt cool air rush off him like snow being dragged off the mountains he thought I could not melt. I felt confident I could melt them now…

I straightened my spine. “I wanted to invite you to go swimming with me and Beron.”

His eyes flicked to his brother as if he only just realized he was present. “She’s going swimming. In the ocean.”

Beron cleared his throat. “Yes.”

“With you?”

Again, Beron answered, “Yes.”

“Wearing that?”

I crossed my arms and his eyes were drawn to my plumped breasts. “What, exactly, is wrong with my ensemble?”

Two men, identical twins, approached from behind Caelum. Both waved to me. “Hello, Atena,” one said, grinning. Their eyes slid down me appreciatively and I stood straighter. Perhaps Kevi was right and these scraps were more weapon than apparel.

I waved back to him.

“You…” Caelum started.

I put my hand up. I’d heard enough. I wanted to swim and so I would. If he was too busy and couldn’t go, that was fine, too.

“Beron is going to teach me to swim. If you’re too busy, I’ll see you later.”

I walked away from the room with the pretty door and Beron fell into step behind me. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” he hissed.

“What?”

“You dismissed the Lumin. In front of his council.”

My steps slowed. “What council?”

“Caelum has collected a group of men and women from varying regions and walks of life. He consults them for their opinions on matters that affect them.”

“Why?” My father never asked for anyone’s opinion. He didn’t care about anyone’s but his own. He was the ruler. As was Caelum. He didn’t need anyone else.

“Because he cares about Lumos’s people. He carries their pleas to the god of night and asks for his judgment. Caelum might not be able to do everything they want, but he tries his very best for them. He’s good and fair, but he couldn’t be that if he didn’t know the problems his people face. Lumina has regions. Some are far south in the colder climates where the mountains are. I know Helios is a sole city, but Lumina is vast and there are many cities and towns to consider, not to mention those who choose to live outside them.”

We walked out of the House of the Moon and into the pale sand again. I wondered if it was white or blue. I couldn’t tell in Lumos’s light.

I bit my thumb. Worry made the phoenix claw the inside of my stomach. “I didn’t mean to embarrass him.”

He opened his mouth to speak when I heard Caelum call my name. I whirled around to see him step out the door and jog down the steps, tugging his tunic over his head. “Wait for me.”

I tried not to stare as the moonlight slid over him like pale blue silk, but the muscles his tunics never quite hid looked much better uncovered. My eyes roved over his toned chest, sculpted stomach, and the V that dipped at his hips. As he jogged his body flexed and flared, carrying him swiftly across the powdery sand.

Beron hooked a thumb toward his brother with disbelieving eyes. “He’s not even upset! I don’t know what you’ve done to him, but I like it.”

Caelum smiled as he caught up. “Hey.”

I steeled my spine and held my head high as his gaze slid over me. Somewhere in my periphery, I heard Beron doing something. Then splashes came from the water. Beron trudged through the waves, letting them break on him, then dove beneath one. I gestured toward him and shook my head. “I can’t do that.”

“Walk in with me,” Caelum said, holding out a hand. “I’ve got you.” I clasped his cool palm and he tugged me into the water. “We’ll go as slow as you like,” he promised.

I walked in a few feet, letting a wave hit my calves, then deeper still. One rolled over my knees. “Where’s Beron?” I asked. He’d been submerged far longer than I thought was advisable.

“Don’t worry about him. He would live in the water if he could.”

I took another step as a wave hit my thighs, splashing up my stomach. It was cold, but steam rose from my skin.

Caelum laughed in wonder. “Your heat is remarkable.”

Blushing, I turned to the sea again. “He’s been under the waves a very long time, Caelum.”

Just then, something grabbed my ankle and I shrieked and climbed Caelum like a palm tree, hooking my ankles around his back like I had when he pressed me to the wall.

Beron emerged, howling with laughter and smacking the surface of the water with his palms. “That was hilarious!”

I didn’t respond. Caelum held me, his hands just beneath my bottom. I was fastened to him, unable to see anything but his eyes sparkling in the moonlight, the gleam of it hitting his teeth as he smiled. His dark hair dripped from the splash I must have delivered in my panic to get out of the water and away from the creature who’d grabbed my ankle.

“I thought you wanted to learn to swim,” he pouted. “If my brother is going to teach you… other things, I think I should go back inside,” Beron said, watching the ocean and waiting for a reply.

I pressed a kiss on Caelum’s lips and unhooked my ankles, falling back into the water. His hands trailed away as I turned to face Beron and kicked the next briny wave, delivering a blow of saltwater straight into his teasing face.

Not that it bothered him. Laughing, he floated on his back. “I deserved that.”

“Yes, you did.”

Caelum walked in a little further, waving for me to come with him. The waves gobbled him to the waist.

Something brushed against my leg, and this time I knew it wasn’t Beron. I could see him where he floated on top of the waves far deeper than where I was standing. “Um, Caelum?” I whispered in a shrill tone, my body shaking.

He turned. “What’s the matter?”

“Is there a swarm of jellyfish or sirens in the water?”

He tilted his head. “I don’t see any jellies, and I was only teasing about the sirens.”

“What exactly would a siren feel like if it touched you?”

Caelum looked to Beron, who stood up to laugh at me this time. “Sirens are in the deep ocean, if they exist at all. Some sailors insist they do, but they’re half woman, half fish. A woman with a tail. They have beautiful voices and delight in luring men into the water to their death.”

“Do they touch the bare legs of those who wade in?” I squeaked, trying to peer into the dark, foaming water for a sign of a hand, or perhaps the scales of a human-sized tail.

“When the men dive in, the sirens take their hands and drag them into the depths, drowning them.”

My eyes widened. “Something just touched my leg!”

Caelum waded to me. “There are fish in the sea; that’s all it likely was. Beron is right. We’ve never encountered a siren. They are legend, not fact.”

“Every legend is grounded in fact,” I argued, unable to peel my eyes from the water.

“Hey,” he said gently. I finally looked up into his face. “If you aren’t comfortable in the deeper waters, we’ll go back to the shallows.”

I was pretty sure waist-deep was considered shallow but decided to bite my tongue. “I want to stay.” For now.

Beron patted the water’s surface like he was in a padded chair. “Sink down.”

I slowly lowered into it, laughing as plumes of steam rose again from the skin that hadn’t yet been cooled by the cold waves and splashes. Knees bent, I tried to bob on the waves like he was doing.

Caelum moved to stand next to me. “I’m glad I ended the council meeting early.”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Caelum.”

His brows twitched. “You didn’t.” I glanced to Beron, who shrugged. “She didn’t,” Caelum reiterated for his brother’s benefit.

Beron motioned to the water. “You should learn to float, Noor.”

He demonstrated, looking like a piece of wood being carried by the waves. I leaned back and attempted to mimic his serene pose, then quickly went under the surface. I inhaled a lungful of saltwater as I panicked and tried to resurface. When my feet finally found the sand, I emerged, coughing and sputtering. I noticed Beron and Caelum each had an arm and I realized they must have pulled me up. Apparently, floating was not as easy as it seemed.

“I don’t like floating,” I told him between hacks, then I laughed.

The brothers relaxed and laughed with me.

I was content to bob in the shallows under the Lumin’s watchful eye, and thankfully I didn’t feel another creature slither past my skin. For hours, the Lumin, the Wolven, and the future Aten were merely Caelum, Beron, and Noor, laughing about nothing and chatting about ironies like how the moon had once loved the sun.

Caelum described the eclipses he’d read about, how Lumos would shield Sol from harm for a time. It was a beautiful sentiment, two beings who were sculpted for another purpose, finding one in each other.

It was reminiscent of Caelum and me.

And just as I felt a measure of contentment, I received a vision…

I was home. In Helios. I felt Sol’s heat. Felt her fire on my skin. In my bones. In my blood.

And I was filled with a sense of what had to be done as I watched myself walk toward the sun and my destiny.