House of Eclipses by Casey L. Bond

29

Lumos shone over Sol’s temple while the sun set to the south, Sol’s face softening into a less severe shade of gentle orange. I watched her from the top of the temple steps, the last of her light flowing over me like the comforting brush of a mother’s hand on her precious child’s brow.

Caelum went back to Lumina. I’d made a portal for Caelum to leave through. The cool air of Lumina had poured from it as he faced his duties. Before he stepped through, I’d promised him that the door between our kingdoms was and would always be open now. He had agreed and sealed the vow with a kiss that made my toes curl and made me want to close the door I told him I would never again lock.

He’d taken Vada and Lumos’s priests home.

Beron, however, stayed.

I wondered if Caelum had ordered him to, or if he decided to remain on his own. Beron jogged up the steps wearing one of my father’s kilts, holding a large waterskin in his hand. He took several gulps when he sat next to me, stretching out his long legs. He tugged at the pleated fabric stretching to his knees before wagging his brows. “These are strangely comfortable in this heat. They… breathe.”

I laughed. They certainly did. “It’s not even hot now that she moved.”

He quirked a brow. “I stayed the Wolven, in thick, black fur, as your mother poured her heat over us. I’ll be hot for weeks!”

“Is Citali still in her rooms?”

He nodded. “For now.”

“And Zarina?”

“Same.”

“I don’t trust them yet.”

He shuddered. “I don’t blame you. Whomever said to keep your enemies close didn’t know your sisters.”

Something large rattled the stone behind us and Beron’s eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder at the Sphinx. Every muscle on his frame tightened. His eyes raked over her fur, her muscles, mane, and those powerful, beautiful translucent wings as she tucked them behind her. “I think I should go now,” he said, his words drifting off into nothing.

The Sphinx tilted her great head, sniffed the air, and zeroed in on Beron. Her solid black eyes blinked. A roar rattled the temple stone and echoed over the land. Her muscles tensed and she postured to pounce. “What manner of creature are you?” she asked him, the child-like voice startling even Beron.

I scuttled in front of him as a barely-still-human growl rumbled from his chest. He would shift if I didn’t diffuse this. “He is the Wolven, and a friend of mine. He’s Lumos’s chosen, just as you are Sol’s. You are equals,” I told her.

The Sphinx scoffed, “I am no one’s equal, and no one is mine.” She looked at Beron again, her fathomless obsidian eyes still, but filled with indignation instead of fury.

I swiveled my head to the Wolven. “Beron, I need to speak to her alone.”

He made his way back down the steps, keeping her within reach of his senses even as his back was turned. I just hoped he went back to the House instead of circling around. The Sphinx might carry him into the desert just to see if he could scent himself home, if he wasn’t careful.

I didn’t know what about Beron had angered her so quickly, but perhaps she sensed his power, that he was ‘other,’ too. Perhaps she saw him as a threat. I didn’t want to dwell on it now that she seemed calmer with his departure.

She knelt low and bowed her head, powerful muscles limiting her movement. “Well done, Aten,” she said in her child-like voice. “Sol is happy once more.”

She rose and looked at Lumos, then at Sol as she finally disappeared and shadows blanketed the earth. Even in her absence, the kingdom of the sun was not cast into total darkness. Lumos poured his restorative light, pale and bright and beautiful, over Helios.

“The land just sighed in relief,” the lioness quietly observed. “This is what it needed. You are what your people need, Noor.” She gave a feline smile, having read my thoughts. “You want me to give insight into what comes next with Caelum? No, Aten. I think this is a riddle you and he must solve together. I will enjoy watching.” She looked to Lumos and flared her wings, the feathers stretching. “Goodnight, Aten.”

I sat on the temple platform as close to the god of night as I could climb and asked him if he would approve of me if Caelum presented me to him – knowing what he knew of me now. He’d seen me take my father’s life, and the darkest part of my heart.

The silver cuff was cool when I pulled it from my pocket, studying Lumos’s impression. Then, as if in answer to my question, the cuff began to glow. A cuff of moonlight. A tiny crown, I mused, laughing to myself.

I looked to Lumos. “Thank you.”

Then I clamped it onto my bicep and hoped Caelum felt it and knew.

A moment later, the portal door that I’d made turned cool. I waved my hand over the air to open it and Caelum stepped through. He settled beside me, beaming his handsome smile. His crown shone in the darkness, matching the pale hues of his god.

“You came.”

He pulled me into his lap, my legs straddling his, and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in millennia. His fingers tangled into my hair and raked down and up my spine, stealing my breath and heart and mind. When he pulled away, he breathed, “How could I not?”

I reached into my pocket and withdrew the golden cuff. In my hands, it sparked, lit, and burned. The gold turned to flame, warm but not burning, flickering but not faltering. “I want you to wear mine as well.”

He captured my lips before tugging his tunic over his head. “Always.”

I fastened it onto his arm and watched the fire dance over his skin. A cuff of fire to match my crown of flame.

“I think we should establish a new House for a newly combined kingdom. And I know what we should call it, Caelum.”

He smiled, his eyes glittering. “What’s that?”

I kissed him, closed my eyes, and felt nothing but him. Flame and frost. Sun and moon. And knew that I needed an infinite number of blessed days with him. “The House of Eclipses.”

His lips pulled into a smile against mine. “It’s perfect.”