“Merely the Harvesters?” Coletta pushed.
Yveun’s magic surged, his bones hot with power that boiled over into the atmosphere. He wanted to rain magic and blood down upon Loom from the chaos he would unleash on Nova.
“No. Destroy the Harvesters without warning. Lay waste to the Alchemists before their pathetic rebellion can retaliate. Shatter the Rivets’ tallest clockwork towers so that nothing may be rebuilt. Stop every one of the Ravens’ trains and snuff out trade and communications. Then, when the four are destroyed in absolute, bring the torch to the Revolvers’ gunpowder. Explode all those who know how to make the tools of war to disrupt this world’s divine hierarchy.
“Let them cry for order from the chaos. Let them beg for a savior to deliver them from the suffering they will know.”
“And you will be that savior?” Coletta asked after a long stretch.
“When I return their lives to them, I will be Lord Rok Himself. I will be their red God.”
“No half measures,” Coletta said with singsong delight.
“No half measures,” Yveun repeated, and savored the tuning sounds of discord in the air as he stepped behind the conductor’s podium for the greatest symphony of destruction ever composed.
34. Arianna
At night, the clouds below Nova looked like a sea of silver. The garish and brightly colored world was washed clean by the pale glow of the moon, which softened the harsh tones to something Arianna’s eyes were more familiar with. The stars spread out above her infinitely. On one of her first nights she had attempted to count the glowing celestial bodies, but lost track around three hundred.
They sparkled and winked, dancing in tiny streaks of light, hiding behind the glow of the great, bright moon. Certainly the sun fascinated her, but it was the celestial elegance of the night that had begun to enchant her. There was something, dare she even think it, romantic about it. The night sky, the changing landscapes, the sparking magic... It had all begun to fit together in her mind to show her a picture she hadn’t even been able to comprehend before coming to Nova: a world defined by beauty and a people that embraced it above all else.
One such person was under her palms now. Cvareh had been cryptic about where they were going. All he had said was “off Ruana,” but to where and why he had not revealed. Arianna hadn’t questioned, nor forced it from him.
The man had been changing her, against her will and beyond her expectations. And, today, she had given in to it. Arianna had loved Eva; the woman had been a mental equal who pulled Arianna’s mind into delightful shapes and caressed her intellect in the right way.
Cvareh was a similar force, but different. His very being was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. He needed to pose no scientific riddle or postulation. Just trying to rationalize who he was and why he acted how he did was more than enough. Arianna wanted him all the same for it.
Ruana shrunk in the distance. Smaller, floating islands drifted through the pale ocean below them. Arianna had been trying to get her hands on a map of Nova for some time, but apparently no one had bothered to make one in recent years. Over time, the islands drifted and their arrangement changed. Dragons navigated by these smaller, unimportant rocks like skipping stones or breadcrumbs that rode on the invisible current of magic that tethered Nova together.
It was as illogical as anything else was in the sky world, and she accepted it now with a grace she hadn’t possessed months ago.
“We’re headed there.” Cvareh pointed to an island at the end of a long line.
“What’s there?” She squinted at the barely visible outline of rock in the distance.
“I know you’re at least somewhat familiar with the pantheon, thanks to Cain.”
Arianna huffed in objection. “I studied well before Cain.”
“So you know of the Twenty Gods?”
“Each of the Twenty is Patron of a month on the calendar, and each has an aspect of your world to oversee, such as Lady Lei supplying your water.” Arianna grinned faintly at the asinine nature of the idea. But the expression faded. She was riding a giant flying bird across the heavens above floating islands in a world of rainbow-colored people and magic. At this point, it was almost irresponsible to entirely rule out the possibility of some even greater magic overseeing the Dragon’s every need.
“Just so.” Cvareh missed her expression, guiding the boco as he was. “Every Dragon possesses two patrons, that of their house and that of the month they are born in.” He paused, interrupting himself. “What month were you born?”
“The tenth.” Even knowing why and seeing the brightness of the sun for herself, it still amazed Arianna that Dragons and Fenthri kept the same twenty-month calendar.
Harvesters had observed the patterns in the light of the moon long before the discovery of Nova—how every thirty days came a night of complete darkness, and every twenty months a day of total light. The Dragons had told Loom it was Lord Rok and Lady Luc heralding the new year with a flaming chariot that lit the night sky. She had always been skeptical but never had a better explanation. Even now that she’d lived on Nova, she still had no better reasoning to offer.
“The tenth month, Lord Pak, the Dark-wielder.” Cvareh laughed into the open air. “That would suit you.”
“What month are you?” Arianna hardly believed in legends having any bearing on her day-to-day life.
“Eleven. Lord Agendi, the Lucky.” Cvareh nodded his head forward. “And tonight, his temple is where I am taking you.”
“A temple sounds like serious business.” She’d had enough Dragon customs today for a lifetime.
“I will be surprised if anyone is even there.” Cvareh soothed her concerns. “The supreme gods—those who are house Patrons—and elder gods To, Veh, Soh, and Bek, have oft-frequented temples. But Lord Agendi is too far down the pantheon and too far out of the way for anyone to make the journey regularly.”
She certainly wouldn’t have called the trip convenient. But Arianna was in a good mood. Her body still felt afire from the fight, her imbibing, and their lovemaking. The night air was crisp on her mostly naked form, charging her skin with a pleasant icy sensation.
Cvareh tugged on the boco’s reigns, leading it to a wide landing platform connected via a stone walk to a small temple with a pointed roof and lined with columns at the opposite end. He dismounted, reaching a hand to her. Arianna ignored it, helping herself off the boco. Some things were never going to change, no matter what came to pass between them.
“It’ll start soon.” Cvareh looked up at the sky. “We’ll only be waiting a short while.”
“For what?” she asked.