His eyes are entranced, and his golden glow burns brighter. “I think just as they erased House Ophiuchus from history, the Original Guardians also convinced newer generations to believe the portal their ancestors came through was just a legend—so that no one would ever attempt going through it again.”
“And that’s the master’s plan,” I finish for him as Hysan nods. “Holy Helios. He’s going to turn off the sun by going through it.”
14
WHEN I GET BACK TO my tent, there’s an outfit and fresh food waiting for me.
As I eat and get ready, I’m still thinking of Hysan’s theory. If the Last Prophecy is really about Aquarius going through Helios, then it’s not a future written in the stars—it’s a future written by a star.
Our sun is only going dark because the master is going to travel through it.
Aquarius himself said he was the first person to prophesize this future, so he must also have the power to stop it. He just has to make a different choice. He has to abandon his plan to go through Helios.
For the Ascension ceremony, it’s tradition for Zodai to don silky robes, and as I’m in mourning, I’ll be the only one in white. Everyone else will be in dark colors. Since I don’t plan to come back to the tent, I leave on my Lodestar suit beneath my robe, and I stuff my Wave, Vecily’s Ephemeris, and my Psy shield into its various pockets. I leave Sirna’s necklace behind so that Hysan can’t track me.
I wonder where the necklace Aquarius re-created from my childhood went. I’m betting Hysan thought it was a transmitter or weapon of some kind. He lost his parents too young to understand the necklace’s true power.
“My lady?”
“Come in,” I say as I take one last look in the vanity’s mirror to make sure my suit isn’t visible. I’ve closed my robe all the way up to my throat, and my boots are hidden by my silky white train.
I step out to the middle of the white feather floor to meet Hysan, who’s dressed in a dark charcoal robe. His hair is brushed back, and in the dying day’s light his eyes are a dazzling shade of green. And as I’m absorbing every detail of his face, it strikes me that I might never see him again.
“Everyone is heading to the Everblaze,” he says huskily. “I came by to offer to escort you . . . if you’d like the company.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” I say, surprised that I actually mean it.
Hysan seems surprised, too, because he comes closer and strokes my cheekbone.
This time his touch doesn’t feel so far away, and I lean into his hand. He moves in, too, until his mouth hovers over mine, and something in my chest dislodges, like a chunk of glacier melting. I part my lips to catch my breath, and he tips his face down, like he’s going to kiss me.
“Let’s go,” I say, exiting the tent quickly to escape Hysan’s heat. I let the cool evening breeze stomp out the last cinders of whatever just sparked between us so I can keep my wall of ice in place.
It takes a few moments for Hysan to follow me out, and when he catches up, I ask, “What happened to the necklace Crompton threw at me at the Cathedral?”
“I got rid of it. I thought it could be a recording device.” He clears his throat. “So how did it go with Gamba today? Did she have any message from the Luminaries?”
I shake my head. “She’s here because she loves my mother. I don’t think she knows anything helpful,” I lie.
Soon we’re engulfed in a massive crowd of robed Zodai from across the galaxy, all of us marching toward the black smoke that rises over the golden trees. Above us, the sky has become a boiling cauldron again, the red sun setting the clouds on fire.
When we reach the clearing where the Everblaze burns, I stare up in awe: The black flames rise so high that they practically lick the stars. The crowd parts for Hysan and me, and many Zodai solemnly stick out a hand to touch me as we pass.
We wade through them slowly, until we make it right up to the fire, where General Eurek is waiting with Mathias and Pandora. Hovering beside them is a body on a metal bed, covered by a thin white sheet.
Hysan wraps a steadying arm around me, but I still feel like I’m floating away. A part of me yearns to throw myself at the flames and join my brother—and I probably would, if that didn’t mean abandoning Nishi, my sister.
Pandora and Eurek bow to me, but Mathias pulls me into his blue-robed chest and holds me there tightly. When we part, Eurek murmurs, “Do you wish to say something, Wandering Star?” I shake my head no. “Then if you’re ready, I’ll commence the ceremony.”
I nod in agreement. It’s as articulate as I’m going to get.
Eurek raises his voice, and it’s so strong and clear that it could be echoing through the entire forest; I notice a volumizer floating near his mouth, amplifying his reach.
“We are here to bid farewell to our fallen brother, honorary Lodestar Stanton Grace. He’s the first Cancrian—the first non-Ariean—whose soul will rise to Empyrean through the Everblaze, but may he not be the last.”
Eurek’s bloodred robe flickers in the dimming light, and his dark skin grows darker as night lengthens its shadow. “In Stanton’s honor, henceforth, anyone seeking refuge, including Risers, will find a home on Aries.”
Gasps of surprise spread through the crowd, and one girl whoops so loudly that people’s heads turn in her direction. But Skarlet—in a low-cut black robe—doesn’t look the least bit sorry.
I feel like in an alternate universe there’s a Rho Grace rejoicing at this news. A Rho Grace who just accomplished something she set out to do a dozen lifetimes ago. But that Rho Grace doesn’t live here anymore.
She left this world with Stanton.
I’m just a holo-ghost with unfinished business.
The elevated bed holding Stan starts floating forward until the black flames swallow him whole. Eurek bows his head in prayer, and all the Majors do the same. Pandora and Hysan follow their example, as do the Zodai in the crowd.
Mathias and I lock eyes. When Cancrians launch their dead to Empyrean, we look up, not down.
Maybe I was wrong to do this—I’m deceiving my brother by putting his soul to rest through traditions that aren’t his own, all so I can betray everything he stood for to save Nishi.
You’re honoring him beyond anything he could have hoped for, says Mathias’s voice in my head, my Ring buzzing with the influx of Psynergy. You’ve just made him a pioneer—the first of us to truly break barriers and belong not to one House but all of them. He would be proud, Rho.
I close my eyes and send back, Thank you.
My chest feels like a fracturing glacier again, and I suck in another open-mouthed breath to push the wall back in place.
When Stan’s blanketed body floats back out, it looks exactly as it did going in—except my brother’s really gone now. His essence has moved on to Empyrean.
“Per the Cancrian tradition,” says Eurek, “we will now launch Stanton Grace’s body to Helios. May he find his place with his father, his people, and all those we’ve lost, and may he bring us together in Empyrean as he’s brought us together now.”