We already know all this, I say, and then I inhale sharply as the greenery around us flickers. What was that?
The portal’s activation is accelerating the Psy’s instability. Moira is still speaking too quickly. The Psynergy being Psyphoned from Pisces has opened a doorway through the Dark Matter. If you can release that energy back to Pisces, it will restore that House, and that act will balance out Aquarius’s death.
Can Ophiuchus do that?
The ground beneath our feet starts quaking violently, and Moira has to raise her voice over the noise. He has a role to play, but yours is more important.
Mine? I shout back as the shaking grows deafening.
Ophiuchus will serve as a conduit for absorbing the excess Psynergy—but as there is no Talisman to destroy, you’ll need to do the Psyphoning.
I feel my presence in this dimension fading, like the Psynergy is trying to buck me off, and I struggle to cling to my Center. But I’ve never—
Psyphoned? Why do you think I’ve been waiting around all this time? The ritual requires someone strong enough in the Psy who can pull on Psynergy from the whole Zodiac, she explains. But if the process kills you, all will be lost. You must survive it.
And how exactly do I do that? I call back over the noise.
You’ll need an anchor. Something in this world with a strong enough pull on your soul to ground you here. Someone worth coming back for.
The one thing I don’t have.
She seems to know that already because she comes closer and says, If you want to save the Zodiac, you have to jumpstart that oversized Cancrian heart.
36
WHEN I LEAVE THE ASTRAL plane, I set out for the Libran embassy. There’s no judge or jury in the courtroom, so I go straight through to the hotel, which is equally void of people. The emptiness is becoming disturbing, and as I cut across the dichromatic lobby with white marble walls and black floors, a wallscreen catches my eye.
Hysan is addressing a crowd of Librans somewhere in this hotel, and from the ticker text scrolling beneath the footage, it seems like his message is being broadcast through his whole House. I move closer, and once I step within the radius of light on the floor, the audio pops on.
“My story begins with two Knights in the service of Lord Vaz’s Royal Guard. Their names were Helen and Horace Dax.”
Hysan is standing in front of a golden wall designed to look like the Libran flag, his voice as somber as his expression. “My parents died before my first birthday, and they left me in the care of an android into whom they’d programmed all their teachings. I followed in my inventor father’s footsteps, and it was one of my designs that caught Lord Vaz’s eye at the Pursuit of Justice Symposium when I was nine. I received private tutoring from him until the day he confided in me that he had Seen his death and planned to name me his successor. Only he didn’t believe anyone would willingly follow an eleven-year-old boy, and he needed his jury to approve of his selection. So we created Lord Neith.”
Hysan pauses and his chin tilts down a fraction, his gaze dropping to the floor for a few breaths. It’s the first time he doesn’t seem cool and in control in front of a crowd, and I realize this is probably the hardest thing he’s ever done. By exposing all the secrets that have defined him, his old way of life is lost to him forever.
His nest is gone.
“We each view the universe through our own telescope, so I don’t expect any of you to see this from my perspective,” he says, lifting his eyes to the crowd again. “I only hope you will try to understand it.
“Until recently, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with my keeping this secret from you. I thought that as long as I protected my House and my people, as long as you were well taken care of, it didn’t matter who the man was behind the android. I guess you can say that mindset is a product of how I was raised. But over the past few months, my eyes have been opened to how wrong that was, and how unjust I have been to you. I should have trusted you.”
Even though he’s addressing his House, I can’t help feeling like he’s speaking directly to me. Then again, probably every friend of his watching this feels that way. It’s part of Hysan’s charm.
“In a few hours, we will embark on a journey that could either be the end of the Zodiac or a new beginning for all of us. There isn’t time to go through a proper trial or cross-examination now, but if we survive, I vow to submit to any fate I am sentenced to. I am profoundly sorry for deceiving you. It has been an honor to serve you these past seven years, and whatever happens next, I will always be proud to be a Libran Knight.”
As I watch him up there in his golden suit, his gaze focused and his jaw set, I no longer see the cocky teen Guardian with mysterious eyes and a mischievous smile.
I see a man.
? ? ?
I take the elevator up to the penthouse suite even though I know he’s not there yet, and I prepare myself to wait. But as soon as I lean against the wall, the door swings open.
“Lord Neith!” Without thinking I wrap my arms around the android, and I’m surprised when I feel him hugging me back.
“Lady Rho, what an honor it is to see you again.”
We pull away, and I see actual tear tracks on his Kartex cheeks. I’d always wondered if he could cry.
“You were watching Hysan’s speech?” I ask as I follow him into the workspace.
“Every word.”
“I’m so relieved you’re okay,” I say as I walk through the holographic facts and figures floating in the air. “You had us worried back on Pisces.”
“Hysan could not risk reactivating me while Aquarius was alive. Lady Rho, I must apologize to you for how I behaved the last time you saw me—”
“You weren’t yourself,” I say quickly. “It’s not your fault.”
The door opens, and I spin to see Hysan entering the penthouse. His head hangs down and his hair falls over his face, and he looks despondent—then he glances up and sees me.
His shoulders roll back, and light flashes in his eyes. “My lady.”
“I must recharge,” says Lord Neith, and he goes up to Hysan and lays a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve never been prouder of you,” he says in an undertone. “I know Lord Vaz feels the same way, for much of my personality was molded after his. Right now he would be saying: You are a true Lord and Knight.”
Hysan’s ears go pink, and I look down so I won’t intrude. Then he and I wind around the worktables and enter the main suite. “May I offer you anything?” he asks once we’re in the living room.
I shake my head and say, “I just spoke with Empress Moira.”
His brow wedges with concern. “In the astral plane?”
“Yes.” We’re standing behind a levlan couch that looks a lot like the one from the suite on Aries where I first kissed him. I angle myself away from it.