Celestria Gemheart's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Celestria pressed her palm against the mossy wooden door and waited for the lock to read her blood. Two gemstones rode in the pouch at her hip, one fairy-bright, one elf-green. They would be a crown someday, if she could find the rite that fused them. Without it, she carried only pretty stones and a plan that ate her sleep. The door swung inward. Inside, dust hung in the lantern light. She passed the split banner in the entry, silver and green hanging side by side, and felt the old quarrel in her own bones. She found the book on a low shelf, wrapped in oilcloth. The binding rite was there, hand-copied, half the words rubbed soft by fingers. It named a stone ring as the only place the working could hold. Her breath caught. She copied each line into her own small book and slid the original back. Outside, she stood at the ruined ring of stones and read the runes through the moss. They matched. She had the rite now. She also had a new problem: to perform it, she would need both royal lines present on this ground at the same hour, willing, and unarmed.