Celestria Gemheart's Arc

Chapter 6 of 6

Celestria did not move from the shrine door. The carved K still wept sap behind her, and Vaelor stood in front of her with her brooch at his collar. She needed to know why he had been waiting here before she trusted a single word he said. "You knew I would come," she said. "Tell me how." Vaelor stepped aside and let her see past him. Beyond the cracked door rose a small gazebo of crystal panes set on stone pillars, half hidden by old trees. A worn stone marker stood at its edge, notched many times over, its symbols rubbed soft by a hand that knew them. "I have kept watch here for three seasons," he said. "One notch for each moon. I was not waiting for you. I was waiting for someone like you." He drew a journal from his belt and opened it without ceremony. Pressed flowers slid between sketches of shrines, each one drawn in careful ink. "My sister believed the courts could be joined," he said. "She walked these woods marking quiet places. She did not come back. I finished her map." His voice did not shake. He only turned the page once, then closed the book. Celestria studied his face. No performance. No softening. She thought of the letter cut in the tree and the eyes that had cut it. "Someone watched the bench before you reached it," she said. He nodded once. "Then we have less time than you planned," he said. "But you have one more pair of hands." She let out a breath she had been holding since dawn. She did not bow. She unpinned a small thing from inside her cloak — a thin twin to his brooch — and pressed it into his palm as a sign that the seventh seat was sealed. "Then keep watch with me," she said. "Not for me." He closed his hand. The shrine door stayed open behind them, and for the first time her plan had a second mind inside it.