Could Ethervale be a real place? If so, how exactly had the Drekavac managed to hide its existence all these years? Several moments passed before I began to collect my thoughts, but slowly, the fear that gripped me began to ebb, and in its wake came a curious sense of relief. I’m not crazy. I hadn’t hallucinated the magnetic hold Devereaux held over me; the way my muscles had locked in place under his command. It might even explain my strange attraction to Casimir.
I clicked off the lamp and burrowed deeper into the covers, the book sliding off to one side.
Ere sly of foot and sharp of eye
May keep a mortal oft alive
A strange noise, half laugh and half groan, escaped my throat. As I was neither particularly sly of foot nor sharp of eye—whatever that meant—I wondered what my chances of survival might be should I ever again encounter another Daemon.Probably pretty slim, I thought grimly.
6
The decision to sign up for Astronomy 101 was born out of a misguided but well-intentioned desire to connect with my deceased father, a self-described astronomy enthusiast.
It turned out that studying Astronomy involved performing an outrageous number of mathematical calculations, slogging through hours of tedious observation, and star-charting the skies until my eyes were bloodshot and my brain was fried. It was too late to drop the class, however, and so, at ten o’clock the following evening, I packed my bag and headed toward the most secluded part of campus, to the glass dome building that held Ouverham’s observatory.
For this week’s assignment, Dr. Radenko had instructed us to track the motion of one planet against the stars over time to understand its retrograde motion. Technically, the assignment was due last week, but I hadn’t had a chance to complete it yet, hence my hasty trip to the observatory.
The stars twinkled like icy gems in the midnight sky as the domed building came into view. I’d booked the room for onehour, just long enough to complete the assignment. Tonight, I had the place to myself.
With the kind of nervous anticipation that can only accompany the freedom of privacy, I headed over to the colossal refractor telescope at the center of the room. On the far left of the circular room lay a panel with hundreds of dials and buttons, but the only thing I was interested in was the lever in the middle—the mechanism that opened the dome to the sky.
Cringing slightly at the grating sound of metal on metal, I watched as the panels drew back, revealing the night sky above. Gathering my notes, I leaned over and squinted into the eye of the telescope. An explosion of starry cosmos came into view, momentarily robbing me of breath. It was an arresting sight. Once I’d had my fill, I headed back over to the panel, studying the array of buttons until I found the one labeled, “Mars tracking,” and pressed it. Thankfully, the college’s telescope was pre-programmed to track specific planets. The machine gave a mechanicalwhirrand adjusted its position.
With my eye over the lens, I squinted up at the planet now in focus, glowing a bright orange as if it were made of fire. After diligently making note of Mars’s position relative to Regulus, I then noted the locations of Castor and Pollux, also within the constellation Leo, and then sat back. I planned to repeat the process again in an hour.
Stargazing always reminded me of my father. On humid summer nights, he’d spend hours tinkering with his antique telescope, before calling me over to have a look at Saturn or Uranus. If my father had been ruled by any celestial body, it was Mars. He shared the Red Planet’s reputation for passion, impulsiveness, and conflict.
As a child, I’d wondered—foolishly—if Mars wasn’t also the planet of liquor, since my dad so often reeked of it while tracking the movements of the stars on clear nights.
“Ah, Pyroeis, the fiery planet,” he’d murmur, squinting up at the heavens. “You have a dash of that mercurial fire in you, too, Little Arrow. Headstrong.” He’d look over at me and wink in emphasis. I could still feel the weight of the scope under my fingers, its brass warmed by his touch. As the hour mark approached, I gazed back into the lens, again taking note of Mars’ movements. My pen froze at the sound of muffled voices approaching.
It was probably just the grad students coming back to lock up for the night, but I’d already overstayed my allotted time slot. With a sigh, I prepared to make the necessary apologies when my heart thudded to a halt.
I knew that voice.
Frantically, I searched the room for a hiding place, just managing to conceal myself beneath the panel of buttons when the door clicked open.
“I don’t see why we had to come all the way out here to have this discussion?—”
“As I’ve already told you, I don’t wish to be overheard,” said another.
The door clicked shut as Evren and Devereaux entered the observatory.
My mind worked furiously. Any minute now, they’d notice the dome was open. If I was lucky, maybe they’d think the careless astronomy grads left it that way… Otherwise, they might suspect that someone else remained in the observatory.
I stifled a gasp as Evren threw himself into the chair directly in front of me, kicking his feet up onto the panel. From this angle, I couldn’t make out either of their faces, but I could hear every word of their conversation clearly.
“I still don’t understand why we can’t just march back into Ethervale and demand your father’s kin declare fealty,” Evren drawled. “They signed their vows in blood. They wouldn’t be able to deny your rightful position if you confronted them.”
My stomach flipped at the mention of Ethervale, that mythic place where “daemons plaie.”
Devereaux paced the room, the heels of his leather boots clicking on the tile floor. Frustration leached into his silky tone. “As I have already told you, we cannot just march into the Ivory Court. We were formally exiled and Pax would have grounds to arrest us and leave us to rot in Carcerus. And then where would we be?”
Evren sighed melodramatically. “I know,” he groaned. “I’m just so sick of waiting around. We’ve wasted years just biding our time.”
This elicited a snort from Devereaux. “You seem to have been enjoying yourself well enough. You never miss any of the Gilded parties,” he observed. “At least, when there are girls around…”
“Whatever,” Evren scoffed dismissively. “The fact of the matter is, I’mbored, Dev.”