Ariella
I feel the spark inside me as I pass over to the kratius and then appear in Queen Jessara’s bedroom. She’s here with King Xanth and Aura. I quickly shuffle through their memories now that I’ve seen their faces, and fill in the blanks from researching Ariya’s and Vallessa’s history.
So, she’s the one who was allies with Ariya…
‘Aura was correct. Ariella does very much resemble Ariya…’ I hear Jessara’s thoughts, and her comments about my eyes being fully black, too, and I briefly wonder why the blue doesn’t show here.
I finally feel my eyes settle and then Aura turns to face me.
“Ariella, this is Queen Jessara Aurellia, Mother to Vallessa, and this is King Xanth Caro, Father to Scarva.”
I suddenly get a flash of the future and the past together and realise that this is the woman who has carried Aura’s true love. I smile as I hear the heartbeat of a new-born baby in a bassinet a few feet away from us. Another baby for me to feel broody over.
‘Congratulations, Aura. She’s beautiful, and more importantly, she’s arrived safely.’
‘Thank you, Ariella.’
I take a quick look at her before looking at Xanth. “It is a pleasure to meet you all.” My eyes find Jessara’s. “I know that you were close allies with Ariya, Jessara.”
She tried to help Ariya fight against Pires…
“Yes, I was. She was quite an incredible woman.”
“She was. Congratulations on the birth of your Princess, both of you.”
“Thank you.”
I hear her thoughts about my accent and how she thinks I’m intriguing, but I hide my smile. I’m not trying to be like Aura, but I know I need to be careful what I say and how I act.
‘To think, one day, possibly, she may help Vallessa to create…’
I give her a look as her thoughts take a different turn. I’ll help Vallessa to create what?
I suddenly realise that Jessara can see the future, but her magic is different. It comes from the kratius; almost like she’s part of it, and it of her.
“Ariella has only recently taken on her role as Elder in the world, but as you have been made aware, she has an important part to play in your children’s lives from now on.”
I see a flash of something indescribable in the future, but I’m not exactly sure what I’m seeing.
Amarey? And a woman with yellow eyes…
I feel a sudden rush of relief come from Jessara. “Please, look after them. Especially Vallessa. She may appear strong, and she is, but she is also fragile.”
I know that already. I’ve done my homework on her. “Do not worry. I will not let any of you down. I promise.” And I mean it. I don’t take this Elder role lightly.
This ain’t no joke to me, even Aura asking me to be here now is a massive deal to me.
She smiles. “Thank you.”
I smile back to reassure her, and then Aura steps towards them both. “Now, let us begin. Raise your hands, palm-side up,” she tells them. ‘I am binding them both, which is like a marriage ceremony in the world, only this will bind them as one, and their inner Pires. Their children together are currently illegitimate heirs…’
‘I see.’ And then I do. I see that Xanth and Jessara have loved each other for centuries but were both binded to other royalty. They’ve had multiple affairs, though, and Amour is the second child they have together.
Jessara and Xanth turn to face one another and rest their left palms flat upon each other’s. Their Pires awaken inside them and I sense all their happiness and feel all their love for one another. I feel honoured to be witnessing their union.
This shit is deep.
“Jessara Aurellia,” Aura begins, “Queen of Aurellia, do you, under no duress, agree to be binded to King Xanth Caro?”
“On my kingdom, I do,” Jessara answers, smiling at Xanth.
Xanth smiles back at her, and they seem to become lost to some inner conversation.
“Xanth Caro, King of Caro, do you, under no duress, agree to be binded to Queen Jessara Aurellia?”
“On my kingdom, I do,” Xanth replies.
Aura turns to me. “You have heard with your very own ears, that the King and Queen have agreed to their binding. They have sworn on their kingdoms, willingly, without duress, and I will now bind them and their pires.”
I nod.
Jessara and Xanth join their right hands in the same way as their left’s, but above them, and then Aura holds her hands out towards them.
I feel my magic tingle inside me as Aura’s hands begin to glow blue, along with everything else in the room.
“I will begin,” Aura says, her eyes swirling black.
Xanth and Jessara both nod, and then I feel their Pires swarming powerfully inside them.
Wow.
“Jessara Aurellia u ta Xanth Caro, as un entira...” Aura chants, and then the blue light becomes almost blinding. “Bindera as onsa... Insa Pireasa as onsa...”
I see their fangs lengthen between their lips and then their palms tremble. I watch in amazement as ink begins to appear on their hands. All intricate patterns that mean nothing to me until my mind is suddenly taken back to the beginning of mankind and I see the markings as if I were there, creating them.
The memory fades and I focus back on Jessara’s and Xanth’s hands. They have prominent mixed emblems from their home kingdoms on their ring fingers, but I see that the most prominent symbols in all their ink is the symbol for ‘reborn’.
The light in the room turns white before suddenly dissipating. Their fangs retract and then they both smile at each other.
“It is complete,” Aura tells them. “Congratulations Queen Jessara Caro-Aurellia and King Xanth Aurellia-Caro.”
“Thank you,” they both say to Aura.
‘That was incredible, Aura,’ I tell her.
I swear, that shit makes me wanna be binded. I know that Davonyé asked my dad for his blessing today. I wonder if he’d go for this?
‘It is,’ she replies.
“Congratulations, both of you,” I say to them. “It was an honour to be present.”
They thank me and then they kiss each other. It’s such an intimate moment that I blush and look away.
‘Ariella, would you wait for me at your grandmother’s cabin? I will not be long,’ I hear Aura say inside my mind.
‘Of course.’
I take my mind there and then feel the tingle as I port.
The smell of pine hits me in my face as I arrive in the living room of my grandma’s cabin, but it always does. I always feel so at peace here.
‘Where are you?’ I hear Davonyé.
I realise that even though I could still hear Davonyé’s thoughts while I was in the kratius, he mustn’t have been able to hear mine. ‘In England, waiting for Aura. I’ve just got back from the kratius. I’ll explain when I get home.’
‘Alright.’
My grandma’s cabin is homely and full of trinket boxes of all shapes and sizes that rest on the mahogany furniture. The rooms have really high ceilings, too, so that you can still walk around in here while changed. There’s an oak staircase to the left of the room and a large open fire to the right with a picture of my parents and I hanging over it.
That picture used to be of my dad and his parents, but I remember visiting as a child and dad replacing it.
There are lots of pictures that hang on the walls, but my favourite is one of my mom as a little girl, lying on her side with her frizzy hair scattered over the fur blanket she’s lying on.
I take a seat on the worn couch and wait for Aura. It’s literally two minutes later that she arrives in the middle of the living room.
“Hello, Ariella.”
“Aura. That binding was amazing.”
“Yes, binding ceremonies are quite something.”
“So they’ll be able to hear each other’s thoughts now? And have each other’s magical abilities?”
“That is correct.”
“I wish I could bind to Davonyé.” That shit would be so cool.
“I could bind you. However, Davonyé would only receive a limited number of your abilities.”
I smile. “Really?”
She smiles back. “Really.”
“I’d better ask him first.”
“Of course.” She comes to sit beside me on the couch and then turns to face me. “I have asked you to come here because it is time for you to begin your journey to true Elder.”
My stomach flutters with sudden nerves. “Okay…”
“I have thought long and hard about whether to allow you magical interventions regarding Maximus, and I have come to the conclusion that this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn that you cannot interfere with any chain of event until it is absolutely the right time to.”
“Uh… Okay.”
“You must not question why what is soon to occur does, only trust that it is necessary. Once everything happens as it should, will you see that it happened the way it was supposed to.”
Realisation hits me. “This is the section on everything happens for a reason and allowing things to happen even though I could stop it, isn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
I look down at my hands as anxiety floods through me. This is what I was dreading. I take a deep breath to steady my racing heart and then look back up at her. “Alright. I trust you. I can’t promise I won’t feel a way, though.”
She smiles. “Oh, you will, most definitely, but it must be so. You will see.”
“Okay.”
“Good. How have you found your glimpses into the future?”
“Interesting. There is one thing, though. My brother.”
She gives me a knowing look. “Yes. Jessara has thought about that often. What do you believe you have seen?”
“My brother with a woman with yellow eyes. There seems to be a child, or she’s pregnant… I’m not sure.”
“You are right in thinking that your brother is special. You will see that vision more and more as time goes on, and that is because if it were to become reality it will be a time of both caution and excitement; not just here in the world, but in the kratius also. We will discuss this further in the future, but for now, ensure you maintain a close relationship with Amarey, so he can trust you implicitly.”
“I will.” I already intend for us to have a close relationship.
“Good.” Her eyes swirl before they settle, and then she stands. “I must go. You know how to find me if you need me. And remember, you must trust the chain of events that you see and ensure that they happen in the exact order you see them in. Changing them has massive consequences. For all.”