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Uncle Agnar reaches for my hand again. “Time to go, Rosie. Your mama will skin me alive if I don’t get you back soon.”
“Can I come with you to talk to the goddesses?” I clap my hands together and round my eyes. “Please? I’ll be super quiet. I promise.”
He studies my face for a moment before groaning. “Fine, but you’re not to say a word. Understand?”
I slap my hand over my mouth and nod, laughing when he snorts.
My giggles soon stop. “Uncle Agnar, are the gods mad at us? Is that why the stone warriors attacked?”
“Don’t worry about that, Rosie. The grown-ups will sort it out.”
“But you’ll beat the bad people, right? You, Lark, and Knox?”
Uncle Agnar smiles, a real smile that pushes his cheeks up and crinkles the corners of his eyes. “That’s the plan, little one. That’s always the plan.”
Feeling better, my belly unclenches a little.
If Uncle Agnar says they’ll beat the bad people, then they will.
He never breaks promises, not even small ones like bringing me candy from the palace kitchens or telling me an extra bedtime story.
My flame sprite dances in the air, creating circles of light. I’m no longer as scared.
Uncle Agnar and his friends will fix everything.
He promised.
Rose, blissfully unaware of the weight of our fears, dances among the night-blooming flowers, her flame flickering brightly as if to combat the encroaching darkness.
The temple’s ruins stretch before Sterling and me, dark and foreboding against the night sky. Crumbled stone walls jut into the air like broken teeth. After a quick discussion with Agnar and Sterling, we all agreed not to head down to Valk’s temple where people are still recovering. Summoning the gods is best done in privacy and solitude, because Ziva only knows what could go wrong.
The trip back to the palace goes on the back burner for now. I kneel beside Sterling and clutch tufts of grass, a desperate prayer lodged in my throat as I gaze toward the remnants of what was once a sacred place of worship.
“Valk, Goddess of War. We need your guidance.”
Rose’s familiar illuminates the girl’s small form as if she’s a flicker of hope meandering through the remnants.
At the far edge of the destruction, Agnar rests his hand on one of the few remaining pillars. He bows his head, still pleading to the Victory Goddesses.
I wish I could bridge the distance between us and eradicate the shadows that threaten to swallow our faith whole.
“Come on, Valk.” Sterling dips his head, too, his tone laced with urgency. Rose begins to hum softly, her sweet voice weaving through the layers of desperation and tension.
Still, as the night thickens, so does my doubt. What if our prayers go unanswered? What if our goddesses see us as nothing more than tiny specks of dust in the wind? As just another set of insignificant voices to add to the cacophony of prayers from the rest of the city?
The air shifts, charged with an unworldly energy that raises the fine hairs on the back of my neck. I barely have time to exchange a glance with Sterling before she materializes.
A wispy, ethereal figure shimmers like heat haze in the summer. Full armor covers Valk from the ridge of her helm to the pointed metal boots on her feet. Not a single inch of flesh shows, and vibrant red light glows from the eye-slit in her helmet.
I want to call out, to explain, to implore her for understanding, but before I can gather my thoughts, her imperious voice slices through the night.
“Well, what do you want me to do? It wasn’t my shrine.”
Sterling stiffens. “No, but—”
“Humans can pray to whomever they choose, however weak those gods or goddesses may be. Isn’t that what you want?” Her unearthly gaze shifts to Rose. “Silence that child.”
I jerk, heart galloping. Rose appears confused and hurt by the goddess’s words, and a spark of anger flares to life in my chest.
