The Crown of Spheres

߷ C H A P T E R - F I V E ߷

☁︎︎ C H A P T E R  F I V E ☁︎︎

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I didn't say a word on the way back down the mountain.

I was still shaking, but the icy temperatures made no one question it.

The Monks hadn't said a word either, and had watched me climb out the water and hurriedly leave the caves. The paint and water dripping from my nude body like blood from a fresh wound.

The priestesses had been waiting and redressed me without saying a word, also. I didn't even glance back at the pools to see if they'd returned to their normal colour.

Did they know? Or did they assume everything went to plan and I was just overwhelmed?

... Had it gone to plan? Had this been a test?

My thoughts raced and I barely felt the cold with how fast they all span around my head. The night was still clear, the air still freezing. I could see my breath cloud like a mist in front of me every other second. Snow, ice and loose rocks crunched under the horses shoes once more as we descended the slope of the mountain.

I was glad the journey down felt shorter than the journey up, since by the time we reached the bottom, my limbs had gone numb. No one was in the streets once we passed back through the snowy small village of Mayar, but I could see all the glowing lamps inside their homes and knew a lot of them were preparing for the festival. Food needed to be cooked, drinks prepared, decorations set up. They'd celebrate my birtheve and the future of my union with whichever suitor I chose through sunrise and beyond, much like we at the palace would be doing.

I barely had a moment to think once we were back, and was nearly pulled off my horse and hurried inside to warm up as fast as I could. I hadn't even noticed that my fingertips had turned a little blue.

Privi was at my side in moments, having spent some time warming towels by the fire and wrapped me up in them. "You look minutes away from turning to ice," she muttered, shooting an annoyed look at the other maids who had wrapped me in, apparently, cold blankets. There were quick murmurs of apologies but I brushed it off as I honestly didn't notice. I felt numb everywhere even as I trembled, and it wasn't from the cold I suspected.

I wanted to talk about it... but I knew that I shouldn't. I kept replaying those fangs and the burning amber eyes... the sound of that hissing voice and how it sounded like so many others speaking through them as well. I could only stare at the people around me, stuck in a daze.

Was that voice screaming really mine? Did I truly wish for those things?

Privi ushered me into another hot bath to clean off the lasts of the paint from my skin and my hair. I refused to stare down into the water, somehow worried I'd be dragged under again as it turned cloudy. It had happened merely hours ago, but it felt like such a distant dream that my conscious mind couldn't grasp fully at the details.

"Do you want breakfast? The cooks have had the kitchen going for the past hour." Privi said as she poured more hot water into the bath, then added some scented oils. The candles around the bathing chamber eerily still, illuminating the space in a dim flame glow.

"Yes. Please. Thank you." I replied quietly, my voice sounding strange. Which only caused Privi to stop what she was doing and look at me. "What?"

"Are you okay?" She asked carefully, her piercing eyes fixed on me.

I glanced up at her, seeing her stood there holding one of king blue glass bottles that usually carried bathing oils. Her long, black hair was pinned up, and she was dressed in a pale green linen dress, with long sleeves that complimented her richly dark skin tone well. The wrap around her waist to hold the dress together was in the same shade of green.