Sweet Innocence and Gentle Sin || 𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐑

Chapter 13: Lacking Power Over Fate

But I hear the music, I feel the beat. 

And for a moment, when I'm dancing, I am free.

~)(~

Whenever I thought of the Summer Court, I thought of warm beaches and clear sky. This was definitely not something I expected. It was raining. Pouring rain with thunder and lightning above us.

The trees rustled with the gentle gushes of wind that came as the earth breathed through each strike of light. Tiny rivers of water traveled over the ground across an invisible path that cut through the dry dirt.

I could hear each plop of water that collected on the branches and splashed against the ferns. Each bird cry as they tried navigating the cold and wet. And every rabbit and fox that hunkered down between the roots and earth to watch the light skip across the sky.

Each vein of electricity was a flash. They jumped through the clouds, scattering in millions of jagged lines. With each strike, there was the banging crack of thunder. Which would bounce off the mountains and trees, would seem to shake the ground beneath us.

Even as days and nights rolled over, the rain still came. The grey clouds still filled the sky above. All I could feel was that electric tingle before each strike of lightning. There was nothing else. Just the absolute silence that the rain brought.

"Why do they call this place the Half Moon?" I asked once we entered the stables. Rain seeped through the ceiling and collected in metal buckets around us.

It was Jurian who said, "that's why—notice anything about those mountains?" He pointed to the large peaks in the distance. They circled most of the city, and their tops eroded to reveal white stones.

I shook my head. "It's just a bunch of rocks."

Jurian laughed. "Not just any. Two reasons it's called the Half Moon. The first, from above, it's shaped like the moon—and its white peaks make it look even more similar. Second, once a year—the stones atop the mountains glow in the moonlight."

"They... glow?"

"It happens at the same time as Starfall," Azriel said from behind me. He wasn't looking at us, and instead occupied himself with removing his horse's saddle. Why he even needed a steed was a mystery never to be solved.

He finally waked over to us and peaked out the window. "An ancient temple is up there—ruins now. Once a year, the whole thing turns blue."

I couldn't help but laugh at the idea of a blue mountain. "Any reason why?"

Jurian shrugged his shoulders. "Magic. Anything without an obvious explanation is always magic."

"Ah, so you must be magical," I said, raising a brow at him before walking away. He started grumbling up a few responses, but couldn't just choose one.

I pulled up my hood and followed everyone into a nearby bar that was packed with loud music and dancing. There was laughter and singing along to songs I never heard before. People played drinking games and told stories to each other, hoping to impress.

I really wanted to enjoy it with them, but found myself detached. I didn't know why.

Something occupied my mind. I didn't even know what it was. Just something. Something that related to another thing that I didn't want to think about. Almost two months. Two months since I set sail for Prythian.

And it had been a month since I left that camp. Since that night when I couldn't stomach the idea Lord Beron proposed. The night I found an enslaved girl and didn't even think before I helped her escape.