A Court of Three Stars

22: A Dream

Catacombs of Night, Hewn City, Prythian

Nesta

"I didn't really think this through." Rhys frowned at the grave in front of him. He hadn't said anything about his meeting with Kier, but he'd been uncharacteristically quiet for the majority of our descent down here. If it was because the meeting had gone poorly or if it was merely a side effect of entering the place where his mother and his entire family was buried, I hadn't figured it out.

I could not have ever imagined how vast and grand the catacombs were. The pure opulence down here was mind-boggling, the arches in the ceiling, the carvings in the pillars, the tombs encrusted with jewels. It went as far as I could see, all lit by faint purple faelights.

But there was a moment, far down the corridor, where the graves ended. I could see it faintly, those two final graves at the end. I didn't see the names, but I didn't need to. It was like there was something pulling on my arm, some force that was making me turn my head to see it, some whisper in my ears. Indecipherable hisses at first, and then... words.

Queen of Death.

Queen of Life.

I blinked a bit, shaking my head as if it would make that whispering stop. I was either imagining things, or there was some relic buried down here that was calling to me.

"Why?" Bryce asked Rhys, looking away from the carvings she had been reading to look at him as he held a hand towards some random spot on the wall.

"The tunnels opened for Leur, in response to her starlight." The High Lord frowned, "I don't know if-"

He was cut off by the flaring of the star on Bryce's chest the second she stepped towards him.

Undo what has been done.

The Mother of Dusk.

I turned my head again, down towards those graves. The sound was no longer pinpointed, no longer coming from one specific direction but all of them at once.

The Mother of Dusk.

Raise her.

Before the other's can-

My eyes slid towards Silene's grave, the carving on the wall. Was it her? Was that who was speaking in my ears?

Undo what has been done.

Free her.

The tomb wasn't anything of note, just carved into red stone, etched with the symbol of a crescent moon and five stars. One name carved into the wall above it, simple, plain letters. Almost like a magnet, I took a step towards it.

Fate's frontier.

Do what you were designed to do, Cauldron-born.

The Mother of Dusk.

I took another step, but something pulled me back. A hiss on the wind, almost like the sound of wingbeats, an echo of rushing air and-

"Nesta, let's go." Rhys's voice pulled me from the trance.

I snapped out of it hard, as if I had risen outside my body, as if I had been in that place both within and outside of myself. Rhys was standing in front of a doorway that hadn't been there before, Bryce and Hunt already beginning the trek down the long, narrow tunnel that stretched beyond it.

"What's wrong?" His brows furrowed.

I spared one last glance down the corridor, finding nothing but empty tombs and silence.