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Prologue
“Mama, tell me the story.”
“Which story, sweet?”
“The one about the lady…the pony lady…Percypony.”
“Ah.” Yael laughed. “You mean Persephone. You make the Great Goddess sound like a little boy on a little horse.”
“But she did ride a horse, Mama. She rode her horse from the night into the day. I want to hear one more time how she spends half her turn in the darkness underground then rides her horse into the morning of our world, carrying the warm spring breezes with her. Tell the story, Mama. Please?”
Yael stroked her daughter’s thick mane of hair, feeling the familiar stab of dread in her chest, the dread she felt every single time she noticed the mahogany color of Issa’s hair or looked into her pale gray eyes. A thousand years had passed on Calen since a child was born with this hair and these eyes. A thousand years since the Empress Aja had willingly abdicated the throne and retreated from power, arriving on Calen with her chosen mate, Kyr Aram, a Calen man and resistance fighter. She’d been followed soon after by her sister, the Lady Ennat and her chosen mate, First Imperial President, Karna Aram. Their descendants, including Yael, had spread far and wide, the greatest horsemen and women in the Empire, and all had been born with golden hair and blue-violet eyes. Until four years ago…the day her own daughter, Issa, was born, and Yael and her mate, Caeta, had sworn the midwife to secrecy and fled the village that same night for the safety of the mountains.
“Mama? Mama?”
“Yes, sweet?”
“Mama, you’re looking at me again in that funny way.”
“I’m sorry, Issa. What did you ask?”
“Tell the story. Please…hurry and tell it before da gets home and makes me close my eyes and go to sleep.”
“Ah, the story of Persephone.” Yael helped her daughter to lie down. She smoothed the child’s hair away from her face and wrapped her with the winat wool coverlet.
“Many thousands of years ago…on the distant world called Earth…”
Chapter One
“Upo, ride with me.”
“Now, Issa? I have horses to bring in.”
“Come big brother, I want to show you what I’ve found. It won’t take long and when we finish, I’ll help you round up the horses.” Issa mounted her blood bay and galloped towards the trees, her head scarf flapping.
Upo grumbled. His da would tan his hide if those horses weren’t in the paddock before sunset. They had buyers coming first thing in the morning, but he’d always had trouble saying no to his little sister. Besides, she was fourteen and just beginning to look like a woman and she needed to keep that godsdamn red hair covered. His da would tan his hide worse if he didn’t look after her in the wild lands. He turned his big black and galloped after her. The stallion ate up the ground beneath his feet, closing the distance between them. Issa’s mare was quick, but his horse, Mett, was faster. He caught up to her at the edge of the forest.
“Where are we going?” He asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.
“Up to the ridge,” replied Issa.
“The ridge? I don’t have time to go to the ridge.”
Issa looked at the sun. “Yes, you do,” she said. “If we trot, we’ll make it there and back in less than an hour. Lyta and I would run,” she teased, “but Mett is too big to gallop through the trees.”
Upo rolled his eyes. “All right, we’ll trot. I lead.”
“How can you lead?” retorted Issa, “You don’t know where we’re going.”
“Fine, you lead.” Upo fell behind Issa and they trotted the horses over the soft forest floor. She led him up the steep switchbacks to the top of the ridge.
“We need to leave the horses here,” she said, as she dismounted. “The trail is too narrow for them.” She tossed her reins over a nearby branch. Upo followed her example, leaving Mett next to Lyta, and he scrambled down the far side of the ridge after Issa. He reached his sister in a few moments.
“What trail?” he asked. “I don’t see a trail.”
“Right there.” Issa pointed. “We have to go single file. It’s narrow.”
“How did you ever find this place? Looking for Persephone’s entrance to the Underworld?” he teased.
She turned her serious gray eyes on him. “Yes.”
Upo felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It happened every time his sister looked at him like that, with such…he didn’t know how to describe it…intensity, as if she could see inside him.
“You need to cover your hair,” he muttered.
“Not here, there’s nobody here but the two of us,” she replied, letting her scarf dangle around her neck.
“Yes, but you know what da says, no one can see the red color of your hair.”
Issa shrugged and continued on her way. Upo kept pace. “How far?”
“Just around that next turn,” she replied. “There’s a cave. Wait till you see what I found.”
“A basha cub?”
“Oh, don’t you wish it was a basha cub. Mother would never let you keep it.”
“My friend P’kit has one. He’s trained it to fetch.”
“That’s good,” Issa said with a laugh, “because P’kit can’t find his own boots.”
Upo grinned at her moving back. She spoke the truth, but he’d never permit himself to laugh out loud. He didn’t want Issa to know he agreed with her. “Here,” he heard her say. They’d reached the mouth of a small cave. Before he could stop her, Issa dropped to her knees and crawled through the entrance.
“Hey, wait,” he called, crawling after her, “there might be a…” Before he could finish his sentence, Upo reached the far end of the sloping tunnel and rose to his feet, stunned at the size of the interior.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Issa grinned at him. “Look.” She pointed up at what appeared to be a rose-colored pane of glass that muted the light as it entered the cave through a man-made gap in the roof.
“What is this place?” Upo mumbled, trying to look in all directions at once.
“Holy ground. “Take off your boots, brother. One should not wear boots when one walks on holy ground.”
Upo saw that Issa had already pulled her boots off, and for some inexplicable reason, he followed her example. His sister walked around the piles of fallen rocks to far wall of the cave and motioned to him. She pointed at some writing. He squinted at the inscription.
“By the Gods,” Upo exclaimed, and he dropped to his knees, grabbing Issa and pulling her down with him. “Do you know where we are?”
“Of course,” she replied, shrugging off his hand. “It’s their burial chamber. The Empress and her consort. Aja Bokinan and Kyr Aram.” Issa rose to her feet.
“No.” Upo grabbed for her again. “Stay down.”
“Why?” Issa turned and looked at him and Upo felt that familiar shiver run up his spine.
“Because this is, well, this is their…uh, it is, as you say, a holy place. The Gods might punish you, Issa.”
“Oh no, Upo. They won’t punish me, they brought me here. Well, one God brought me here, Tem, the Red Demon. She showed me this place.”
“Issa,” Upo hissed. “Don’t ever joke about that. Ever. Don’t say her name. You might accidentally conjure her.”
“Upo, get up.” Issa rolled her eyes and tugged him to his feet. “She’s not here now. And even if she was, she wouldn’t hurt you. You’re my brother. We share the same blood. You would be perfectly safe.”
Upo grabbed for Issa’s hand and he began to pull her toward the small entrance, picking up their boots and tucking them under his arm. “We should leave,” he said, trying to keep his voice level. “We must collect the horses.”
“No, Upo, not yet. She said she would leave something here for me. That I should return today and I would find it.”
“What?”
“A ring. Help me look for it, Upo. Hurry. As soon as we find it, I’ll leave with you.”
The last thing Upo wanted to do was stay in the cave and look for something his sister had surely imagined. But he knew how stubborn she could be, and until she was convinced there was nothing there, she wouldn’t budge. “All right, I’ll help you look, but we must be quick. And if there’s nothing to find, you must agree to come with me.”
“Of course,” replied Issa. “I swear it. You take that side, I’ll take this side.” She ran off to search the corners of the cavern.
Upo sighed and looked around. Perhaps if he started near the inscription and worked his way around to the cave entrance. A few moments later, he stopped and sucked in a breath.
“Issa,” he said. Even though he’d hushed his voice, her name echoed in the cavern. His sister was at his side in a heartbeat. Upo pointed at a small niche carved into the rock wall. With a big grin, Issa threw her arms around him.
“You found it, brother!”
Upo watched her insert her hand and draw out a gold band with a large stone. Issa turned her hand palm up and held the ring with reverence.
“Look, Upo. Look.”
The band was made of red-gold, a precious metal the likes of which Upo had never seen before. Set within the band was a large blood-red stone. He stood close to Issa and peered over her shoulder. She turned the ring around and around in the palm of her hand and he could see that there was something etched on the surface of the stone. Issa brought it to her face. Upo leaned in for a closer look. The etching was a heart and the heart was made to appear as if drops of blood fell from it.
“What is this?”
“The Royal Ring,” answered Issa. “The Royal Signet Ring. It came all the way from ancient Earth with the Empress Ya to the first colony on Persephone. She said I was to have it. The Red Demon, Tem, said it belongs to me.”
Upo looked at his sister, afraid of her, afraid for her. “We must hide it,” he said. “No one must know about this. If anyone learns of this, they will kill you, Issa. They will kill you.” Innocent gray eyes looked into his. Upo folded her hand about the ring. “Put it in your pouch until we decide what to do. Now cover your hair tight with your scarf and let’s get the horses.”
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