The Wings of Ashtaroth

Chapter 15: Dreamers: Section III: Iridescia

Star smirked in amusement. "We're family, Iridescia, why shouldn't I want you?"

"You tried to kill me."

Star shook her head. "A mistake. Please sit." There was an edge to the command.

Iridescia slowly hoisted herself onto the bed. She inched as far from Star as she could. "Why am I here?"

Star stood up and walked to a small table where a set of cups had been placed. She took one of them and brought it to Iridescia. "Drink this, then lie down."

Iridescia slung her braids over her shoulder and laid down, keeping her gaze trained on Star's withered face. "What is it?" She signed awkwardly from her reclined position.

A glare from the wall sconces bounced off Star's heavy gold necklace and for a moment, Star was as blinding as her namesake. Iridescia squinted as the light assailed her.

"A magic potion." Star's hand extended through the light.

It didn't sound like she was lying. And poisoning Iridescia would be silly when she easily could have killed Iridescia in whatever way she liked. "What will it do?"

Star shoved the cup forward. "Take it, you stupid child." She added in a softer tone: "It will open your mind to dreams. The voices of gods and spirits both can be heard in dreams, given the right dreamer."

So, Iridescia had something Star wanted, which meant she had some power over her. "How do you know these things? You're a follower of Adonen." She paused. Star's marriage to Liberio must be connected to what Hadrianus had done to him in the Haven somehow—she needed to learn more about that, and whatever Liberio was if he wasn't truly alive. "Why do you want Liberio?"

Star laughed. "I don't want Liberio. He's useful, but he's not important, not in and of himself. Blood calls to blood, and I want our family to be powerful."

Iridescia wrinkled her nose. Star didn't want their family to be powerful, or why else kill Iridescia's mother and try to drown Iridescia? Whatever Star wanted, it was all for herself. Iridescia was merely the means to an end.

"Why can we see the spirits? Tell me or I won't take your potion."

Star drew back and the blinding light snapped away, revealing Star's thin, pursed lips and the poisonous spark in her clever eyes. She forced the cup into Iridescia's hands.

It was warm.

Iridescia clutched it one-handed without drinking. A transparent, subtly brown liquid sloshed inside, around and around.

"Because we can; because my sister and I were born in the right place; because as a consequence she was allowed to pass her gifts to Tayri and then to you."

Was Star's "right place" Wewandjis? That night in the Haven, Star had admitted that she and her sister were the two girls Buqqus had stolen and brought back to Ipsis. The girls had been with him when he'd seen the spirits dotting the mounds in the desert.

Iridescia shivered. "You knew the Great Buqqus. What did he want from you once you were at court?"

Star grimaced, perhaps the first real emotion to have crossed her face since Iridescia had stepped inside the room. "He was no great man. Drink."

How dangerous would it be to press her luck? Iridescia stared down at the cup. "I can help you better if you tell me about the shadows."

"Don't you think that's what I'm doing? Some things can't be explained. They must be seen."

Iridescia drew the cup to her lips. She wanted to know more, and she didn't trust Star, but she also sensed this was the end of the conversation. Perhaps it didn't matter. She could ask Miqipsi or return to Adonen's temple and investigate on her own.