Stories of Stardust (pt2)

240. Fire and Gold (4)

Without having gained much new information, I spent some time debating what, if anything, I should tell Cove about my dream last night. In the end, an inner voice similar to Sera's propelled me to explain everything before breakfast.

"...Hopefully, a new idea will have dawned on him." I finished, leaning back in the surprisingly comfortable wicker chair.

Cove laughed.

"What?"

He waved a hand before his face as if to shrug off his laughter and explained, "Dawn. Dawned."

Ani's hair was soft against my fingers; I trailed them along his arched back with a sigh. If I were making accidental puns, perhaps Cove and I had been spending a bit too much time together.

Cove cleared his throat and sculpted seriousness onto his face.

I found myself leaning forward unconsciously, chest against my hand, as I waited for his following words. For a brief second, I saw the urge to crack another joke lighten his eyes before he shut it down and decided to remain serious.

"We'll have to report to my father when we get back." Shaking his head, he continued, "It sounds like Ava is targeting someone specific. Any ideas?"

I ran through the rather short list of powerful mages I knew, overlapping it with individuals connected to Ava, and came up with only one name. "You?" I said, both a question and an answer.

His eyes darkened, but he didn't seem angered by the question. With a harsh shake of the head that ruffled his hair, he said, "I haven't seen her since...."

I sighed again. "Of course." It had been a loose thread anyway. Cove would never willingly associate with Ava, and Ava had implied she hadn't seen her son in ages. Not to mention, with all the spies Jacob claimed he had on her, surely contact between the two wouldn't have gone unnoticed.

During breakfast, a somewhat familiar meal of some seasonings, rice, and corn, Tezcatlipoca offered a different theory. "Then perhaps the dream wasn't referring to her at all," he suggested, taking a sip from the brown drink before him.

I picked up the golden chalice before me, giving it a curious sniff. The powerful scent of cocoa filled my nostrils, but wary of any new foods in the morning, I set it down and let Cove be the taste tester, watching Cove's distorted reflection swirl in the cup as I thought.

After an experimental sip, Cove downed it with great gusto, drinking it in the shortest timeframe possible to still be considered polite. My elbow bumped the table; the drink rippled, splitting Cove's reflection.

"Perhaps it's one of the other interested parties, then." I suggested, thinking of the interference we'd encountered so far.

Tezcatlipoca's cup clattered against the table, the slight impact banishing Cove's reflection from my glass. "Other parties?" He inquired softly. Steel underlined the question.

Across from me, I caught a glimpse of blue as Cove and I's eyes met briefly. He angled his head to the side a tiny fraction, questioning, and waiting for my decision.

With a shrug, I decided there was no reason to hide our suspicions. Tezcatlipoca had access and insight to perspectives on magic we could only speculate on. As quickly and efficiently as I could, I summarized the interference we'd noticed, taking in Tezcatlipoca's reaction as I spoke. His eyes widened when I informed him someone had altered our destination,and his face grew pale. On the table, his fingers curled against the gold, balling into fists as I finished explaining.

He took a few moments to speak before he spoke, his face still pale. "To alter another Mage's destination in such a manner requires either a physical connection between the mages or a power level that hasn't been seen since the twelve colonies were under a single banner."

Goosebumps trailed up my neck as Tezcatlipoca narrowed his attention on Cove. "That's just the power required to alter any mage's destination in the spaciotemporal realm. This mage, in particular, also had to be powerful enough to overpower both of you." He paused, letting his words sink in.

We'd known such a task would require immense power, but I, at least, hadn't quite grasped how much. Fear, cold and sharp, flooded my veins.

"It has to be her." Cove insisted, his face twisting into a snarl. Power seeped through the room, weighed down with his anger. Before I realized it, I'd scooted myself a few feet back from the table.

Tezcatlipoca hardly so much as twitched. "Enough," he commanded, his voice and expression flat. His nails, however, dug grooves into the soft metal of the table.

The pressure receded, though Cove's palpable anger was nearly suffocating. "She's the only one with that level of power," he insisted.

I dug my fingertips into my arm, trying my best not to restart the argument we'd just finished. "Or do you just want it to be her?"

I still had the nasty habit of speaking when I should stay quiet and staying quiet when I should speak up.

As the anger turned toward me, I pulled the heat and emotion from my voice, letting the facts to the talking beneath the heavy weight of the room. Cove already knew most of what I explained, but he was as trapped in his habits as I was.

"If one of the other parties is as powerful as Tezcatlipoca suggests, they can't be the same as the darkness. The dark was slowly building–or rebuilding–" I conceded, with a nod at the intently listening Cove "-its power. It was still small compared to the star it was leeching off of."

At the bidding of my conscience, I refrained from reminding Cove that, so far, the interference had been more helpful than not. At this moment, Cove wouldn't appreciate anything that so much as suggested Ava wasn't the monster behind every obstacle in his life.

It occurred to me that where most parents had comforted their children by saying the monsters weren't real, Cove's father had done the opposite. Had told him the monster was real and behind every door. Had told him to be careful, lest he become a monster too.

Cove's shoulders slumped, and his eyes flickered down to the table. "You're right," he admitted, sounding drained. Without looking up, he asked, "When did you want us to work on the portal?"

"Whenever you're both ready."

"We're ready."

Looking at Cove's defeated posture, I wasn't so sure.