There were all kinds of books on numerology, astrology, star signs, the constellations, and a whole range of magical spells and potions, and I was endlessly curious as to what secrets lay within them.
“What are you looking for?” Orion called up to me.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, feeling that strange pull in my chest again as it drew me toward something.
“Higher.”
The ethereal whispered voice made me gasp and I cursed as I lost my grip on the ladder, slipping down several rungs and Orion cast air magic that pushed me back onto them.
“What the hell was that?” I hissed.
“A clumsy princess?” Orion offered.
“Asshole,” I tossed at him. “And I didn’t mean that, I heard a voice. Like the stars or…something. It told me to go higher.”
“So go higher,” Orion encouraged and I continue to climb until I made it right to the top.
There, alone on the shelf was just one book lying on its side. And I knew in the depths of my being I was meant to find this book. I reached for it, drawing it from the shelf, the binding made of some red woven silk that was so soft it almost slid from my grasp.
I could feel power humming within this book that resounded right down to my bones. And I trembled as I clutched it to my chest, feeling that same echo from my ancestors crying out through me.
“What is it?” Orion called up to me.
“A book,” I called back.
“Very funny,” Orion growled. “What’s it called?”
“You’re very grumpy today.” I turned it on its side to read the name, finding nothing but a single flame there carved into the binding itself. I flipped open the front cover to read the first page and found the title glimmering in bronze ink that almost seemed to flicker with flames.
Fire in the Blood by Petonius Vega
My breathing hitched as I stared at those words, sensing I held a gift from the past in my hands that had meant to find me.
“Come down here, Blue,” Orion urged.
“Alright,” I answered, tucking the book under my arm and starting to descend the rungs, before remembering I had magic.
I let go of the ladder, plummeting several feet as Orion swore before I caught myself on a gust of air, floating down towards him and landing on my feet in front of him. I noticed his hands were raised a little and I tilted my head to one said.
“I can catch myself,” I told him.
“You didn’t before. I’m your backup parachute,” he said seriously.
I reached out, pressing my thumb into the corner of his mouth and drawing it up.
“Don’t forget to smile, it’ll make me sad if you don’t smile.”
“It’s hard to smile when I know the fate we face.”
“Do you think I’m going to die?” I asked in a whisper, chewing on my lower lip.
“No. Because I won’t rest until you’re safe,” he said fiercely.
“I am safe. I’m with you.”
He smiled finally and I held out the book, offering it to him with my eyes alight. He hesitated, his hand lifting as if he were desperate to take hold of it, but he couldn’t let himself do it.
“Take it,” I insisted. “You’re clearly dying to take it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t think you understand the magnitude of what you’re offering me here.”
“I do. And that’s why I want you to take it.”
Orion inhaled slowly then took the book from my hands, a hunger entering his eyes as they roamed over the ancient tome. “This is made from glendian silk,” he said. “The silk worm which used to make this material died out hundreds of years ago.”
“Is it expensive?” I asked curiously.
“You have no idea. The value of this book is immeasurable. And that’s just based on the cover. I imagine what lays inside makes it far more valuable even than that.”
“So let’s find out,” I said eagerly.
He chuckled and we moved across the room to an iron table, sitting at it side-by-side as Orion laid the book down delicately like it was made of fragile glass.
“I don’t think you have to be so gentle with it,” I said, reaching out to open it.
His fingers brushed mine and as we opened it at the same time, I swear a groan of pleasure left him from the combined contact of me and this book.
“Does it turn you on?” I murmured to him and he glanced at me with an intensity in his eyes that could have brought the entire world to its knees. But as I was the only one to witness it, it was just me who fell to ruin.