Chapter Text
She was born on the winter solstice, on a stormy day where the rain had poured unrelentingly from dawn until dusk. The rain had thrashed the windows, and a chill had seeped into the room, despite the fire that roared in the hearth, but just before the sun dipped down beyond the horizon, the rain stopped – just for a moment – and the sun pierced the gloomy sky, shining into the room. With a final push, and an ear-splitting scream, the baby was born.
The baby didn’t cry, and at first they thought there was something wrong with her, but she just blinked up at them with intelligent blue eyes. A collective sigh of relief ran through everyone gathered in the room as the baby was wrapped in a blanket and lain across her mother’s chest.
“Your majesty, it’s a girl.”
“Tell the king,” the queen commanded, staring down at the baby as a priestess wiped the sweat from her brow. She smiled widely down at her, gently stroking the baby’s fair hair.
The High Priestess nodded and with a small bow, departed the room. She hurried down the hallway, coming out into an ante-chamber where the king was anxiously pacing with the other members of the council and the rest of the house of El. The High Priestess was plainly clothed in a hooded robe that hid her face in the shadows, yet her presence commanded respect, and everyone’s attention snapped to her as she glided into the room and bowed before the king. Her face was hidden behind a copper mask that dimly glowed red as it caught the light of the candles, yet the smile was evident in her voice as she spoke.
“Your majesty, the child is born. It is a girl. Born during the hour of Rao, she is fair, and arrived during a moment of light on this auspicious day. A sure sign of Rao’s blessing of the new princess.”
The king let out a sigh of relief, a smile of joy and pride lighting up his face as he strode out of the room, closely followed by the High Priestess. They retraced the path she had taken moments before, coming upon the queen’s room and entering. The king rushed to her beside, kneeling beside her as he looked upon the face of his daughter.
“Zor-El, we have a daughter,” Alura tearfully said, cradling the baby close as her husband reached out to stroke the child’s cheek with a shaking hand.
“She is beautiful,” Zor-El murmured. “And fair. She will be beloved by all, and so her name shall be Kara.”
The High Priestess approached the end of the bed, and the king and queen looked at her as she spoke, for the words of the High Priestess were treated with the utmost respect and importance.
“She has been kissed by the sun.”
---
True to her name, Kara was loved by all, and was doted on by all who served the kingdom. She was brilliantly smart, with a heart of gold, and a fierce stubbornness that rivalled her mother’s. Afforded all that her title and power could offer her, she was trained in combat by the greatest warriors, given the best tutors in the realm, and spent her free time running wild with the other children of the court. She had no siblings, but found comfort in her friendship with the children of the lords and lady’s, none more so than Lena of house Luthor, the daughter of the richest family in the kingdom. She was given everything she could ever dream of, but despite her comfortable and protected childhood, there was unrest in the kingdom, and while Kara was shielded from it, the strain within the monarchy was too much, and betrayal grew from within.
She was thirteen the day her world was torn from her; the day her parents were murdered before her very eyes as she helplessly watched. For all the power of her family’s name, and their crown, there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was late at night, she should’ve been asleep, but she’d stayed up late to watch the storm from her bedroom window. The air was filled with static as lightening tore across the sky, and Kara’s face lit up in delight – it was breathtaking. It was a few moments of darkness before the lightning crackled across the sky again, this time illuminating the figures rushing out into the courtyard, paying the heavy rain no mind.
At the same time, a horse trotted into the courtyard, the rider drenched and shivering as they reined in their horse and dismounted. The inaudible shout was lost by the booming thunder, and Kara frowned as she leant further out her window, trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious rider.
The hood was thrown back, and at first she thought it was her mother, until she saw the white lock of hair that marked her as touched by the ice goddess herself, Cythonna. Two of the figures that had run out into the courtyard lowered their own hoods. Her parents stood shoulder to shoulder, and a few feet away stood her aunt, Astra. She’d been missing from court for months, and Kara had missed her dearly, confused as to why she never stayed. Below, she could see her parents arguing with her aunt, and Kara watched with interest, wondering what they were so angry about; she’d never seen them so angry before.
Moments later, her aunt turned her back on her parents and stalked into the castle, leaving the king and queen stood in the rain with a group of guards. Forehead creased in confusion, Kara watched as the darkness was split by the lightening and one of the men was pushed down to his knees, and watched as her father unsheathed his sword, holding it in both hands with the point towards the ground. The next flash illuminated him stood in the rain, his eyes closed as his lips mumbled a prayer. As another bolt of lightening split the night, Kara watched with wide eyes as her father raised the sword and brought it down on the man’s neck, severing it in one heavy blow.
Jerking back from the window, Kara’s mouth fell open in horror, barely daring to believe what she’d just seen her father do. Of course she knew that he’d sentenced criminals and oathbreakers to death before, and killed them at his own hand, as was their custom, yet to see him so cruelly take a man’s like was jarring to Kara. He was a gentle, caring man; he was her father, but the man below her in the courtyard was a stranger to her.
Hesitantly approaching the window again, she watched as her mother strode into the castle, and her father stood watching as the guards started dragging the headless corpse away to be burnt as unrelenting rain washed away the blood. Only two guards were at her father’s side when a group of hooded figures streamed into the courtyard and circled the three figures. Kara watched with disgusted interest, waiting to see what would happen next as she watched all of the figures draw their weapons. They were all still for a moment, and the night was eerily quiet. Just for a moment as lightening arced across the sky, and Kara realised what was about to happen. With the next peal of thunder, the person who had led them into the courtyard sprang forward, swinging their sword with deadly skill. With horror, she watched as her father engaged the one in front of him in a fight, the clanging of steel on steel lost in the thunder that seemed to shake the sky.
The fight wasn’t a long one, and Kara let out a hoarse shout as she watched her father fall to his knees, his sword clattering to the ground as the cloaked man’s sword speared him through his chest. His eyes glanced up at his daughter’s window, almost as if he knew she was watching, and tears streamed down Kara’s face as she watched the man draw a knife across her father’s throat.
Stumbling back from the window, Kara picked up the small dagger on the table and ran over to her door, yanking it open and running barefoot down the hallway. It was freezing cold, the flagstones numbing her feet as she hurried through the deserted passageways.
“Kara!” the shout came from her mother, whose face was ghostly white in the flicker of the torches lining the walls.
“Mother!” Kara cried, running towards her and throwing her arms around her waist, burying her face in her chest. “Father. Th-there are soldiers. They k-killed him, mother.”
Alura’s arms forcibly pushed her daughter away from her, and she knelt down in front of her, cupping Kara’s tear-stained face in her hands. “What do you mean?” she sharply asked, brushing the tears away with quick, gentle fingers. “Speak quickly, child.”
“Th-there are men, mother. I was watching from the window. Y-you killed that man, and then they c-came out. They’ve killed f-father,” Kara sobbed, and Alura’s eyes went wide as her mouth fell open in shock. A movement behind Kara caught her attention, and she was on her feet in an instant, pushing Kara behind her to protect her.
“You’ll not survive this,” Alura told the person approaching from the other end of the hallway. “Your bodies will not be burnt, and you’ll not make it to Rao’s hall for what you have done here this night. I swear that to you.”
The figure was silent as they approached, and Alura stubbornly raised her chin to meet her death with honour, having no weapon to defend herself. “Run now, my daughter,” she murmured to Kara, who was clutching to the skirts of her mother’s dress in terror. She still had the knife gripped in one hand and as her mother gently pushed her backwards, Kara glanced down at it.
She darted past the man as he swung out with his sword, catching Alura in the stomach as she failed to dodge the blow, and Kara paused, turning around and plunging the knife into the soft part of the man’s back. He let out a roar of pain, whirling around in anger and Kara stumbled backwards, barely escaping a scratch from the tip of his sword. She stared at her mother as she wrestled the sword from his hand, screaming in pain as the man grabbed his dagger and plunged it in between her ribs. As he grabbed a fistful of Alura’s dark hair, dragging her downwards, she kicked him in between the legs, and he stumbled to his knees. He was level with Kara, and one look into her mother’s terrified eyes gave her the strength to draw the knife across his throat as she’d watched that other person do to her father only minutes before.
A fountain of blood sprayed across the front of Kara’s nightdress and face, painting her deathly pale skin and the white cloth a startling shade of red. Kara watched as the man’s hands uselessly clawed at his throat, and he collapsed to the floor with a gurgled choking sound before falling silent. She’d killed him. She’d killed him to save her mother, and then Kara was turning to Alura, whose face was drawn in pain as she clutched a hand to the stab wound from the sword – the dagger still peeking out from between her ribs.
“Mother!” Kara cried, dropping to her side and covering her mother’s hands with her own, watching as they were stained red by the pooling blood. “I’ll fetch a healer.”
“No,” Alura winced, stopping Kara from standing with a firm hand. “It’s too late for me. You have to go. Go somewhere safe, and keep yourself hidden, but it’s important that you find your way back. You find your way home. Kara, my brave daughter, be wise, be strong and always be true to yourself. You will be a queen of which the like Krypton has never seen.”
Footsteps behind Kara made her whip her head around, and she let out a sob of relief as she took in the sight of her aunt. “Aunt Astra! Please, help me. Mother’s hurt,” Kara begged her. A sad look flickered across Astra’s face as she took in the sight of her niece drenched in the blood of her mother and the man she’d killed, and she looked at her sister with a pained look on her face.
“Astra, please. Take her,” Alura choked out. “For the love you bear your niece and the love you once bore me, take her somewhere safe. Keep her hidden until she is ready. You will redeem yourself if you do this for me.”
“Keep still, sister,” Astra murmured, gently prying Kara’s hands off her and taking their place.
Alura grabbed her sister by the front of her doublet, pulling her closer. “Promise me,” she hissed.
“I promise,” Astra vowed, bowing her head slightly. With a sigh of relief, Alura let her go and gave Kara a tearful smile as she reached out to cup her cheek with a shaky hand.
“I love you, my daughter. El mayarah.”
Kara let out a heartbroken scream of anguish as her mother’s face transformed into a stony mask, the light fading from her eyes as stiffened. “No, no, mother! Mother, please,” Kara begged, while next to her Astra recited the Prayer of the Dead.
Finishing the prayer, Astra clasped a fist over her heart and bowed her head to her fallen queen and sister, before climbing to her feet and dragging Kara to her own. Kara stubbornly threw herself back down to her mother’s side, clutching fistfuls of her dress as she tried to shake her awake. She was roughly pulled to her feet again and throw over her aunt’s shoulders as she hurried them away from the dead bodies.
“Hush now, little one,” Astra commanded her. “We have to get you away from here. We have to keep you safe.”
She was taken back to her rooms, and her aunt quickly found her riding leathers and washed the blood from her hands and face with a damp cloth, before forcing her into the clean clothes. A cloak was draped around her shoulders, and Astra tied it with shaking hands, before pressing a kiss to her niece’s forehead. “Quickly now, we must get away.”
They snuck through the castle, and Astra hid her away in an abandoned room in the servant’s quarters while she went to saddle the horse for them, returning ten minutes later with an angry look on her face. Kara silently obeyed her as she was led over to a saddled horse and her uncle, Non, gently lifted her up onto the mare. He exchanged a knowing look with her aunt, who swung herself up behind Kara onto the horse she’d arrived on not yet an hour earlier.
“Keep our queen safe. She is our last hope,” her uncle told Astra, who nodded before kicking her heels into the horse’s flank. Queen. Kara was the queen now. They galloped out of the stables, the harsh wind and cold rain chilling them to their bones within moments, and Kara silently cried as she pulled her cloak tightly around her.
---
They rode through the night, and Kara’s sobs subsided into violent shivering as the weak, wintery sun bathed everything in a grey light. Dawn was approaching and Kara was tired, and saddle sore, and her voice was hoarse as she spoke. “Aunt, where are we going?”
The question was met with silence as Astra sat upright, scanning their surroundings as she urged the horse to keep going. Numb and tired, Kara’s stubbornness flared up and she set her jaw forward as she spoke again. “I want to stop.”
“Hush, my child,” Astra murmured. “We cannot. We must be far away before they come looking. The job has not been finished – they will come.”
Kara was silent after that, but a few miles later, Astra reined in the horse and swung herself down, before lifting Kara off the horse and setting her down on the grass. The horse was led over to a stream that had yet to freeze over, and Kara knelt down and gratefully drank the icy water too, noticing a fleck of blood in the crease of her fingernail. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was her mother’s or from the man she’d killed. Scraping it away, she climbed to her feet, wincing as her sore back and legs protested, and walked around in circles as she watched her aunt rifle through the saddlebags. A slightly withered apple was pulled out, and Astra cut in in half with a small dagger, handing Kara the larger half before swinging her back up onto the horse. With a weary sigh, Kara silently ate her apple as they set off towards wherever her aunt was taking them. Before long, her sleepless night caught up with her, and she lay back against her aunt, her head lolling as she dozed.
Still they kept riding, over endless fields of frozen grass, through thickets of skeletal trees, and over trickles of water that had frozen over for the winter. They rode for three days before they reached their destination. There had been no food, save from the meagre half an apple and a hunk of stale bread, and the only water they had was from large rivers that had yet to freeze over, which they rarely crossed paths with. Eventually though, they graced the top of a hill, and Kara stared down at the tower in the middle of the clearing at the bottom of the valley, fighting the urge to rub her tired eyes as they itched from a lack of sleep.
It reached up for the sky, a lonely spear of dull grey stone that matched the dreary sight of the wintery countryside. In summer she guessed it would be beautiful and full of life, but in the pale light of the early morning, it was bleak and barren as she stared at the bare trees that surrounded it for miles in each direction. Kara knew where she was – or at least she knew what kind of place she was at – but she was confused as to why she had been brought to this temple. She would be safe here – no doubt about it – for no one would attack one of god’s temples, but it was not the largest, nor the most renowned of their house’s of worship. Astra gently nudged the horse onwards, picking their way down into the valley as they wound through the skeletal forest, towards the temple. The rain had stopped a few hours before dawn, and Kara shivered in her wet clothes as her breath clouded before her – it was further north than she was used to, and the cold had snatched all warmth from her body. She had a feeling like she would never be warm again, and more than anything, she wanted to go home.
As they approached, Kara could see the figures of priests and priestesses rushing around as they got started on their daily duties, and she watched as their attention was drawn to the strangers on the horse. One of them darted off, and a few moments later, returned with another similarly clad person – or at least Kara assumed it was the same person; she couldn’t tell when they were all wearing the same brown robes and copper masks.
Nothing distinguished the woman from the others as she approached the horse, yet she was clearly the High Priestess of the temple, and she inclined her head slightly as Astra swung down off her horse and strode a few steps towards her. She inclined her head slightly too, out of respect for one of the servants of the gods, careful to make sure her hood did not slip down.
“You are welcome here, strangers,” the woman said, gesturing a hand to the temple behind her.
“I am but passing through, High Priestess,” Astra replied, and Kara frowned, shooting her aunt’s back a confused look. “But I have a need to speak with you in private.”
“Very well. Please, let us warm ourselves by the fireside as we talk. You and your daughter look like you are in much need of it,” the woman said, patiently waiting for Astra to help Kara down off the horse. She wouldn’t let her aunt lift her down though, instead she stubbornly sat on the horse, clutching the reins in her hands as she frowned at Astra.
“Kara, please,” Astra begged, her voice barely a whisper so that no one could hear her words. Kara would be safe here – but not as Kara. There were too many eyes and ears here, even if they were acolytes of the gods. Her patience wearing thin, Astra roughly pulled her from the horse and set her down beside her, taking her hand and quickly following after the High Priestess.
The tower loomed above them, and Kara felt tiny as she craned her neck upwards to look at the top. She looked back down as they approached an archway, walking through the small tunnel to come out in a cobblestoned courtyard. A pool of still water took up the middle of the courtyard, and in its centre, a small island where a massive tree grew. Its trunk was white, and gnarled branches created a canopy, plunging the pool into shadow. Kara stared at the tree – at the bright red and orange leaves that cleaved the dull grey of the surroundings as the tree looked like it was on fire – and felt a pull towards it. It was one of Rao’s trees. Every temple and every godswood had at least one, and Kara felt comforted by the familiar sight of the tree. They didn’t linger in the courtyard though, and as they skirted around the pool, they were led through a tunnel at the back of the tower, and through a side door before they could find themselves back outside the temple.
Torches lined the curved walls of the tower, and the High Priestess led them further down the hallway before opening a wooden door and leading them into a small room. As promised, a fire crackled merrily in the hearth, and Astra quickly dragged Kara over to it, pushing her down to the floor so that she could dry. The room was dark, lit only by the fire, but it was clean and more importantly it was warm, and the two travellers were grateful for the platter of food that was offered to the by the High Priestess - an ancient rite of hospitality.
“I was there the day she was born,” the High Priestess said, breaking the silence. Astra spun around to look at her in alarm, a slither of cheese halfway to her mouth, but the High Priestess just waved her over to a wooden chair and poured the three of them some water. “I was just a priestess at the time, training at the temple in Kandor. I was there the day that the crown princess, Kara Zor-El, was born, saw the sunlight split the storm just for a moment. The High Priestess said that she was blessed by Rao himself - kissed by the sun. Forgive me though, my lady, I am unsure whether I am addressing your majesty, or her sister, for I cannot see Cythonna's mark beneath your hood.”
“The queen is dead,” Astra bluntly said, and the High Priestess’ head snapped over to look at her as she inhaled sharply. “I vowed to see my niece to safety. This is the furthest temple from Kandor – perhaps her blessing from Rao will keep her safe in the god's house. You will take her.” It wasn’t a request; it was an order.
The High Priestess inclined her head, glancing over at the princess sat by the fire. “And what would you have me do?”
“Teach her. Prepare her for the throne as best you can. I will return for her on her twenty-first name day – the winter solstice. Until then, you will keep her safe. You will show her love, and raise her to be happy.”
“I will raise her as if she were my own daughter,” the High Priestess promised. Astra nodded her thanks, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders at the promise of the woman. Those of the religious guild were well respected in Krypton, and she knew a vow by this woman would be kept until her dying breath.
“Remove your mask,” Astra commanded her, and the High Priestess hesitated, her copper mask glowing in the firelight.
“Forgive me, my lady, I am not permitted to show my face to those outside this house.”
“Remove your mask,” Astra ordered her again. “I would look upon the face of the person I am to entrust the queen to.” Bowing her head, the High Priestess lowered her hood, revealing golden curls, and then her hands went to the leather strap holding the mask to her face. Looking up, she met Astra’s gaze, her blue eyes steady as she lifted her chin. “Your name?”
“Eliza, of house Danvers,” the High Priestess told her.
Astra nodded for a moment, taking in the blue eyes and golden curls of the High Priestess. She glanced over at her niece, whose colouring was similar. They were both an oddity in this land, and their golden hair was met with reverence. It would not be difficult to believe that they were mother and daughter. Climbing to her feet, Astra nodded more to herself than to Eliza. “You are similarly blessed by Rao. I hope that you will raise her well in the sun god’s light.”
Kara had quietly listened to the conversation, letting the words sink in as she sulked about the fact that her aunt was to leave her here. She would lose all of her family this night. Yet, as she was led to believe, she was to receive a new family with this High Priestess. She looked up at Astra as she approached and then knelt before her, gently cupping her niece’s face in her hands.
“Little one, I must go now. I will rule in your stead until you are ready, and you must stay here and learn. Do not tell anyone who you are – do not tell them your name. From now on you must go by … Kiera. You must keep your identity a secret, for your own safety. Do you understand me, child?”
Kara nodded, her eyes filling with tears as she stared at the face that was identical to her mother’s – aside from the white streak, the only thing that had differentiated her. She didn’t want to say goodbye to her, she didn’t want to say goodbye to her old life. There hadn’t even been enough time to say goodbye to her friends – not to Lena, or James, nor Winn. She would say goodbye to everything now, as her aunt left her alone in this foreign temple on the opposite side of her kingdom. Yet, she had to do it. “I understand.”
“Good. Here, keep this. It is- was your mother’s. Keep it and remember who you are, and I will find you again,” Astra promised, tying a golden ring emblazoned with the crest of house El on a leather thong, and then tying it around Kara’s neck. “I will take my leave now, your majesty. Remember where you come from; el mayarah.”
Kara threw her arms around Astra’s neck, holding on tightly as she sobbed into her shoulder. “I don’t want you to leave,” she cried.
Running a hand over her golden hair, Astra held her close for a moment. “I will return for you, little one. Until then, you must do your duty and make your house proud.”
Pulling back, she brushed Kara’s hair back and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Kara sniffled as she wiped her eyes and stubbornly lifted her chin – Astra was right, she had to do her duty now. Without another word, Astra stood and nodded once to Eliza before striding out of the door, sparing a backwards glance at her niece and smiling sadly.
The door banged shut, and Kara looked at the High Priestess, both afraid and in awe of the woman. The woman drifted closer, crouching down in front of her and giving her a warm smile. “Come now, Kiera, let’s get you some dry clothes,” she said in a soothing tone, and Kara blinked in surprise at the sound of her new name - it was going to take some getting used to. Holding out a hand, she waited for Kara to take it and after warily eyeing it, Kara let herself be pulled to her feet.
“Yes, High Priestess,” Kara said, bowing her head slightly.
Quietly laughing, the woman ran a hand over Kara’s golden hair. “You need not be formal with me, your majesty. If I am to be your new mother, then you may call me as such, or by Eliza if you would prefer.”
“As you wish,” Kara said, throwing her shoulders back as Eliza led her out of the room, her face still bare of her mask. Quickly, she led them up the nearest staircase, higher and higher, until they came to the top of the staircase. Kara blinked in surprise, looking around the room as she took in the bookshelves that stretched endlessly around the walls. Weak sunlight streamed in through arched windows, illuminating the room, and Kara took a hesitant step towards one of the wooden desks that held ink and parchment and an old leather-bound tome that lay open. She loved to read, but she had seen nothing like this library, and she glanced around with wonder.
“We are devoted to the gods, but we are also scholars here,” Eliza told her. “There is naught that we do not study here, and we shall teach it to you too. Come, let me introduce you to your new sister.” A nervous look flickered across Kara’s face, and her throat bobbed as she followed Eliza round the curved room. They were halfway around the tower before they spotted a girl with long dark hair climbing down one of the ladders attached to the shelves. She was thirty feet up in the air, a book clasped under one arm as she confidently placed foot after foot on the rungs. “Alexandra.”
The girl looked down in surprise, smiling at her mother and casting Kara a curious glance. She doubled her pace, and a few moments later she landed on the floor and strode towards them both, carefully holding onto the book. “Mother.”
“Have you seen anyone else in here?”
“No. Lyra left not yet a half hour before,” the girl said. Kara looked at her with interest – she didn’t look like her mother, yet Kara knew that she could trust her just as much.
“Come, my daughter. Leave your work, we must talk,” Eliza said, placing a hand on Kara’s shoulder and steering her back the way they came. They made their way back downstairs, and into a room filled with chests and shelves. Pulling a roughspun brown tunic and matching leggings out of some chests, Eliza handed them to Kara, who quickly started to unfasten her still damp cloak.
“Alexandra, what I tell you now does not leave this room. It is of utmost importance – a secret that you must guard with your life. You must swear it upon the gods,” Eliza told her daughter, drawing a small knife from deep within her robes. She passed the knife over to her daughter, who frowned in confusion, but still took it. Her mother had never asked her to make a blood oath before, yet she knew what it entailed.
Running the knife over the back of her hand, the girl drew a shallow line of blood. “I swear it upon the gods.”
Taking the knife back, Eliza gestured to Kara, who was halfway through exchanging her leather doublet for the hooded tunic. “This is the queen.”
“The queen? Mother, she is a child,” the girl laughed.
“The queen is dead,” Eliza sharply told her, and the girl’s laughter died in her throat. She quickly formed a fist over her heart and knelt before the queen, before Eliza told her to rise – they could not be seen paying respects to this girl who was to pass for a commoner. “The queen is to stay with us until she is to return home to be crowned. She is to be your sister, and you will treat her as such, Alex.”
“Sister?” Alex echoed incredulously. “I do not understand.”
“No one can know who she is. You will address her as Kiera, if anyone asks, she is your sister, and you will not speak of what you know. You will accompany her everywhere – if she is harmed then we are all doomed – and you will teach her everything you know, and more. You will share your quarters with her, and you will treat her as your sister. If it comes down to it, I ask that you protect her with your life. I cannot trust anyone else with this,” Eliza said, and her daughter looked at her with thinly veiled irritation and surprise. “Am I understood?”
“Yes mother,” the girl murmured, casting her new sister a sideways look.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Eliza nodded. “Go now. Finish your duties and then we shall break fast and worship.”
Inclining her head, Alex opened the door, grabbing a small copper mask off a shelf before walking out into the hallway. “Here. All servants of the gods must wear the mask outside of the temple. If you venture outside the walls of this place, make sure you are wearing it.”
“Thank you,” Kara mumbled, taking the unadorned mask and running her fingers over the smooth metal. They started making their way back upstairs to the library, and the twisting staircases were starting to make Kara feel dizzy.
“I am sorry for your loss,” the girl murmured, bowing her head slightly in respect. Kara inclined her head, her eyes stinging as tears threatened to form. “We shall light a fire tonight in memorial. I hope that Rao will bless your reign.”
Kara quickly looked at her, her tone sharp as she spoke. “I am not the queen. I’m … Kiera.”
“Well then, dear sister, you may call me Alex,” she replied with a wry smile. “Now, the hour of Telle is upon us and we have duties to attend to before we may break fast. Come along.”
Lips twitching in a small smile, Kara looked at Alex with respect at the indifference she showed the young queen. “Yes sister.”