I slowly turn in a circle, scanning the stormy countryside for any sign of Murkovin who might have entered the Delta. Other than rain splattering on the blades of grass, the hills and valleys are motionless and empty. About ten minutes later, I return my eyes to Sash. She’s already ripping the stakes out of the trunk and slipping them into the cylinder on her back.
When the last one is securely in her pack, Sash presses her forehead against the trunk of the tree. The limbs that were lashing down at her are still waving vigorously in the air, but they stay high over her head. It’s as though the tree is allowing Sash to peacefully pay homage to it by temporarily suspending its assault.
To my surprise, the rainfall thins, the undulating clouds slow until they’re static, and scarlet light cuts through their edges. This is the shortest period of Darkness since before my sister Ally was here.
Sash glances up at the sky and squints at the clouds, probably wondering why Darkness didn’t last longer. After turning away from the trunk, she walks towards the base of the Empty Hill. She only makes it a few steps before freezing in place. Locking her eyes on my body, her mouth gapes open and she drops her spear.
Chapter 3
“What’s wrong?” I call out.
Sash doesn’t reply, make the slightest move, or even blink. As she continues to gawk at me, I look down at my body. Amber light is sparkling in the veins running from my shoulders to my hands. I drop my spear to the ground and raise my hands in front of my face. Golden light glistens from the skin of my palms and fingers.
I finally realize that I’ve been given the sign of fertility, basing that conclusion on Sash’s description of it to me long ago. Lowering my hands to my sides, I return my eyes to Sash. Like liquid amber is being injected into her body, luminescent gold spreads through the veins of her face, neck, and arms. I expect to see confusion or surprise on her face when she looks down at her body since she told me that Hunters are never chosen for the Ritual of Balance. Instead, she just smiles and walks up the slope of the Empty Hill.
“We’ve been chosen for the Ritual of Balance,” she says, stopping in front of me.
“I didn’t realize it would happen so soon,” I reply.
“What do you mean?”
“I knew we’d be chosen,” I say.
She nods her head, probably figuring out that the only way I could know is from my Vision of the Future. “I did too,” she confesses.
“How?” I ask.
“During your Ritual of Purpose, I had a glimpse of the future. It was of our child.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You know how I feel about revealing the future to others. I never want you to feel as though you’re obligated to be with me because of something I’ve seen in the future. I want you to be with me because you want to.”
“That is why I’m with you,” I say. “What do we do now?”
“Are you happy?” she asks with genuine concern in her voice.
“I’m thrilled,” I answer. “I mean, I kind of wish we had more time alone together before starting a family, but I couldn’t be happier.”
I wrap my arms around her.
“A family,” she whispers.
My head spins with exhilaration. I knew this day would arrive at some point, but I thought it would happen in a year or two, maybe even farther down the road. I’ve only been permanently in Krymzyn for four months. As deep as our emotional connection is, in many ways, Sash and I are still learning about one another and adjusting to our lives together.
Leaning my head back, I look at her eyes. “Sash, I want us to raise our child. I saw it, all of us together when they’re . . . I mean she . . . Dammit! I’m trying not to give away my—”
Sash covers my mouth with her hand. “In my glimpse, I saw her as well. I know our child will be a girl. But we have to accept what the future holds for our child no matter what that might be.”
She pulls her hand away from my lips.
“You know how families are structured in my world,” I say.
“All that matters is that we do what’s best for the child. Krymzyn will want the same. We can talk about it later. Right now, we’ve been summoned for the Ritual.”
“What do we do?” I ask.
“We go to the Cavern of Grace,” she tells me. “Let’s leave our things in our habitat and we’ll go together. We learn the steps when we’re mature enough, usually about the time we leave Home. The man and woman meet inside the Cavern, but our circumstances are obviously different. Since you don’t know the procedure, I’ll tell you what to do once we’re there.”
After gathering our things from the grass, we speed to our habitat. With our veins still shimmering amber, we quickly drop off our spears and the packs of stakes. Gliding over the hills to the south, we pass the Tree of Vision and the Storytelling meadow. We finally stop at one of the last hills before a mile-long field that runs to the southern wall of the Delta.
Sash leads me inside a narrow gully that’s so uniform it seems almost carved in the incline of the hill. Rich crimson grass grows on both sides of the tall corridor. At the end of the gully, we reach a sheer wall of rock in the base of a steep hill. An arched marble door stands in the center of the wall. The veins that run through the black marble glow with the same golden light that’s emanating from our skin.
“The door only shows light,” Sash says to me, “when two people have been summoned for
