The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk (Crowns of Nyaxia #4)

by Carissa Broadbent

“And what would I have to do,” I said, “to seize the rest of Alarus’s power? Another resurrection spell?” “Nothing so mundane, I am afraid. You and Mische Iliae would need to obtain and wield the three cores of Alarus’s power.” She opened her palm, and images unfurled in smoky silver from it. “His mask, which acted as the crown to his kingdom of Vathysia.” Vathysia—the heart of Alarus’s territory, before it became Obitraes when Nyaxia created vampires. Most of it lay within the borders of what now was the House of Shadow. The image of the mask unfurled in her palm. It was bronze, reminiscent of a simplified skull, canine teeth pointed. It was a familiar image to me. A version of it adorned the Shadowborn crest. “His eye, which granted him the power to see beyond the borders of mortality,” she continued. An eye joined the mask, gazing out into the perpetual distance. It was red, and all-seeing. This, too, was a familiar image. It was central to many depictions of Alarus, usually on his hands or forehead. It stared down from the grand window of Morthryn’s facade. “And at last,” Acaeja said, “his heart, which contained the basest essence of his soul.” A third image joined the others—a black, beating heart, rivulets of gold throbbing through it.

The Melume was a legendary event in the House of Shadow, much like the Kejari was in the House of Night—though far less bloody. The House of Shadow was the oldest of the vampire kingdoms, having been constructed from the remnants of Alarus’s territory. This, many believed, gave the House of Shadow a unique link to the past. On the Night of the Melume, the boundary between the past and the present thinned. It created a natural phenomenon that even great poets struggled to describe, in which the ghosts of the past walked among the living.

Vathysia was said to be the heart of Alarus’s kingdom, before his murder, before Nyaxia, and before the existence of Obitraes.