CalledtoPower by Viola Grace Page B

out and the shorter of the glows took her hand. The figure became more solid in that instant, and she cried out. “Mom?”
    Sobs broke from her chest as her mother tried to hush her, but while she could see the dead, she could not touch them.
    Agoth burst into her bedroom and froze at the image of two glowing figures, one consoling Sy while she tried to get herself under control.
    Syrella waved at him. “Agoth, my bodyguard and member of the Citadel, these are my parents, Syrella the First and Arnos.”
    “I thought that the soul stones only carried one.” He was wary.
    “So did I. How in the seventeen hells did this happen?”
    Arnos frowned, “Don’t curse, treasure. I sewed your mother’s soul stone under my skin so that when I died, we would move to my stone together. I had no idea that my mother would kill me for the energy I would give her.”
    Sy wished she was shocked, but she wasn’t. “I am so glad to see you both, to talk to you both. You can go now, Agoth.”
    He grinned and bowed. “Three hours, Empress.”
    She sighed and waved him off.
    Her parents were staring at her.
    Her mother asked, “Empress?”
    “I am the last of the blood. They had to call upon me.”
    Her father frowned, “How long have you been empress?”
    “Since two days ago. I lived my entire life at the Citadel. I was a student at first, and then, I became an instructor. It was a good life.”
    Her mother smiled, “Will you pick a good partner to father your children?”
    Sy cleared her throat. “I already have. That is what the three-hours comment was about. Three hours until my bonding ceremony in the throne room.”
    Arnos put his hand under her chin and lifted it with the energy of his presence. “Is he a noble?”
    She grinned up at him. “No. Not a Vexar noble. He is a guard from the Citadel, a telepath and a good fighter. He’s also green.”
    Her mother frowned, “There was a young man who was on the ship that picked you up. He was green. Are they related?”
    Syrella tried not to bring her parents down on her, but she nodded, “He is the same one. The moment I saw him, I knew he was the one, and as time went on and we met on assignments, the feeling grew. We kissed for the first time after he proposed yesterday.” She shrugged her shoulders up and hugged herself a little at the memory.
    Her mother laughed and touched her face, her father sighed.
    “So, will you be there?” She bit her lip while she waited.
    Her mother caressed her lip. “Sweetie, don’t bite that lip. Your husband will want it in one piece.”
    Her father snarled. “How old are you now anyway?”
    “Twenty-six.”
    “Oh.” He was unable to tell her she was too young.
    She nodded. Her mother had been nineteen when Arnos had swept her off her feet and twenty-one when Syrella junior was born.
    “He’s a good man who puts my needs before his own, and I am going to try with everything in me to not take advantage of that. He will take the position of Imperial Consort of Vexa, and once I put certain measures into place, we will have some time to pretend to be normal.”
    Her father was interested. “What measures?”
    She went into a description of the idea for bringing in Citadel members to act as mediators as well as an official Negotiator in full armour to act on behalf of Vexa when it came to treaties with the Alliance and the Nyal Imperium. Vexa was firmly wedged between titans, so it was in their best interest to have someone negotiating on their behalf.
    “That is a very clever idea, treasure. I do have one thing to ask you off topic. When did my mother die?”
    She blinked and looked up at him. “She didn’t.”
    “Then how did you get my soul stone?”
    “I demanded it, and when she wouldn’t give in, I froze her and stole it. I also returned your half-brothers and her husband to their other relatives. She has been arrested for disrupting the court, but I have yet to decide what I will do with her.”
    “She is