Kalum finished reading. He rolled up the scroll, placed it back in the chest atop the stack of others, and closed the lid. He said a prayer to Ama-gi in the Old Language, rose from his knees, and went to stare out the mouth of the cave into the vast, green beyond.
He’d known this day would come.
As soon as the new Queen had been crowned—the Diamond Queen they called her, just as beautiful, just as rare—he knew it would be within his lifetime. She had twins on a night a red comet scored the sky, and he knew the time crept closer. Then the four confederate colonies had merged, leaving only the Roman colony outside the arms of the rainforest. “A sum of five reduced to two.”
And now the red-haired human, who’d arrived just last night.
Kalum had never seen a redhead before. Actually, the
