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“From the Land, she created the Twins, Gluswyr and Mal, to shine in the Moon’s stead.”

Two crescents—one red, the other violet—appeared overhead.

“She filled the world with light,” Aimee said as tendrils of real fire trailed the Sun through her orbit. Her light shone brighter and brighter as she and the Moon circled closer and closer… “All so that when the Sun and the Moon went walking, she would be able to see her daughter’s smile.”

Then the two collided in a burst of light and joy.

There was a gasp from the crowd. Then silence as every eye turned to the tunnel of ivy where people were still trickling in and the two figures that appeared.

Skylen in black and silver, the lights shifting over his dark hair and the diamond starburst crowning his brow. And Taly…

Kato leaned forward, as did everyone else. Even the nobility idling on the main floor stepped aside to make way, murmuring.

She looked like liquid sunlight—like she’d beenbathedin it.

Her dress shimmered, and even her hair had been woven with golden wire that glinted. Her skirts fluttered around her as delicate and wispy as a cloud.

“The Sun and Moon,” Kato murmured as someone in the audience crowned Taly with a halo of fire and snow dusted Skye’s hair and coat, flakes of it mixing with the sparks that trailed them.

Skye looked completely at ease. He was used to the fanfare and attention and kept a hand on Taly’s back, guiding her forward to their seats. And when the discomfort started to show halfway across the main floor—when her eyes started moving up, up, up the circling terraces, taking in the sea of glowing faces illuminated as the heavens continued to turn and roll—he reached into the spectacle, coaxing a bit of magic into his handand placing the glowing ember of light into her waiting palms like he’d captured a star.

Taly beamed up at him, as brilliant as the first golden rays of dawn, and cheers erupted.

A reminder—and a message. One that Kato saw clearly now.

Taly was a hero to these people. A symbol of hope—of bravery and survival. So many of them owed her their lives. Some had even worn snowdrop garlands that they now tossed onto the floor.

And Skye—well, he was a hero in his own right and the local darling. He’d kept them alive in Ebondrift, fought the abomination and won with the help of the woman at his side.

Skye caught another star and placed it in her waiting hands, the spectacle above them burning brighter. Magic crackled in the air, enough that Kato felt the hairs on his arm raise.

Each of these people had little more than a few drops of aether compared to the Fey sitting down below. But enough drops could form an ocean.

Enough drops could hold a city.

The nobility could squabble amongst themselves, but they would never command the people’s loyalty. Not like this.

Two more figures appeared, and a moment later, Ivain and Sarina Castaro stepped into the room—the last and most important people to arrive, stately and demure in black and white.

As Ivain continued forward, Sarina stood back, her shoulders straight, her chin held high. Feral delight shone in her eyes—rimmed with kohl, the dark strokes flaring into a wild, dramatic mask—as she took in the nobility watching dispassionately from their seats.

Ivain stopped center stage. He held up a fist.

Like a candle that had suddenly been snuffed out, the room dipped into pitch black.

All that magic—gone in an instant.

Captured in the glowing hand of Ivain Castaro, the prodigal son of House Fairmont. A man the nobility called eccentric. A man this island had deified for one sole reason: when everyone else fled after the Schism, he stayed.

He helped them rebuild their lives. Time and time again, he had been their champion.

Sarina stepped forward now. In her black gown, with crow feathers woven in her hair, she was invisible save for the steadyclick, click, clickof her shoes in the waiting silence.

Channeling a bit more aether, Kato could just make out her shadow as she closed a fist around her brother’s, still held aloft.

Then a light exploded, spreading out into the crowd on a wave of embers.

“The First Sunrise,” Aimee said as cheers—wild, riotous applause—erupted throughout. “I’ve never seen it, but Taly says it’s more glorious and brilliant than all the rest.”