Page 20

Chapter Twenty

Asteria

Walking into the star opal fortress, Calix led me past the bowing guards with a quick greeting and brought me straight toward the meeting room he’d instructed be used for this.

Pausing outside the room, I breathed deeply, trying to get a handle on my nerves. Calix lifted our clasped hands and pressed them to his chest. It was only then I realized I was shaking as he shushed me gently.

“It’s okay to be nervous, Asteria.” He ducked his head down to meet my eyes. “Anyone would be in this situation. But I’m here with you, okay?” He nodded his head once, and I nodded back. “I’ll be here every step of the way. You aren’t alone. You will never be alone. Not one day for the rest of our immortal lives. This, I promise you.”

A tear escaped my eye, thinking back to how alone I had been all my life.

“You and I, my réalta, we are eternal.” He swore passionately, if quietly. “Where you go, I go. Forever.”

My heartbeat did something complicated in my chest as I nodded again, smiling tremulously as he lifted our clasped hands, pressing a kiss to each knuckle on my hand. When my hand was free, I used it to softly caress down his cheek. “Thank you, my dorchadas.”

“You ready?” He double-checked, and I gave him my permission as he reached for the door handle.

The black double doors opened into the meeting space. Inside, the walls had been covered with wood and then wallpapered in a light grey damask pattern. A white table made of star opal sparkled in the middle of the room, surrounded by black upholstered chairs on all sides.

But none of that truly registered, not when they stood before me.

My mother, Aurelia, had long hair the same color as mine—so dark brown it was nearly black—and watering blue-grey eyes that were locked on me with singular focus, her hands shaking as she raised them to her mouth. Her makeup highlighted the pouty lips I’d clearly also inherited from her.

It was so strange to look at her and see so much of myself there. I remembered saying goodbye to my parents at Placement Day and lamenting that I’d never be able to look into a mirror and see them staring back at me.

She even had the same button nose I did, the same heart-shaped face. She had sharper cheekbones than I did, and a different eye color, but it was nearly uncanny otherwise.

A strangled noise caught my attention from where I stood, frozen in the entrance. Arien stepped forward haltingly, his eyes wide. He had long dark hair the same color as mine, with identical blue eyes, nose, and lips. His nose was straight as opposed to tilting up at the end. His face was longer, and his cheekbones were sharper than even our mother’s.

As he approached me, I noticed he was also much taller than me. Closer to Calix’s height than mine, while Aurelia looked to be of the same stature as myself. She even had my curves, or I supposed, I had hers, while Arien clearly took after our father with his height and straight, lean body.

He paused as he reached me, eyeing where my shaking hand clasped Calix’s for dear life. His eyes met mine again, and he swallowed hard.

“Asteria,” he rasped, almost a plea, and I swore I could nearly feel his aching desire to hug me. I let go of Calix’s hand and stepped forward toward Arien. I only took one step before he swept me up in his arms, lifting me and leaving my feet swinging like a child’s as he embraced me.

I let my eyes fall closed, resting my forehead on his shoulder as I hugged him back hard. It felt like something I’d lost had finally clicked back into place. That strange feeling I’d get sometimes, where I’d expect to find someone beside me, only to find them missing. Hugging Arien now, it was a feeling of completeness that was completely different somehow from the completeness offered by the bond I shared with Calix.

That feeling seemed to fully form as I let myself acknowledge that this was my twin brother , my little brother, and a surge of affection overcame me. I could feel Calix’s wariness, along with his own adoration, as he watched me, but his unease was clear.

“By Hyperion,” Arien whispered, his voice heavy with tears. “I’ve missed you all my life, sister.”

I couldn’t prevent the sob that came from me then, the tears falling on his fancy court jacket.

“I feared I’d never get this chance,” he continued raggedly. “That the time would never come, and I’d have to go my whole life without ever having my twin back beside me. As we were meant to be.”

I hugged him tighter, unsure of what to even say. It was so overwhelming that I found myself completely at a loss. I pulled back to look at him, seeing tears tracking down his face. I reached up to wipe them away, smiling through my own. We both laughed slightly.

“I’m so glad we finally got the chance.” I finally told him, and he cupped my cheeks, leaning forward to kiss my forehead, before stepping back.

Aurelia stepped forward then, tears streaming down her crumpled face as she sobbed, “Asteria. My darling girl.”

I was still so unsure how to feel about her, but my heart wrenched seeing the obvious pain she was exuding. Arien stepped toward her, but I moved quicker, standing in front of her.

“Hi,” I whispered, wringing my hands together.

“I know I have so much to explain, but—” Aurelia tried to gather herself together, “But I haven’t had the chance to hold you since you were born. Could I please hug you?” Her voice cracked, and she lifted a hand to cover her mouth to try to contain her sobs.

My own face creased, trying to hold in my own, not wanting to cry further. But as I nodded and my birth mother gathered me into her arms, I couldn’t stop the silent tears.

The warm feeling one got being in their mother’s arms encompassed me, and I felt strangely like a child again.

“My little star,” she whispered as she held me, and I froze.

“What?” I asked, pulling back to look at her. “What did you call me?”

“My little star.” Aurelia smiled slightly, a bit confused. “That's why I named you Asteria. You came out of the womb shining like a star, my love.”

“That’s what—” I tried, but my voice cracked, forcing me to clear my throat. “That's what my moth—the woman who raised me, called me.”

Aurelia nodded stiffly. “I’m not surprised. Did she give you the necklace as well?”

I stiffened, reaching into the pocket of my dress. “The necklace?”

She smiled, but it was strained. “I put it together when you were born. Something to keep both me, and your soulmark, with you.”

Pieces fell into place, and it felt like the world that had been smashed into thousands of fragments around me when I discovered I was Fae, suddenly rearranged themselves to fit back together, only to form something completely new this time.

“You made this?” I whispered, pulling the necklace from my pocket, letting the pendant with the moon, sun, and stars dangle from my hand.

Calix sucked in a breath in the background, but my own emotions were too riotous to figure out his right now.

She sniffed, nodding with a trembling smile, “I did. I hated having to send you away, Asteria. It broke my heart completely. I wanted nothing more than to raise you myself, but I was forced to hand you over to someone else. I couldn’t just let you go, though. I needed to know there was something still there, connecting us together. The blind hope of a mother, maybe.”

She scoffed slightly at herself, shaking her head, “But it was all I could think of. A piece of Day to keep with you, thanks to the silverium and the star opal, and your soulmark, to connect you back to your Fae heritage.”

I looked from her to the necklace, mumbling to myself, “And to Night.”

She may not have realized it, but the necklace connected me to Night just as much Day. A piece of each kingdom with me always. A piece of my mother and a piece of Calix.

“Why?” I demanded, looking back up at her. “ Why did you have to send me away?”

Her face crumpled, and Arien put a hand on her shoulder. The bolt of resentment I felt at the clearly close relationship they shared, something I was cut out of, surprised me. But as Calix came up behind me, putting a hand on my lower back, I let it ebb away for now.

Aurelia watched Calix as he supported me, and narrowed her eyes, but merely said, “Let’s take a seat. I can explain everything to you.”