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Chapter Thirteen

A quiet knock on the study door that evening ripped her from the book Ehlaria had left her. It was written in an Elvish dialect she didn’t quite understand.

She spoke modern Lunar Elvish fluently, but this one was strange. Her translation was murky at best. She’d thought about sending it to Cameren in Celene for help, but was nervous to let it out of her sight.

“Come in,” Astra said, resting the book on her desk.

“I brought you some dinner,” Ameera said, setting a tray before her. “Figured it was easier than eating with everyone else. Emotions are still running quite high.”

“Thank you. Did you eat?”

She nodded, sitting on the sofa against the far wall and tucking her feet beneath her. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she huffed.

“Even with the Tether?”

Astra smiled tightly. Of course, she should be in utter disorder. The glaring flaw in her plan with the king was that neither of them had the first clue about what a Tether felt like.

“It strains, I suppose.” She rested her hand on her chest, breathing deeply. “Very irritating, but not nearly as irritating as his commander’s opinion on it.”

Ameera nodded, watching Astra’s face carefully. “Speaking of the commander?—”

Astra groaned, focusing on her plate. “Ah, yes, Luxuros. He’s only part Solarian, as it turns out.

Doesn’t remember anything from before The Flare and swears he isn’t here to harm anyone.

Pledges his loyalty to Mirquios, and thinks I’m a disastrous half-wit who will destroy the Mercurian court with my reckless curse. .. to sum it up.”

“I never said you were a half-wit,” a deep voice thundered from the hallway.

Astra’s eyes whipped upward, her cheeks turning a deep shade of pink.

The commander leaned in the doorway, far enough away that she hadn’t realized the faint prickling against her arms was due to his approach.

As he stepped into the room, the smoke of him filled the space, fogging her mind even more than the embarrassment.

“The commander is here ,” Ameera mumbled, finishing the sentence Astra had cut short.

Astra groaned with embarrassment, clenching her teeth. “Thank you, Ameera. Might I help you, Commander?”

“I have a note for you.” Luxuros held up a tightly wound scroll. “Came just a bit ago. Seems everyone has arrived and settled into the Plutonian Court.”

“You may leave it with Ameera,” Astra said, casting her eyes back to her plate.

Ameera stood, caught off-guard at her sudden involvement.

She reached for the missive, but Luxuros flicked his hand upward from her grasp, stepping forward to leave it on Astra’s desk.

She glared at him before sliding it into a pile of communications she’d been meaning to get back to.

“Is that all?”

“That’s all, Princess.”

“Goodnight,” Astra said as Luxuros gave a brief two-finger salute and backed out of the doorway, his leather boots squeaking against the mirrored obsidian tile. Astra rose and slammed the door behind him, turning toward Ameera.

“Really, Ameera?”

“I tried to tell you!”

“Gods, he is irritating,” Astra hissed. “I have got to figure out a way to function around him.”

Ameera rolled her eyes. “You are aware that you’re to be his queen, not the other way around, yes?”

“If he doesn’t talk Mirquios out of the whole thing!”

“I only mean that you’re letting him intimidate you because, what? He thinks you’re undisciplined? Half the council, and your own mother for that matter, have said as much and you’d never dare let them make you feel small.”

“He doesn’t make me feel small,” Astra sighed, sinking into her chair.

“He makes me…” She closed her eyes, unsure she could say it out loud.

The thought had been rolling around in her mind for days, and the shame was almost too much to bear.

“He makes me believe they’re all right about me.

It’s different. My mother has had thirty years of questionable decisions and behavior to shape her opinions.

I understand why it’s hard for her to see me as anything other than reckless. ”

Astra stood, unable to stop herself from fidgeting anxiously in her seat. “The council doesn’t concern me. They share one mind between the lot of them. But the commander has known me for all of three days and already sees me for exactly who I fear I am.”

Ameera absorbed this, quietly organizing her thoughts in a way Astra always envied.

“I know he’s riled you. But you know that you’ve worked hard over the last few years to get control over yourself.

You could have killed him in the woods, and you only left him with a little scrape.

What he thinks is his business, not yours. ”

Astra nodded. She knew Ameera was right, but her bones still ached at the worry the commander might fuck her entire world up with one word to the king.

“If you’re worried about his influence over Mirquios, perhaps you use the next few weeks to befriend him. You can be quite charming when you want to be.”

Astra returned to her desk and stabbed a fork through something vegetal, thinking about Ameera’s suggestion. “I suppose I am delightful when I don’t have the pressure of impending war and marriage on my shoulders.”

“Exactly,” Ameera chirped. “You can do this.”

“I’ll try,” she relented, taking another bite.

“While I’m tackling that problem, do you mind taking on this one?

” Astra held Ehlaria’s book up between them.

“I can’t translate this dialect. I think we’ll need to find an expert, but I don’t want anyone in the court to have it. Can you take it to the city this week?”

Ameera nodded and took the book with her as Astra returned to her dinner. It took an inordinate amount of energy to finish her plate before finally falling into bed.

* * *

Astra had hoped to spend the next day tucked away in her room, but when Ameera did not appear with a breakfast tray or to usher her to whatever plans had been made on her behalf, she knew she’d have to brave the palace on her own.

She couldn’t very well hide until Lunelle returned, as appealing as the notion was.

She slipped into a pale green set of pants and a sleeveless top, something her mother would have frowned upon, but with half the courtiers in Pluto she didn’t much care for fussing with anything else.

She ran a comb through her unruly curls and watched as they sprang back up, wild in a way that wasn’t fit for a princess, but a perfect fit for her.

Astra tried sensing Ameera in the halls, but it was clear by the time she got to the courtyard Ameera was gone.

“Astra!” Nayson jogged across the garden, a warm cascade of greens and blues enveloping her as she threaded her arm through his.

“Good morning, Father,” she said, relaxing slightly with his kind eyes fixed on her.

“Ameera told me to inform you she was running an errand in the city this morning. She said you’d know what she meant.”

“I do,” she said, smiling. “Thank you.”

“Do I want to know what she meant?”

Astra shook her head. “I don’t think you do.”

“Good enough for me!” He guided her across the gardens, their early morning blooms still turned to the sky above. As they approached the dining hall, he banked left, confusing Astra.

“Are we not heading to breakfast?”

“I am tired of entertaining the court,” Nayson breathed. “I don’t know how your mother does it day in and day out. I thought we could have a more exclusive meal this morning.”

They rounded the hedges of the palace gardens, the gently bubbling fountain tickling her ears in the morning breeze. She took a long, slow breath, pleased at how much easier it seemed to be now that only a skeleton crew remained in the palace.

They approached a small table, set with crisp linens and an array of teas and coffees. Two bowls exploded with berries and pastries.

Nayson gestured to the head of the table. “Give it a try, queen-to-be.”

“Oh gods,” Astra said, her cheeks heating. “I’m going to hate the queen thing so much more than ‘princess.’”

“I wondered how you felt about such a lofty title. A nickname is one thing, but a true crown…” Nayson watched his daughter’s face carefully, looking for any hint of regret.

He winced and took the chair to her left, seeing the uncertainty in her eyes, but knowing a Tether made any notion of undoing impossible in her heart.

He’d fought that battle himself, and if anyone could handle it, it was Astra.

She scanned the spread before them, trying to decide between a lemon berry tea or something stronger when her eyes landed on a third place setting.

Before she could even ask, she felt a wave of warmth wash over her.

“Luxuros!” Her father exclaimed, his warm gaze flaring as the commander sat. “You got my invitation.”

“Good morning, Nayson,” the commander said, scooting his chair into the table. “Princess.”

“Nayson?” Astra asked, surprised at the lack of formality between them.

“You come by your aversion to titles honestly, my dear,” her father said, piling his plate high with more cured meats than he would have if his wife were present. “Your commander here was stationed just outside of the village I grew up in.”

Ameera’s voice echoed in Astra’s mind. She could be charming, even affable if she tried. Cordiality was the first stepping stone to charming someone, right?

“Is that so, Commander?”

Luxuros nodded, reaching for the coffee press at the center of the table just as Astra’s fingers landed on the curved handle. In the interest of civility, Astra jerked her hand back, nodding toward the commander to go ahead. He lifted the press and filled her cup first as he spoke.

“I spent a few years there. It’s a beautiful place. It’s what inspired your painting in the princess’s study, yes?”

Nayson’s eyes lit up, a spark within him catching and running along his smile. “Indeed! I’ve tried many times to describe the way the Sun washes over the red rocks of the Earthen deserts for Astra, but I’m afraid it’s impossible to explain to someone who has only ever known moonlight.”

“You’ve never seen the Sun?” Luxuros turned to Astra, setting a carafe of cream between them. She shook her head, pushing it back toward the center of the table.

“Only in my father’s artwork.”

“You’re talented, Nayson, to be sure. But I’m afraid it doesn’t compare to the real thing.”

“Certainly not!” Nayson waved him off. “You know, as much as I hate to see you go, Astra, I delight in knowing you’ll get your eyes on the Sun firsthand.”

“I worry I’ll burst into flames.”

Both men chuckled at this, though she wasn’t sure she was joking. The commander seemed to read the trepidation on her face.

“We’ll make sure you’re properly protected, Princess.”

“Astra,” she sighed.

“Pardon?”

“Call me Astra,” she said. “I hate Princess. It just feels… silly.”

Luxuros leaned back in his chair, bringing his coffee cup to his lips. “Silly?” he asked after a long sip.

“It’s not like I earned the title. You’re a commander. You’ve battled in wars and led armies. I was born into the right bloodline. Hardly an accomplishment.”

His lips twisted into something like a smile. “I can’t tell if that’s refreshingly self-aware or very irritating.”

“Not the first nor last time you’ll wonder that of me, Commander.” Astra sipped her coffee, watching him decide if he wanted to spar.

He was much easier to take out here in the open air, though she felt every bit of space close between them as he leaned forward. He took a long drag of his coffee, closing his eyes and enjoying the spiced roast.

“Gods, it’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good cup of coffee. We have a market in Mercury open to all the courts, but I rarely have time to make it down to the Earthen stall. Do you import it to the palace?”

Astra could bow out of this conversation for the next two hours and they’d still be going when she came back. Her father could talk about the nuances of coffee for days.

“I was raised by coffee farmers,” Nayson said. “I’m the first in seven generations to leave the farm. I had every intention of returning after the Earthen civil war, but a certain Lunar princess changed my plans.” A wide grin broke across his face at the mention of Oestera.

Luxuros scoffed. “If I had a silver for every time I heard that lately.” His eyes briefly landed on the ring on Astra’s hand, a scarlet blush rising over her neck.

She listened as they discussed the Earthen traditions they missed most, the best views of the sunrise, foods they hadn’t had in years, but she struggled to focus on both what they said and keeping her head about the commander’s heat.

“Astra?”

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I missed what you said.”

“Lux asked if you had a note for the king he could add to his package to Pluto this morning.”

“Oh!” She flushed again, realizing she had completely forgotten about Mirquios’s letter. “Yes,” she responded confidently. “I’ll get that to you as soon as possible.”

“I’m on my way to the post station next. I don’t want to miss the morning drop. I can stop by your study on my way?”

“I’ll have to catch tomorrow’s send,” Astra admitted. “I haven’t quite finished my response.”

Nayson’s head tilted. “How is the king finding Pluto?”

“Uh, fine, I suppose,” she said.

The commander’s brows slipped toward each other. “Is that what he told you?”

Astra set her face into a hardened mask she learned from her own mother. “I prefer to keep our conversations private, thank you.”

“Of course,” Luxuros said, returning to his breakfast. “Apologies.”

If she had looked at either of the men, she would have caught a curious glance between them, so quick she would have thought she misread it.

But she did not.

She was too busy composing a letter to the king in her mind, stuck on what to say other than she hoped his travels were smooth.