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Chapter Eighteen

E llume’s temple was only a short jaunt from the Crescent Manor, but Daria insisted they take the underground tunnels.

Just in case.

Ameera and Astra left Luxuros with the Nova Rebels, climbing a rickety staircase to the surface of the city. They stood at the entrance to the temple’s thick gardens, wondering what the Nether they thought they were doing.

Ameera released a slow breath. “You still feel good about the plan?”

“No,” Astra laughed, a tangle of scarlet nerves tightening in her chest. “But let’s do it.”

The lavender temple pillars loomed over the desolate street.

A decade ago, the park surrounding it teemed with colorful blossoms and gurgling fountains in the Summer.

Today, it was quiet. Tangled branches hooked around dormant springs, like skeletal fingers desperately searching for something to hold onto.

“Where is everyone?” Astra asked.

“I’d heard rumors of Ellume’s decline, but never imagined this.”

“Ivonne’s gotten too comfortable here. My mother’s absence has allowed her to bleed the city dry.”

Ameera and Astra approached the temple steps, breaking through the trees and landing at a long hallway, open to the sea breeze.

Carved goddesses watched as they quickly walked through the ivy-coated pillars, a few maidens strewn about performing their morning prayers.

No one seemed to notice the princess and her maiden as they scooted through a large altar that hadn’t been swept clean in some time.

Labradorite lamps remained unlit along the halls, a few sparking to life as they entered the center of the temple.

An oblong table cut from iridescent quartz jutted out at all angles in the middle of the room, punctuated with altars to several Lunar Goddesses.

Astra approached the altar and Ameera reflexively reached for the small bag of rosy pink stones she carried.

She offered one to Astra who took it and left it at the base of a worn statue of her grandmother, her shoulders sloped in the same heavy disappointment her mother carried.

“May the mothers who came before bless us,” Astra mumbled.

“Within and without,” Ameera answered.

“Princess?” A shocked voice bounced around the table from the hall as a temple maiden approached, her soft slippers swishing against the shiny floors.

“Good morning,” Astra called, seeing the rise of crimson panic in her chest. “Don’t be alarmed! I know this is a surprise.”

“Oh!” The maiden sighed. “I was worried I’d missed a crucial communication.” Her nerves twisted into bundles of flickering reds and oranges as she stood before them, her deep complexion reflecting the rainbows of the quartz, citrine, and flourite pieces on the table.

“What is your name?” Astra asked gently.

“Helena.”

“Helena,” she repeated, making sure to drip the last syllable with a honey sweetness. “So lovely to meet you. Can you do me a favor and let Ivonne know I require an audience with the council?”

Helena’s dark eyes widened. “Of—of course, Princess.” She disappeared into the hallway she came from, her tangled nerves tightening.

I’ll buy you whatever time I can, Astra beamed to Ameera, who slipped away and down the opposite hall, aiming for the temple’s library.

Helena returned with two glasses of water, setting them on the table as she glanced around the room. “My maiden will be back shortly. She wanted to pray in the gardens.”

“Of course, Princess. Ivonne and the council are assembling. You’re welcome to wait here?—”

“Won’t be necessary. I know my way, Helena.”

Astra flashed her a saccharine smile and hustled down the hallway into the council chambers.

The room’s energy was very similar to the Celestial Hall back home, but the similarities ended there.

Where the Celestial Hall allowed for a splendid view of the Empyrean Sea, the Ellumian chambers were closed off, basking in dim torchlight along walls that boasted portraits of High Priestesses and queens from years gone.

The room dripped in crystals around a metallic dais with a stately amethyst throne, one that Ivonne enjoyed sitting upon far too much. She’d beat everyone else into the room and took the opportunity to test out the chair.

It was quite comfortable, even if she hated looking down on the rest of the eight seats below.

Councilwomen trickled in as their maidens informed them of Astra’s arrival, wrapped in icy blue robes and necklaces boasting Ellume’s stunning aquamarines, plucked from the cliffs below the city.

She smiled as they entered, filling in their seats at the table and whispering their plans for the upcoming Full Moon.

If you can locate a ledger of the councilors’ salaries, snag that, too. Astra beamed to Ameera as she listened to them discuss which of their homes they thought had the best views of the Harvest Moon.

“Princess!” A silken voice spilled into the room, snapping Astra’s attention from the councilors to the doorway.

Ivonne bowed, her ample curves hugged by velvet and pale lavender hair twisted into a dozen braids falling down her back.

Her eyes flickered from the full chairs below the dais to Astra, who pointed toward a maiden at the door.

“You, what is your name?”

The maiden blushed, shocked that the princess was speaking to her. Her chest exploded in bright yellows and pinks. “Me? Shoshanna.”

“Shoshanna, might I bother you to scrounge up a seat for the High Priestess?”

She nodded, half-bowing her way out of the room as she rushed to do as requested. Astra let the room rot in silence, Ivonne’s lips twisting into a tighter knot by the second as a bitter scarlet bloomed in her ribs.

“There we are,” Astra chirped as Shoshanna returned with a chair from the temple, unsure where to set it.

“Right there is fine,” Astra assured her, gesturing toward the end of the row of councilors before her.

Shoshanna set the chair down, its thin legs wobbling against the onyx marble.

A ripple of nervous laughter escaped the women, the exact energy Astra had hoped to produce.

“Right,” she began, setting her shoulders back. “Now that Ivonne is settled in, we have an urgent matter to discuss.”

Ivonne’s hazel eyes narrowed. “So urgent your mother couldn’t make it down to join us?”

Astra shrugged. “The queen is otherwise engaged. She sent me to investigate the strange rumors we’ve heard up north.”

“Rumors?” a councilwoman asked, her chest flickering an ill shade of green.

“Well, let’s not call them rumors,” Astra sighed. “That would imply they might be false, and unfortunately, from what I’ve seen over the last twenty-four hours since my arrival, they are decidedly true.”

Ivonne chewed on her lip.

“Of course, I may not have confirmed them if I’d come in through the city gates or the roosts. But as luck would have it, a curious set of arrows sent me into the Rift on my way in. Ivonne, would you like to venture a guess as to where those arrows originated?”

The High Priestess tilted her head, her heart sinking into a murky charcoal ocean. “The rebels are under control, as I’ve told your mother?—”

Astra held up a hand. “The rebels are next on my set of grievances. The arrows were Solarian, Ivonne. Now, how in the Nether would a Solarian manage to find their way not just into my court, but your city?”

Ivonne glanced sideways at the councilwoman next to her, a tight string in her spine pulling her shoulders together.

“Princess,” she said, orange irritation curling within her gut. “Her Royal Highness has made every indication that she trusts my leadership during this tumultuous time. Just last month at the Summer summit, she?—”

“Enough,” Astra said, her chin held high as the command fell from her lips.

“For someone so vocally unimpressed by my mother’s leadership, you sure seem to think I’ll be assuaged by her clear lack of interest in what goes on behind Ellume’s walls.

We both know her absence has emboldened you to pillage this city. Look at what you’ve allowed to happen!”

“You don’t know what you speak of.”

“I know much more than you think?—”

“That goes for both of us!” Ivonne rose from her chair. “You know, we hear rumors too, Princess. Did you hear of the Lunarian who set her own mother on fire during a petty argument?”

Ivonne spoke slowly, rhythmically as she drew near Astra’s perch, lathering judgment in her ancient palms. Astra’s pulse throbbed under her skin, racing as the memory fought for air in her mind.

Lunelle’s horrified scream had echoed off her sternum. Oestera hadn’t even flinched as her robes went up in flames. She held Astra’s gaze as the heat licked at her, unaffected by the heartbreak that fueled her daughter’s rage.

It was over before it even started—a maiden had been standing just a breath away, watering the plants in the dining hall.

But it hadn’t mattered.

She’d still done it.

Astra shook her head. “Sounds like someone I wouldn’t want to piss off.”

“Hmm,” Ivonne said as she crossed the room. “You see, to me , it sounds like yet another traitor in a long line of women who wouldn’t know the first thing about protecting their court.”

Astra scoffed. “You sure you want to talk about mother-daughter loyalty, Ivonne?”

Something in her eyes flashed, so slightly, so impossibly subtly that no one else in the room would know the violet fear that gripped her by the throat. She swallowed her irritation and decided it was in her best interest to move forward.

“What did you really come here for, Princess?”

I found where they’re keeping Lumas , Ameera beamed. And some information I think will be helpful.

“I came to see for myself what’s happened to a once beautiful city. Shame, I’ll have to report such conditions back to my mother.”

Ivonne’s face reddened. “That would concern me if your mother ever deigned to leave her throne and do something about the infections spreading in her court. Alas, we both know I have no reason to worry.”