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Chapter Twenty-One

“C am won’t want him here,” Ameera said as Astra slid off her horse, leading her through the crumbling gates of Celene’s facade.

No one shuffled within the small village at the late hour, but Astra and Ameera knew a spotter was probably on her way to the city below to alert the council of their presence.

“I can handle myself,” the commander said. “I’ll camp.”

Astra twisted toward him, struck by a need to show him the city they’d built, a craving to see Celene through his disapproving glare.

“You can’t camp out here. I’ve been shot at in these woods more times than I can count. I need you to understand that the women in this city are my family , they are my top priority, and if ears outside of the rebellion were to hear about them?—”

She cut herself off, unwilling to imagine the things that could happen. “You will not speak to anyone unless spoken to. You will not make eye contact. You will not tell a soul what, or who, you’ve seen, okay?”

“I understand, As,” Luxuros said, a softness in his tone she hadn’t heard before.

“I still don’t think Cam will appreciate the surprise,” Ameera said, looking out over the cliffs for signs of life.

She was right. Cameren would be worried on behalf of the women she’d sworn to protect. It would take more than just his word to make them feel safe.

“A blood oath,” Astra barked, her eyes falling to his hands. She reached for the sharp pin in her hair, releasing the knot at her neck into a waterfall of curls. She held her hand in front of his face, pressing the blade into her palm. The same blade that had been in his neck not so long ago.

It was reckless—would he even care if she tied her life to his honor? But it was the insurance she needed. Celene needed.

Ameera balked as Luxuros stared at her, taken aback by her swift movement. He folded his arms as he eyed her.

“That seems a tad dramatic, Astra, even for you.”

“These women deserve to feel safe, Commander. They need to be certain.” She held his gaze, drawn into the intensity behind his eyes as she stepped closer, toe to toe with his worn leather boots. “If you’re squeamish?—”

A dark laugh rippled through him as he glared at her and shoved his sleeve up his arm, the pink hatchling scars already sealing themselves over.

“Please, Princess. I’ve bled for you before, I’ve no problem doing it again.”

She didn’t notice his right hand wrap around the handle of the dagger he kept on his hip, slicing the flesh of his palm open in a rapid movement that startled her.

His jaw hardly twitched as he shoved his bleeding palm forward and flipped the dagger in his other hand, sheathing it before Astra could let out the breath she held.

Astra carved a shallow line into her flesh, extending her hand to meet his. “You will never speak of Celene or anything you see within her walls. You will protect them like your own, as long as we both breathe.”

The commander nodded, wrapping his large hand over hers as a searing pain gripped their nerves.

As they touched, a sizzle and pop made them both jump, as if a bolt of lightning struck between the wounds.

Just as quickly, a soft warmth spread over her hand, easing the sharp pull of the raw wound as she pulled away.

Astra’s brows furrowed, her mouth falling open to ask a dozen questions, but she paused when she saw the same confusion settle over his jaw.

“Well, then,” Ameera huffed, rolling her eyes. “If that doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will.”

Astra rubbed at her palm, marveling at the way the skin fused back together as Ameera charged ahead through the silent village. They wove beyond the dilapidated homes, no fires warming them, and traced a path Astra knew well even in the dark.

Her boots gripped the cliff’s loose gravel as she stared out over the Somnia slipping away into the sea.

“Where is everyone?” Luxuros asked, his eyes narrowing in the night.

Astra smirked. He was looking the wrong way, exactly as they hoped.

The river’s sweeping beauty made for a sparkling distraction, leaving the city built into the cliffs below to slumber peacefully unnoticed.

Astra pointed to a small wooden cart tucked into the edge of the cliff, just a short hop from the ledge.

She dropped onto the platform, followed by Ameera, but the commander hesitated.

“I’m not getting on that thing.”

“It’s fine ,” Astra insisted. “We just had it built last Summer. It beats repelling.”

He eyed her skeptically but dropped over the cliff’s edge onto the platform. Astra did not wait for him to stabilize before pulling the rope overhead and ringing the bell on the ground, laughing quietly as the cart lurched to life and the commander cursed under his breath.

The platform descended several stories, dust from the cliffs crumbling over the handrails as they sank into the canyon.

Astra turned to watch the commander’s face as Celene’s sapphire and jade tower homes came into view, carved into the cliffside.

They descended over the Somnia River and her many rivulets that wandered through the city, carved bridges dotting gardens that sang with the sweet petals of late Summer, early Autumn blooms.

“Unbelievable,” he whispered.

“The Forgotten City used to be a wasteland,” Ameera informed him. “But after decades of neglect, the restoration is quite something.”

“You did this?” Luxuros asked, watching Astra’s face as she scanned the rapidly approaching transfer station.

“I paid for it,” Astra said, shrugging. “The women did the work.”

“She’s being modest,” Sephone chimed as she stepped onto the platform and tied off the cart with a thick rope, extending her arms to wrap Astra into a warm embrace. “We had no pulley system before she got here, and the crystal bridges were her idea. Built from a tower that fell some decades ago.”

“Seph,” Astra mumbled into her hair.

“You brought a friend,” she said tentatively.

“He’s oath-bound,” Astra assured her, holding her palm up, though the wound didn’t appear as fresh as she’d intended. “You can trust him, but we don’t want to cause any upset. Can you bring Cameren here?”

Ameera straightened her back at Cam’s name. “Of course,” Sephone said, breaking into a jog across the platform and disappearing into the nearest tower. She tossed one glance over her shoulder at the commander before disappearing.

Is she still mad? Ameera asked.

In a hot, want to fuck about it, kind of way , Astra thought back, enjoying the caught breath in her friend’s chest.

The commander looked between them but thought better about intervening.

“The Fire Queen returns!” Cameren called as she left the tower, pulling a velvet robe tighter across her slender frame.

Her long, midnight-black curls were twisted into dozens of braids, tied off with quartz beads of all sorts of pinks and blues.

“And she brought a treat.” Cam’s eyes slipped over Ameera.

“And a man ,” she said, unable to keep the word from tilting into a shocked question.

“Sorry for the late-night surprise,” Astra offered.

“It’s probably best this way, fewer eyes around. You should take them to your tower. There’s hardly anyone there these days.”

Astra nodded, though it stung to hear it.

Her tower was overflowing with women when she’d left.

She gestured to the sapphire spire closest to them, a steep staircase winding in a spiral leading up several stories.

Salt from the breeze off the Empyrean clung to the facets carved into the walls as Astra led them to the top floor through a smooth moonstone door, much like the ones in Lunaria.

She’d opened her door to hundreds of women without hesitation at all hours of the night, but shoving the stone inward and taking in her home with the commander behind her sent a flurry of blues and purples across her chest, the vulnerability foreign.

The entry was dark, too dark, as she stumbled against an altar table she’d left covered in dried florals.

She sighed and stilled her breath, letting a whisper of heat leave her fingers before touching them to the sconces in the hall, following a trail of bronze lights to her densely furnished study she’d left in quite a state.

Books and letters lay scattered across her desk.

A bottle of moonshine was still out on her coffee table.

She lit the lanterns around the room and pulled the glass doors open to her balcony, letting the cool night air flow through the silky white curtains.

The study gave way to several other rooms, usually inhabited by various women who didn’t feel like walking home after a few too many drinks and listening to Cam’s wild stories all night, or Sephone’s long, olive fingers dancing across the harp tucked in the corner.

Gods, she thought, I miss it here .

“You can stay in that room,” Astra gestured to a door off the study and then to the one across the hall. “That’s mine.”

Lux shrugged his tense shoulders, setting his eyes on the sofa in the middle of the study. “I can sleep here. Ameera can take the bedroom.”

Astra mumbled as she straightened up piles of books, “I think Ameera will find other arrangements.” She tilted her head toward the balcony, where Luxuros could see two silhouettes through tangled curtains move into one another.

“Oh,” he said quietly. “I suppose I could have pieced that together.”

Astra watched their long limbs twist around one another, a rosy glow blossoming between them and dissolving into a violet layer of yearning. She felt something rise within her as she watched, a pain scraping at the inside of her ribs.

“They’re never ready for each other at the same time. It’s complicated.”

“It always is,” Luxuros responded as he sank into the sofa.

Astra sat across from him, flipping a set of glasses over on a metallic tray and pulling the cork in the moonshine bottle out with her teeth. She poured them each a healthy glass.