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Chapter Thirty-Four

A s she stepped into the basement, Astra realized she’d never seen Lunelle in pants.

Gone was the demure princess who nodded and smiled at all the right moments. Before them was a warrior queen, seconds away from destroying each of them.

Lunelle was wrapped in black leather, her hair braided into a tight crown at the top of her head, glowing softly as she pulled back her hood. Her eyes glowed with a rage that felt an awful lot like Oestera’s.

Maeve’s eyes danced at the sight of her, darting quickly between the four of them. “Well, now. What a strange turn of events.”

“We had a deal,” Lunelle said softly, but sternly, to Mirquios.

The king gestured toward Astra. “I’m not breaking any of our rules.” His tone struck a familiar cord in Astra’s ears.

“Did she walk here?” Lunelle asked, pointing to her sister. It was perhaps the angriest Astra had ever seen her. “I was clear about taking her into the Rift, Mirq.”

The edge in Lunelle’s tone took Astra by such surprise, she physically stumbled. Lux’s hand reflexively reached for her shoulder to steady her.

“Lu,” Mirquios started, holding his hands out to calm her. Her silver eyes flashed with another lightning bolt of rage.

“Good gods, Mirquios, now you’ve pissed them both off.” Maeve clicked her tongue and chuckled as she crossed the room. “Who do you put your money on for the final blow, Commander? Fire or Ice?”

“Fire.” His gaze settled on Astra’s bewildered expression. “Always Fire.”

“I need everyone in this room to start talking, now,” Astra hissed, her blood boiling in her ears. The tension in each of their carefully guarded hearts hit a point that even the strongest of their shields couldn’t contain, drowning her in purples and reds.

“As,” Lunelle said, her voice falling into a softer note. “You need to get back home. It’s not safe for you here.”

“Mother above, not you, too. I’m so sick of everyone telling me what I need to do with zero explanation!”

“The basement is yours,” Maeve said to Astra, moving for the stairs. “I just got things cleaned up down here, Fire Queen. I don’t want to return to a disaster.” Maeve climbed the steps behind the barkeep.

Mirquios gravitated toward one of the worn armchairs, settling in as Lux strode to the end of the basement, distancing himself.

The Tether whispered a complaint in Astra’s ribs and she watched as his hand drifted over his chest. Lunelle sank into the seat to Astra’s right, her heart as heavy as ever.

Astra looked at each of them. “If someone doesn’t start speaking, I’ll volunteer you.”

They exchanged glances, but no one spoke.

“Very well.” Astra turned to her sister. “Ladies first.”

Before we speak , Lunelle’s soprano voice rang in her ears. I need your promise that Mother never finds out about anything you hear.

Not telling Mother things is one of my favorite hobbies, Lunelle. Go.

Lunelle reached for her sister’s hand, locking their fingers together like they did as little girls. “May the Mother bless us,” she said.

“Within and Without Oestera’s knowledge.” Astra smiled, the catchphrase of their youth springing back to the forefront of her mind easily.

Lunelle’s eyes narrowed. “Fine,” she inhaled.

“I don’t know where to start!” She let the breath back out, releasing months of tension.

“There is no easy way to say what I want to, and I had planned on having a few more answers before we did this—” she tossed a glare at Mirquios, who blushed a deep shade of crimson, “—but frankly, we’re running out of options and time. ”

She hesitated, her eyes squeezing against tears as a navy well opened within her chest.

“Just tell her,” Lux cut in. “She can handle it.”

Lunelle moved forward, her eyes lowered as she spoke. “I don’t think Selenia is who we think she is.”

“Princess—” Luxuros groaned, but Lunelle shook her head.

She continued. “I spent a lot of time with… people who think differently in Pluto. They heard rumors when Leona died that Selenia sold her out to the Solar God in the Court Above. He didn’t know what she got out of it on her end, but the Outer Courts all hold it as common knowledge that Selenia betrayed Leona and Solan, leading to her death. ”

Astra paced as Lunelle spoke, the buzzing in her bones a confirmation that Lunelle was right. She turned to Lux. “Does she know about the Shadow Bargaining?”

Lux shook his head. “I figured you’d want to brief them.”

“Shadow Bargaining?” Lunelle rose from her chair.

“Ivonne Bloodmoon was researching Selenia. She thinks Mother is covering up the fact that Selenia traded her Shadow to the Nether Queen for some of her power.”

“What would she need more power for? She’s already an Ascended Lunar Goddess!”

Astra sighed. “That’s where we got stuck, too. Lux and I brought a dozen texts back with us from Ellume but we can’t think of a motive. The Outer Courts believe it had something to do with Leona?”

“Will you show me in the morning? I tried to prod Mother on Selenia a few times, but she always clammed up.”

“Of course.”

A silence fell between them, their hearts clouding over with the possibilities.

Lux cleared his throat from the corner of the basement. “There’s something else.”

“Luxuros,” Mirquios warned.

“What is it?” Astra asked.

Lunelle’s eyes cast to the floor as she searched for a crack to melt and disappear into.

“Lunelle,” Astra whispered. “You can tell me anything. I’m your sister.”

Lux rubbed his chest, stepping closer to them. “She deserves to know.”

A deeply troubled crimson embraced Lunelle’s throat as she swallowed.

“While we were away, I Tethered.”

Astra gasped. “Oh gods, not the Plutonian!” She rubbed her temples, pushing down the bile in her throat. There was something off about Arcas, something she couldn’t understand, something?—

“Not Arcas,” Mirquios said, his eyes closing as he let out a slow breath.

Astra stared at the space between them, their bodies leaning toward each other unconsciously.

Orbiting one another.

“As,” Lunelle whispered, her chest swelling with all of the suppressed colors she’d been holding back from her sister. The only set of eyes Astra cared to look for flickered over her, his burning amber irises assuring her he hadn’t told their secret.

That she shouldn’t tell it now.

Lunelle bit her bottom lip, unable to look away from her sister as she absorbed the information. Mirquios left his perch from the wall and set a hand on her shoulder.

With all the gentleness of a king attempting to prevent war, he explained, “I never would have agreed to our deal and put you in such a precarious position if I so much as suspected. I’d crossed paths with your sister a dozen times before we left. I never dreamed…”

He glanced down at her, a slip of rose smoke rising to his lips as he smiled.

“We were trying to find a solution,” Lunelle whispered. “A way to sever it. We weren’t going to tell you until we had a plan.” Another glare left Lunelle’s face, but her hand rose to rest on Mirquios’s, and at once Astra saw it.

The portrait of a king and queen perfectly suited for each other. Their mild temperaments and soft pastel hearts swirled into a jade breeze.

“Oh.” She let the vision wash over her.

Lunelle’s eyes welled with tears, but before they could spill over Astra felt a snap inside her lungs, and a whoosh of relief flooded into her bloodstream, springing forth from her chest in the form of hysterical laughter.

“Oh my gods,” she cried, falling into a chair and covering her mouth. “Oh,” she laughed again, her face twisted in horror. “No wonder you’ve been so strange!”

Lunelle let a short chuckle escape. “The day you told me you Tethered to Mirquios I felt a piece of me die. I thought it was because I was losing you… but I think I was losing both of you and didn’t even realize it.

We’ve had every historian we know between the two of us hunting for a way to sever the Tether. ”

“No!” She stood, pushing the chair back behind her. “You shouldn’t! You can’t!”

Lunelle shook her head. “Well, we certainly cannot?—”

“Yes, you can! It makes perfect sense, Lu. You’re both so similar, so calm. Like tranquil seas.”

“Boring,” Mirquios snorted. “You mean?”

“No,” she laughed. “The world needs more of you two and less of my uncontrolled burn, I assure you. And besides, it’s not like we had chemistry on our side.

I’d begun to wonder if I could go the rest of my life without—” Astra cut herself off, blushing.

Mirquios frowned, but it was the strain in Lux’s forearms as he gripped the back of a chair that caught her eye. “Sorry.”

Mirquios sighed. “I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t been a concern for me, too. Forever is a long time.”

Astra nodded. “Indeed.”

“So you’re not angry? Or hurt?” Lunelle watched her face closely.

Astra shook her head. “Who am I to fight Fate?” Her eyes darted toward the commander in time to see his lips twitch in a pained smile.

“We signed no contracts, there are no hard feelings on my end. I assume Mirquios told you the truth of our deal? And it’s not the first broken engagement Mother has navigated.

” The thoughts rushed out. “This is a good thing, sister.”

Lunelle sighed. “It’s a tad more complex.”

“Arcas,” Mirquios muttered. Ah, the Plutonian Prince.

“Your mother is determined to marry Lunelle off to him. She does not know anything transpired between us. I didn’t want to erode her trust in you.

When the Tether happened, it caught us both off guard.

We were so in shock we didn’t speak for three days. ”

His mouth tilted into that smooth smile, the one that until five minutes ago promised her a kind, if not unremarkable, future.

“Wait,” she turned to him. “You said she knows why we’re here.” Astra turned back to Lunelle. “How!” It wasn’t a question so much as a shocked exclamation.