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Chapter Forty-One

A stra teetered on her heels outside of the Celestial Hall, the room beyond the doors already bubbling with a myriad of colors and speculation. A trial was always a spectacle, beginning with her sister’s trial ball, an occasion her mother had spared not a single extravagance for.

She’d watched the maidens spend weeks on the delicate starry decor, watched her mother pass over a dozen floral arrangements that were not big enough, strong enough, enough, enough, enough.

Though she was drowning in a spectrum of worries, no one was as conflicted as the king on her arm, his lips twisted against the anxious purples rolling over his shoulders.

“Are you ready for this to be over?” she asked.

“I’m ready for all of it to be over.” Mirq smiled weakly, the hurricane of nerves tinged with golden sparkling hope dancing in his chest.

“Here’s to your last night pretending to be in love with me.” She extended her hand to wrap around his arm as he rolled his eyes.

“It’s not all pretend. You’re family, whether you like it or not. Lunelle aside, I’ve known Luxuros for thirty years. He is my brother in every way that matters. Whomever he chooses to shine his light on will always have a place in my court.”

She blushed at his sentiment, unprepared for his outright embracing of their tangled relationships.

“You know,” she mused as they watched the hall fill with courtiers. People filtered in from all corners of the universe, their glittering gowns throwing multicolor rainbows across the floors. “You may just be the only man good enough for my sister.”

Mirquios’s eyes held hers, a sorrow pooling behind them. “Let us hope that’s still true tomorrow.”

The benefit of being the second-born heir and settled on the arm of a king was that Astra was no longer the object of the court’s curiosity.

She could watch and observe—follow stolen glances and intrigued stares, listen to trite gossip between maidens as they circulated the room, and no one watched her with their judging eyes.

By the time the evening ended, that would no longer be true, but for the moment, she could rest in a low tide.

It helped that no matter where she roamed, no matter what circle she inserted herself into, she felt that eternal thread pull and release as Lux trailed. He kept his back to the walls of the ballroom, his eyes on everyone and everything as she and Mirquios played the doting couple.

Lux let his thoughts slide over the Tether.

Teasing chuckles as he watched her fuss with her champagne glass or force a laugh at a councilwoman’s flat joke.

She’d never craved the kind of security he offered before, but now, it was unfathomable that she ever walked this realm without him to anchor her soul.

He felt the emotion pour from her. She was sure of it. His eyes slid over hairpieces and tiaras to find hers, his lip twitching in a sacred smile only for Astra’s eyes.

Selenia had to show up. This had to work. She would fling herself off the cliffs of Celene before she condemned her sister to live a lifetime without the same heart-stopping attachment.

“Princess Lunelle Silverswan Aurellis, the future Queen of the Lunar Court. May the Mother bless her Within and Without.”

Three hundred pairs of eyes turned at once to the top of the grand staircase in the center of the room.

Lunelle’s sparkling cosmic gown painted her an angel as she descended into the crowd.

Her heart soared as she caught Mirquios beaming, and then plunged to the depths of the sea when Arcas stood at the base of the steps, his cerulean arm offered to her.

“Steady,” Astra whispered as Mirquios’s body lit in enraged flames. “You can do anything for one dance.”

He didn’t respond, but his grip on her hand loosened slightly. Lunelle and Arcas swept across the dance floor, sparkling stars floating off her gown and slipping through the air in a meteor shower.

As they turned about the room, the strings of the orchestra swelled with the same heightened anxiety Astra felt in her heart.

When exactly is Selenia supposed to join us? Lunelle beamed, her voice fraught with the tension running through her spine as she carried herself and Arcas across the floor.

We didn’t set an exact time. You can do this.

We may not even have to rely on her. I think Mirq’s glare might vaporize Arcas and solve the problem for us.

Astra smirked. And that’s with my attempts to calm him.

I only hope you find a love like this one day, Astra.

One day.

She could tell her. Lunelle had trusted her with her deepest secret. But something stopped Astra, a gut feeling she couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t the same with them. Lunelle and Mirquios certainly had bad luck, but they weren’t forbidden in the all-powerful-gods-will-kill-them-for-touching sense.

“You two should join them.” Oestera appeared behind Mirquios, shooing the pair toward the dance floor.

Mirquios held her hand high as he bowed his head and searched for the rhythm to step in time with the orchestra. His hand rested on the small of her back as he spun her in a delicate arc.

Tell the king to watch that hand. Lux’s voice rumbled through her mind like a late Summer rain. She searched for him as they rocked back and forth, Mirq spinning her out and back in.

She caught Lux just behind the crowd, watching them closely. He smiled from his station against one of the pillars coated in moonblossoms, arms folded across his chest as other couples flooded the floor.

She caught his eyes. You could cut in. It wouldn’t be so odd, would it? You’re a leader of my soon-to-be court.

Lux scoffed, she couldn’t hear him across the ballroom but she could see his eyes crinkle. That blush of yours would give us away in an instant. And even if you could control yourself around me, I’m not sure I could do the same.

“I’d love if you two could at least keep your drooling behind closed doors,” Mirquios muttered.

She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m so sorry!”

“Mmhmm,” he grumbled, dipping Astra low. As her head fell back, she saw a whip of white gauze parting the sea of courtiers. A rush of whispers around the room followed the shift of energy at the edge of the crowd—brilliant swaths of red and blue swirled through their chests.

“Shit,” Mirq hissed, pulling her back up as Selenia stood at the edge of the dance floor, her hands on her hips. “Showtime.”

Oestera cut across the ballroom as dancers froze, their eyes trained on the ethereal goddess soaking up every drop of light in the room.

“Lunelle,” Selenia cooed, her voice dripping with honey and venom. Her hands outstretched to cup Lunelle’s chin, placing a soft kiss on each cheek.

“Grandmother.” Lunelle bowed, her tiara glinting in the moonlight above.

“What an exciting celebration!” Selenia announced, her voice taking over the orchestra as the strings cut to an abrupt stop.

She cast a stare at Oestera, ice in her eyes. “No need to stop on my account! I’m merely here to deliver a message on behalf of the Court Above.” Oestera stopped dead in her tracks and Arcas searched for her, his eyes narrowing as Selenia began speaking again.

“We’ve been waiting with bated breath to see who our champions will be, but it seems my daughter has failed to provide much competition for your hand, my dear girl.” Selenia held Lunelle’s silver-gloved hand, squeezing it to make a point.

Whatever color might exist within her mother’s heart drained.

Selenia continued, “We try not to involve ourselves unless absolutely necessary, of course, but that time has come.”

Oestera maintained a perfect mask of composure as her heart raged.

“You there, Mercurian child, look how you’ve grown under the harsh Sun. Your great-grandmother was just bragging to us at a party about how excited they are for a Lunar Queen.” Selenia held her hand out for Mirquios, who did not have to act terrified. It came quite naturally.

Astra relinquished her hold on him. He tentatively stepped toward her, joining the Lunar Goddess in the middle of the floor.

“I understand there’s an arrangement made here already, but Astra, my dear girl, surely you understand that bigger games are at play?”

Astra nodded slowly, unsure of how she should be reacting. The confusion aided in the illusion as Oestera’s eyes flickered between them, horror rolling off her. Nayson was ready to burst.

“Mercury has proven themselves worthy of a Lunarian woman already, but perhaps the Lunar Court needs young Mirquios’s eyes more than Pluto’s... modest offering.”

Arcas’s temper flared, his lips tightening, but he was raised in the same calculated void they all were—his muscle memory snapped his rage into submission.

Selenia sneered at him. “I suppose only the trial will tell.”

“Mother—”

Selenia held her hand up to Oestera’s face, silencing her in a way Astra had never seen done. “It is decided, Oestera. What happens tomorrow is up to Fate.”

“But Astra… the Tether?—”

Selenia’s eyes trained on Astra, a blaze of holy fire within them.

“Sometimes we get things wrong, Oestera. Surely you can understand that. Astra is a strong girl. She’ll do whatever it takes to secure her court, will she not?”

Astra nodded, swallowing, reminding herself that this should be devastating. She let a single tear fall, wiping it gently with her gloved hand.

“There we have it. Mirquios is to compete in the trial against Arcas, and we’ll have a real show to watch in the Court Above. Although...” Every eye in the room slid from Selenia’s face to Astra’s, then to Lunelle’s in synchronized disbelief.

The sharp edge in her tone dragged over Astra’s skin like a blade.