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“Not long,” Maeve said, folding her arms across her chest. “I’m more concerned about the Court Above than Solan at this point. With Luxuros here, there’s a chance we can actually get him on our side. But the gods? They’ve been trying to prevent this for centuries.”

Astra pushed. “If everything we’ve learned about the Divine Throne is true, and the Tethers between us.

.. how many other Solar and Lunar demigods are just going about their daily lives, with no idea of the power running in their veins?

If we could get Solan to understand the truth, to see what we’re really up against.. .”

“We can’t rely on him,” Oestera muttered. “We don’t know how bad it is. His madness was intolerable thirty years ago and it’s only had decades to fester, Astra.”

“But it’s not impossible,” she insisted. “In theory?’

Nayson cut through them. “It’s not impossible, but it’s not probable.”

She glanced at Lux, who sat quietly, his hands tucked in his lap. Astra paced behind him, touching his shoulder as she spoke again.

“None of this was up to probability. It was predestined. I don’t think there’s anyone in this room that believes all of this was accidental.”

“What are you suggesting?” Lunelle asked.

Astra set her face, mimicking her mother’s queenly mask she’d studied her whole life.

“I’m suggesting that we do what none of you could for thirty years.

We tell people the truth. And we do it quickly.

We make a bold declaration and topple the Lunar Court.

Rebuild it from the ground up. Show the other courts what’s possible, and tell them exactly what’s preventing them from all living much better lives.

.. maybe we wouldn’t need Solan’s buy-in at all.

If enough Solarians knew the truth, maybe that’s all it takes.

You said yourself, we’re the stewards of the Living Courts’ sentiments…

if we rebelled… wouldn’t that spread like wildfire amongst the human realms? ”

Oestera’s gaze held hers from across the table, a tangle of complex colors weaving into a tapestry she’d have to learn to read.

“We bear a responsibility to the Living Courts to be thoughtful, but revolutions do not come without bloodshed. You’re the queen now,” she said, her tone strong despite a nervous current rising over her shoulders.

“For however long you decide to hold the title. You tell us what to do, and we’ll do it. ”

A thrill rose in Astra’s chest, alluring—not at all the fear she expected to feel.

“I want all the Nova chapter leaders assembled immediately,” she said, looking to Maeve and Alastair.

Alastair’s lips twisted into a satisfied smirk. “Right away, Your Highness.”

As he exited the room, Maeve hot on his trail, Astra fell back into a chair near her mother, crossing her ankles and stretching her arms.

“Mother?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Who in the Nether is Alastair?”

Oestera’s eyes closed softly, a choked laugh escaping from her chest as she turned to Lux. A lapis sadness pooled in her eyes.

“I am so sorry, Luxuros. I feel we’ve handed you an endless parade of life-altering news over the last day and I’m sure you’re reeling, but you should know this, too.

When your father was younger—before he met your mother, before he met Leona—he was attached to a Jovian dignitary, a young woman named Naomi.

She presided over one of Jupiter’s moons and, though she was not a demigoddess, she practiced very similar Lunar customs. Humans rarely realize how powerful they actually are, and Lucian would not hear of it.

He felt she polluted the Solar Court with her intuitive abilities. So he sent her away.

“None of us knew about Alastair until The Flare. He was one of the Jovian courtiers lost in the Rift. He didn’t know the truth about his lineage until his Ascension, and I believe my mother used his powers to her advantage after severing her tie to Lucian.

He had been a young recruit of the original Nova rebellion, and when he arrived in the Court Above, he immediately contacted us. We’ve been working together since.”

Astra shook her head. “So Alastair is... he’s?—”

“He’s my half-brother.” Lux nodded as if this made the most sense in the world.

“Yes,” Oestera murmured, patting his hand. “We don’t believe Solan knows of his birth, but we’ve never been able to confirm it. His abilities with dreams have been extremely useful to us as we’ve bided our time.”

Astra felt a blush creep over her, her eyes flickering over Lux’s face.

“Is that what caused all the dreams? His meddling?”

“What dreams?” Nayson asked, his interest piqued.

Luxuros shook his head, eyes still glued to the table.

“No dreams,” he muttered, his throat closing around yet another secret.

Lunelle’s quiet giggle beside her was all the answer Astra needed, but she clarified anyway.

“I think every Tethered couple has those dreams, As.” She cast a longing stare toward Mirquios who looked about as mortified as Lux did.

“Ah, of course,” Astra cleared her throat. “Ameera? Should we prepare for the Nova Captains’ arrivals? I think... you’re in charge of that sort of thing now?”

Her eyes slipped toward her mother, who nodded subtly.

“Right away,” Ameera grinned, unable to hide her excitement as she bounded from the room.

“If I could have the room, I think the commander and I have a few things to discuss,” Astra said.

They wasted no time clearing the space.

* * *

“I know we’ve both taken in a lot of new information,” Astra started, sitting beside him and resting her hand on his knee.

“I have no expectations of you to forge ahead with my plans, Luxuros. You went from Mercurian Commander to Solar Prince with a whole-ass family and history in twenty-four hours. A complex one.”

“Yes,” he said quietly, nodding his head, his eyes unfocused. “All of that is true.”

Astra snorted, dropping her carefully curated tone and finding her own voice—the one that softened at the sight of his lips twisting into a frown.

“Are you fucking okay , Lux?”

“I don’t know,” he laughed, turning his amber eyes to hers. “I will be. But Astra, I’m a bigger threat to you than we ever feared. Just being in your court is an act of war at this point! I can’t be selfish about this.”

“It’s not my court.”

“It is your court, Astra. You are the leader they need right now.”

“It’s my court for the next few hours, Luxuros. After that, it’s the people’s court, and we need you here. I need you here.”

He leaned forward, resting his head against the table, weighing his question.

“You’d really give it up? The throne, the power? All of it? You’d be opening everyone up to total destruction from the Court Above. Do you realize that?”

Astra flinched. “Of course, I realize that. I’m not making the decision for my own benefit! I’m making the decision to stop the madness, Luxuros. If we don’t do it, who will? How many more generations have to suffer before we finally take them on?”

Lux’s eyes closed, his chest locking up in a thousand warring emotions. She stood, anger bubbling up under her skin that needed movement to think clearly. She circled the table as he stretched his massive frame over the back of his chair, the wear from the last day showing in the lines of his face.

“We know too much to just go back now. You wanted to be a rebel, Commander. Don’t lose sight of that now because you’re scared of losing me. That is the selfish decision.”

Lux let this sink in, a familiar misery washing over him.

“Your Highness?” A maiden knocked at the door. “The Nova Captains are assembling in the Celestial Hall.”

“Thank you.” Astra turned to leave.

He caught her hand as she brushed by his chair.

“I will not take the Lunar Throne,” Lux murmured, hardly audible.

His voice dropped so low it sent a shiver over her spine.

Astra’s heart sank, the words shredding the muscles between her ribs.

She didn’t want the throne, but she especially didn’t want it without him by her side.

“But I think you should. You cannot overthrow your own monarchy in one night. We need to buy some time.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” she said, trying to concentrate as an intriguing red wave within him crackled to life.

The silence settled between them as she ran a hand through his hair, letting the silver streak slip between her fingertips.

“Make me the Solar Captain.”

Her hand froze against his temple. “What?”

“The Solar Nova Captain. That I know how to do.”

Astra stared at his face, resolute in his decision.

“Done.”

He tangled his fingers between hers, bringing her hand to his lips.

She searched his eyes, swirling with shock and confusion and pain.

Trailing her fingers over his cheek, she placed a soft kiss against his worn expression.

His fingers snaked over her back, breath stilted as she moved her mouth over his.

“I need you to try something,” she whispered. “When Solar and Lunar demigods Tether, they inherit each other’s abilities… the light between us in Celene—what else are you capable of?”

Lux leaned back, his lips twisted together as he concentrated.

“I can see the slightest hint of color when I think of you.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “That’s how it was when I was a kid. Just barely there. But the more I tried to identify the colors, the easier it got.”

“What’s the rosy pink? In your chest?”

She pressed into him, closing as much space between their bodies as possible, letting the delicate hue rise within her as she tangled her fingers into his hair. The soft pink glow consumed her, a glittering silver thread dancing through the middle.

She swallowed as she felt it glowing within him, too.

“ That , Commander, is the kind of love gods tear rifts through time and space for.”