Page 1 of Ties of Starlight (Tethered Hearts #2)

P erfection was finally within Idonea's grasp. She was so close, and once she had it, she could finally be happy. It would wash away every agony she’d endured until they’d all faded into the distance. It would all be worth it… if she managed to achieve perfection.

Being close still left a lot of room for error. It was still too early to let her guard down.

She couldn't let herself be happy until she’d secured her ending. With it being the last night before her wedding, there was so much that could still go wrong.

She could still mess everything up.

So she sat perfectly still, a warm smile on her face as she held her back straight and didn't give in to the human urge in her to slouch. She was only half-human, but she needed to be as perfect as the full elves.

But hardly anyone was even looking her way to notice any imperfections, given that dinner was over and the dancing had started. It had taken the servants the better part of the week to set everything up in the castle's courtyard. Tables were spread out for the whole court as well as space cleared for dancing beneath the stars. The white stone was bathed in starlight and star magic. Throughout the courtyard, posts that held little white and lilac balls of light glowed. Little stars illuminated the graceful elves as they danced even more elegantly than they did everything else.

Idonea had finished eating, but she was alone at her table, sitting at the head, on a platform that at least allowed her a nice view of the festivities she could not participate in. It was tradition that the bride of the Cometa Couple did not dance the night before the wedding, and under no circumstances was she to dance with or even speak to her groom.

But she got to watch.

She was so close to being happy. She was so close to having everything she ever wanted. In less than twenty-four hours, she would be back in this courtyard, walking toward the love of her life, marrying him, performing the chain of sacred rituals until they reached the Constellation Pool, strengthening their people’s magic. Once they had, the Star Elves would finally accept her, and then she and her husband would have children, live a wonderfully happy life, and she would go down in history as the Cometa Bride who finally got it right.

At least she got to see her groom even if she didn't get to speak to him.

He was out on the dance floor, twirling an elf maiden around and laughing with her. Olaug. Idonea's heart swelled and her breath caught just looking at him. The soft white and purple light washed over his ornate clothes and made the fabric shine like he was clothed in the stars himself.

He was the most handsome elf Idonea had ever seen, and he was the best of them. That's why he had been selected as the Cometa Groom.

Idonea... she was half-human. That was why she'd been selected.

The bride needed to have some human blood so the couple resembled the original Cometa Couple, Agnarr and Gytha, a Star Elf and a human witch.

As the song came to an end, Idonea straightened back up. She'd started slouching without even noticing—cursed human blood. She couldn't even sit still—

No. She was going to be perfect. No one saw. Even though she had the feeling someone was watching her, it had to be just her nerves. No one ever looked at Idonea. Other than Olaug, and even then, it wasn’t often. She couldn't blame him for not looking at her when he was busy enjoying their party; not to mention he wasn't supposed to dance with her or talk to her.

The elf maiden he'd been dancing with looped her arm with her friend who had been released by her partner and started to make their way back to the table Idonea sat at. They took their seats, the ones closest to Idonea. Both were high ranking noblemen's daughters. Lady Asa and Lady Katla. They'd be part of the entourage for the Cometa Couple’s trip to the Constellation Pool.

Lady Asa was laughing, her voice ringing like bells as she sat down primly and reached for her glass. “Sir Olaug is quite the dancer, Lady Idonea. You will be in good hands, I assure you, for the Heava Dance.”

“It's not ‘Lady’ yet. Not until tomorrow,” Lady Katla said. “Tonight she is still Assistant Librarian Idonea.”

Idonea gave them both polite smiles and said, “Yes. Both are true. Sir Olaug is the best dancer I have ever seen, and I know the Heava Dance will go perfectly because of him. I also do not gain a title until the ceremony tomorrow.”

“While Olaug is an excellent dancer, I wouldn't call him the best,” Lady Asa said, setting the glass back down and waving her hand in a small motion. Idonea was better off keeping her hands in her lap. Her movements were never as small or as graceful as the others.

“Who would you call the best?” Idonea couldn't help the hot rush that went through her, but she did her best to keep it from exploding. However, she couldn’t just let an insult about her beloved pass by.

“Ah. I see. You've never seen him dance, otherwise you wouldn't even be asking.” Lady Katla laughed, her sharp tone grating Idonea’s ears.

Idonea kept her hands clasped together but dug her nails in tightly.

Lady Asa clicked her tongue and said, “King Nyrunn is the best dancer.”

Idonea had to force herself to let go of her hands else she would pierce her skin, start bleeding, and ruin her dress. She forced herself to give them a placid smile. “I have not seen him dance, so I cannot agree.”

“Well, maybe you could say differently if he would get out of his seat and dance with someone. Really, Asa, why has he not asked you to dance yet?”

Idonea had been having such a wonderful night. She'd somehow managed to not even look in the direction of the young king until now. But it was human instinct to look at the subject someone brought up when they were in the area. Idonea was looking at him before she could rein herself in.

He was on the other side of the courtyard, to her right. He was the only male elf who wasn't dancing, or strolling with a maiden on his arm, or standing with a glass in his hand, conversing. No. He was staring right at them.

Right at Idonea.

“I'm not sure. He hasn't asked me to dance in a long time.” Asa subtly glanced toward him. “He hasn't danced with anyone in a long time.”

Now that she knew he was looking at her, she couldn’t shake him off. The back of her neck began to sweat and her heart stuttered.

“Maybe because he's not as good at it as you believe.”

There went her half-human mouth, running away with her again. Even just being reminded of his existence had her tongue loosening.

Katla narrowed her eyes while Asa raised an eyebrow. Asa said, “While it's possible he's rusty, I doubt it. He was too good before.”

“But that doesn't explain why he's not dancing and hasn't danced since his mourning period ended.” Katla turned to Idonea. “It’s been a year, hasn’t it?”

Her wedding would take place an exact year after she'd been selected to be part of the Cometa Couple. Her selection had also been the day King Nyrunn’s required mourning period ended. While he’d been king for a year since King Hrorr’s death, he’d been limited in the functions he could attend and oversee.

When she’d heard King Hrorr had died, Idonea had no idea if she should feel relieved he was finally gone or horrified it meant Nyrunn would be king when the comet arrived.

Idonea looked down at her hands. “Yes, it’s been about a year.”

“Maybe he has no desire to dance anymore. Just because he doesn't have to dress in mourning colors and abstain from certain festivities doesn't mean he's actually stopped mourning,” Asa said.

Now that Idonea had looked at him, she couldn't stop peeking at him from the corner of her eye. He certainly didn't care about decorum as he had one elbow leaned on the table, his sharp jaw resting on it as he was turned in his seat to directly face Idonea's table.

Could he hear them? Idonea knew the full-blooded elves heard much better than she did. King Nyrunn knew it too.

“Not to be indiscreet, but it was no secret King Nyrunn never got along well with his father, especially the last ten years,” Katla said, as if she wasn’t always indiscreet. “He hasn't been himself, but I don't believe for a second it's all grief for a father he never regarded highly in the first place. Everyone knows King Hrorr’s reputation; is it really that hard to believe it was true?”

Not just Hrorr. The whole family was rotten to the core. Hrorr’s brother and son were just like him, or in some cases, worse.

“He has been acting peculiarly for a while now,” Asa said, glancing over at him. “If he wasn't our king, I'd say he was sulking.”

By the way he straightened up and looked back out at the dancers, he was definitely listening to them. He could at least be more subtle.

“Yes. That's one word for it. He's been much quieter than normal. Even during the mourning period, he had some life to him.”

All of that was true. But Idonea wouldn't have it any other way. The old Nyrunn had made her life miserable. The new one finally left her alone.

“He's probably stressed, that's all,” Idonea said. “It’s important for this to go perfectly. ”

“That would make sense, with it starting around the engagement of the Cometa Couple. We can't afford for anything to go wrong this time.” Katla gave Idonea a sharp glare, each word a jab right into her heart. “No one wants another Inga.”

Idonea looked down at the table, fighting the bile rising in her throat. She had to be perfect. She couldn't afford to mess this up. Not after last time.

If she and Olaug didn't complete the ceremonies perfectly—or worse, if they failed to even make it to the Constellation Pool—the Star Elves’ magic would keep weakening, and with two hundred and fifty years between the comet's return, they couldn't afford to lose any more power. They were already weaker than they should be thanks to the failure of the last ritual.

And with the Moon Elves only growing in strength and...

Idonea couldn't fail.

“Has His Majesty said anything to you? Miss Librarian Assistant?” Katla asked. “He still goes there all the time, doesn't he?”

“Not as frequently as before, but at least once a week, and no. He's been less…” She almost called him a pest, but considering he was likely still listening, she had to watch her tongue. She couldn’t trust her position as Gytha’s chosen would protect her from him. “He’s been quieter. Even if he wasn’t, he certainly wouldn’t confide anything in me.” She glanced back over, and he was watching Olaug dancing with one of the serving girls, eyes narrowed. “He is the king. Maybe he is maturing.”

“Can't a king be mature and charming?” Asa asked, sighing as she glanced back over at the king, the starlight shining on the dark blue strands, elegantly pulled up and out of her face .

Idonea started to snort but managed to cut it off the second Katla looked at her with a disgusted expression. Idonea cleared her throat. “I'm afraid that would require him being charming in the first place. He can't be what he never was.”

Katla's eyes widened as Asa tilted her head and said, “You don't find him charming? I know you only have eyes for your husband-to-be, but you can't be serious.”

If they knew Nyrunn the way she did, they would never find him charming. He could also still absolutely hear what she was saying.

So she pushed down her fiery human temper and said, “I'm sure he was very charming with you and the court. I simply saw a different side of him. Why would he waste any of that charm on a half-elf servant?”

Katla was satisfied with that answer, or at least she cared about it less than she did getting back on the floor as the latest song ended. She looked around, trying to catch the eye of a male elf. Idonea idly looked back out as well just in time to see Olaug laughing as he dragged a serving girl away from her duties and out onto the floor.

It didn’t mean anything.

Olaug just liked to dance.

Still, Idonea took a deep breath and dug her fingers into her skirts to steady herself as she watched the love of her life beaming at an elf that wasn’t her.

Katla’s lips curved into a smirk that betrayed her even as she said, “Really, it’s not my place to question the Constella and the selection of the couple, but couldn’t they have chosen an elf with a little more decorum? Or at least the sense not to make such a show of his previous indiscretion?”

Idonea’s stomach twisted as her blood boiled. She sent Katla a vicious glare and snapped, “Those were just rumors, spread by petty, jealous girls who were angry they wouldn’t have the chance to try to win Olaug’s attention.”

Asa glanced between the dancers and Idonea before whispering, “Are you certain? Even if Olaug had truly been caught—”

“I asked him when the rumors started. He told me they weren’t true, and that’s all I’ll be saying on the matter.” Idonea pushed herself out of her seat, pressing her hand to her turning stomach. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should get to bed.”

Olaug had promised her that nothing had happened between him and the maid. She owed it to him to believe him. If the situation was reversed and she was the victim of such rumors, he would believe her and stand by her.

Even if she didn’t deserve it.

He had before.

Idonea took one last look at the crowd for Olaug when her eyes strayed too far to the right to see King Nyrunn had once again abandoned pretext and was staring at her.

She ignored her racing heart and lifted her chin as she met his gaze. He terrified her twice as much as his father and uncle ever had, but she wouldn’t show it.

Idonea had been preparing for this her whole life. She would do this perfectly.

But maybe she should double check she hadn't forgotten anything important this time.