“Yes?”
He pulled at a chain in his pocket, producing a glittering timepiece. His eyes flickered from the face of the small trinket to Astra’s.
“Happy birthday, Princess.”
She smiled, trying to hide her disappointment that she hadn’t been as anonymous as she’d briefly let herself believe. Her fingers found the crack in the wall she’d been searching for and pried it open.
She tossed one last smile to the stranger before disappearing into the moonstone door.
She’d been asleep for a few hours when she spiraled into a current, a hazy awareness that she was dreaming kept her from panicking as her head slipped under an icy black wave.
The ocean pulled at her curls, whipping them around her as she bobbed in the water and another wave crashed over her. The air left her lungs, bubbling upward as she swatted at the water, sinking deeper with every attempt to break the surface.
The edges of her vision faded as she fell below the crush, whatever air left within her floating away into the ether.
For a moment, there was a peace she didn’t expect.
And then, there was a blazing heat.
Flames licked at her skin as someone looped an arm around her waist and jerked her back through the surf. She slammed against the shore, the sand clinging to her wet body as she rolled and choked on seawater.
She woke up coughing, a lingering heat still soaking into her skin.
Chapter
Six
Ameera raised an eyebrow as the maiden held out her hands, a velvet garment bag suspended in the air between them.
“Who is it from?”
The maiden only shrugged, handing a pale green card over before disappearing. Ameera hung the bag on the edge of Astra’s wardrobe, unsure what to make of the gift.
“What’s that?”
“Birthday present?” Ameera suggested. She went back to adjusting the diadem over Astra’s perfectly pinned curls so the stars would halo her head like the goddess she was. Astra fidgeted in her seat as she waited with every ounce of patience she possessed, which amounted to very little.
“Go,” Ameera sighed. “I’ll fix it after you’re dressed.”
Astra leaped from her perch at her vanity and unfastened the jade ribbons at the top of the bag, revealing a green spectacle of a gown. In a second bag were several clusters of aventurine jewels—a set of earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace.
Ameera gasped. “Who in all thirteen courts?—”
“There was a card, yes?” She searched the vanity for the brief note that accompanied the gift.
In case everything you own is wet.
—M.
Ameera arched her brow. “Is that the Mercurian seal? What do they mean by wet?”
“You don’t want to be an accomplice,” Astra muttered, fighting a smile as it begged to break on her lips. “Mother won’t be too disappointed if I wear this over her selection, right? To secure an alliance?”
“Are you kidding? She’ll arrange the engagement by the end of the evening.”
Astra’s blood rushed to her cheeks. “That’s not—no. She has to know that’s not going to happen.”
Ameera’s forehead wrinkled. “You’re no longer in your maiden cycle. She needs allies. What did you think tonight was about, As?”
