“Lux,” she whined, drowning in the golden smoke, the edges of her vision blurring.
One more, Sol’ah. Just for me.
After all the arguing she’d done, all the denying of his wishes, the pushing against his better judgments… she could happily give in to his command.
The flames roared, bursting into smoke and shadow and stars as they spiraled together. The Tether hummed between them as if pulling all the heat from the embers between their bodies and storing it away for a cold moment.
“Good fucking gods.” He pulled her hair off her shoulders, running his lips over her sweat-speckled skin.
She fought for breath, nothing left within her but a pleasant warmth. “If that’s how I’m rewarded every time I’m kidnapped…”
Lux laughed, falling back onto the bed. He reached for her hand and pulled her into him.
“Don’t tempt me. I’ll throw your ass back into the Rift right now.”
She ran her fingers over his chest, an emerald flare of jealousy so slight she might have missed it, but she felt it—the simmer of it needling at him as the ecstasy of being inside her dwindled.
She twisted in his arms, tangling their legs together as he reached for her quilt.
“Green looks better on me, Commander.”
Chapter
Forty-One
Astra 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.”
