Alastair sighed. “Don’t be so sour, Luxuros. We’re just getting to the really fun part.”
“I don’t know if we can take any more fun,” Ameera sighed.
“Anyway, Alastair here took me to the Court Above?—”
“Oh gods,” Oestera cried. “We had a deal!”
“I promised not to take Astra into the Rift. And I didn’t. I took her from the dream, but the prince here took her into the Rift. Many, many times might I add.”
Astra pushed forward, ignoring the tension building in both their chests.
“He took me to the Court Above and Selenia paraded me around. She knew I’d seen her at The Flare and she had to control the narrative. We struck a deal. I’d go down and get Leona’s soul for her and she’d nominate Mirquios as a champion. We knew with the lie we’d told about the Tether and our tenuous relations with Pluto that we’d be endangering our courts if we weren’t careful. A goddess declaring it would give us the out we all needed.”
“I am the queen of broken engagements. You could have come to me.”
She stared at her mother. She’d wanted Astra to trust her.
“I was afraid of fucking up your plans yet again. I don’t enjoy disappointing you.”
“You’ve never once disappointed me, Astra Leona,” she said. “Not once in your life.”
“Thank you.” Astra tried to suppress the wave of emotions that crashed over her. “When I spoke with Leona, she told me that Selenia was trying to get her soul to destroy it, so I couldn’t get access to her. Knowing that I could go within spooked her and put a few puzzle pieces together about Lux, as well. So I went into the forest and I called to her. I used the locket she’d given me and I captured her. I didn’t know if we’d need it or not, but I figured if things went left, the leverage would be crucial. Luciela... she told me that Selenia had actually been Tethered to Lucian and traded her shadow for that dagger.
“She severed her Tether to Lucian and then he convinced her to do the same with Leona and Solan. There’s an empty throne in the Court Above. Only one ruler can sit on it, and they have to have both Light and Shadow, but no Solar and Lunar gods have been willing to give up their own power to the other. Leona and Solan got too close.”
Oestera took this in, her lips twisting as she tried to understand her own mother’s plight.
“We’ve all waited a long, long time to be rid of Selenia. I watched my sister die and my court fall under the tight reins of the Court Above. I’ve been forced to live a life separated from you, from Lunelle. You had to end it. I knew you were ready. Alastair will reshape what the courtiers saw tonight as they sleep, we’ll ensure that everyone is on the same page about Selenia’s attack on you to prevent the truth from spreading. We can’t stop the Court Above from investigating, but make no mistake, they will come looking into things. We’ll have a plan in place.
“We need to be careful with how we navigate the next few months. We don’t have to decide it all tonight, of course, but I think we need to put some distance between you two until we can formulate a plan for Solan.” Oestera gestured between Luxuros and Astra.
“At the very least, we can’t crown a Solar heir the Lunar King,” Ehlaria said. “It would be declaring war on both Solan and the Court Above.”
A notion rippled in Astra’s gut. Subtle, but hard to deny once she heard it.
“What if we didn’t crown either one of us?”
Oestera shook her head. “I know you never asked for this, but I promise you, it gets better. With your sister on the Mercurian throne?—”
“No, I don’t mean keeping Lunelle here. I mean we crown no one.”
Every ear leaned over the table, waves of muddied reds and oranges blooming across their chests. Oestera pressed again.
“Someone has to lead the court, and I can only stay so much longer. The Lunar Throne Above is now vacant and if I can Ascend to it, Alastair and I can work together to get the Nova chapter in the Court Above whipped into shape. A peaceful transition of power is so important.”
“The gods aren’t going to be satisfied with our secret for long,” Astra said, rising from her seat. “Selenia’s blood oath may have kept her from ratting the rebellion out to Lucian, but who knows what she told him about Luxuros? Even with Alastair’s help, how long can we really keep the courtiers at bay?”
“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.
