She opened her eyes in her study, sweat rolling down her spine, an ache within her chest where bruises were surely already taking shape.
“There you are,” Ameera said, rubbing her back. “You were having some sort of nightmare. I couldn’t wake you!”
“Oh,” Astra mumbled, the haze of smoke and heat still drowning her senses.
“What’s that?”
Astra followed her inquiring gaze to a small black book resting beneath her clenched palms.
“Just a novel,” Astra said, unsure if she should burden her friend with the strange encounter she’d just had. Ameera seemed to accept this, though her demeanor noticeably shifted as she helped Astra prep for that evening’s events.
There were Solarians in her court.
She was about to be the only Lunar royal to come after—and when she’d had one’s life at the edge of her blade, she’d let him go.
She would not make the same mistake twice.
Chapter
Eleven
“Don’t you look lovely,” Oestera said quietly as Astra passed her.
Her hair twisted and twirled beneath a tiara of sparkling emeralds. An iridescent opal silk gown flowed over her hips and pooled at her ankles.
“It is a fantastic dress.”
“You picked it, did you not?” Lunelle asked from beside her mother.
“I have excellent taste,” Oestera laughed to herself. It was as pleasant of an interaction as Astra could ask for. She plucked a flute of moonshine from a passing maiden’s tray, throwing it back before the strange blend of revelry and anxiety in the room drowned her.
“Are you nervous?” Nayson asked, turning from his conversation with one of the Earthen courtiers.
“Everyone is,” Astra muttered. “It’s hard to tell where my worries end and theirs begin.”
“Try to have a little fun tonight, darling. And then tomorrow, once this lot clears out, we’ll have our run of the palace,” her father said through a playful smile.
“I suppose I should find my betrothed,” Astra sighed, searching the crowded garden for Mirquios’s tall frame.
“Should be simple,” Nayson said, a brow arched. “Just follow the Tether.”
Astra nodded, her cheeks flushing. Ameera trailed behind her as she stepped forward, thankful for the king’s height. A worried yellow flare rose over Ameera’s shoulders.
Are you sure you’re all right? She beamed as they crossed the lush moonlit terrace.
Earlier, when you found me sleeping, I wasn’t dreaming, Ameera. I was… I was somewhere else.
She felt Ameera searching through her neatly catalogued thoughts. Astral traveling?
I believe so, Astra thought. She’d come close a time or two in her youth when she practiced her forbidden magic much more freely, before she truly understood the consequences—before so many eyes watched for a chance to expose her.
The Solarian was there, Ameera. Not just him. Several of them.
You saw him? Ameera stopped beside her, stunned into stillness. Her worry shifted to a crimson fear, thrumming against her chest as Astra slipped back toward the edge of the crowd.
I didn’t just see him, I… I touched him.
Ameera’s eyes widened. Do you have a death wish, Princess?
