“Won’t be necessary. I know my way, Helena.”
Astra flashed her a saccharine smile and hustled down the hallway into the council chambers.
The room’s energy was very similar to the Celestial Hall back home, but the similarities ended there. Where the Celestial Hall allowed for a splendid view of the Empyrean Sea, the Ellumian chambers were closed off, basking in dim torchlight along walls that boasted portraits of High Priestesses and queens from years gone.
The room dripped in crystals around a metallic dais with a stately amethyst throne, one that Ivonne enjoyed sitting upon far too much. She’d beat everyone else into the room and took the opportunity to test out the chair.
It was quite comfortable, even if she hated looking down on the rest of the eight seats below. Councilwomen trickled in as their maidens informed them of Astra’s arrival, wrapped in icy blue robes and necklaces boasting Ellume’s stunning aquamarines, plucked from the cliffs below the city. She smiled as they entered, filling in their seats at the table and whispering their plans for the upcoming Full Moon.
If you can locate a ledger of the councilors’ salaries, snag that, too. Astra beamed to Ameera as she listened to them discuss which of their homes they thought had the best views of the Harvest Moon.
“Princess!” A silken voice spilled into the room, snapping Astra’s attention from the councilors to the doorway. Ivonne bowed, her ample curves hugged by velvet and pale lavender hair twisted into a dozen braids falling down her back. Her eyes flickered from the full chairs below the dais to Astra, who pointed toward a maiden at the door.
“You, what is your name?”
The maiden blushed, shocked that the princess was speaking to her. Her chest exploded in bright yellows and pinks. “Me? Shoshanna.”
“Shoshanna, might I bother you to scrounge up a seat for the High Priestess?”
She nodded, half-bowing her way out of the room as she rushed to do as requested. Astra let the room rot in silence, Ivonne’s lips twisting into a tighter knot by the second as a bitter scarlet bloomed in her ribs.
“There we are,” Astra chirped as Shoshanna returned with a chair from the temple, unsure where to set it. “Right there is fine,” Astra assured her, gesturing toward the end of the row of councilors before her. Shoshanna set the chair down, its thin legs wobbling against the onyx marble. A ripple of nervous laughter escaped the women, the exact energy Astra had hoped to produce.
“Right,” she began, setting her shoulders back. “Now that Ivonne is settled in, we have an urgent matter to discuss.”
Ivonne’s hazel eyes narrowed. “So urgent your mother couldn’t make it down to join us?”
Astra shrugged. “The queen is otherwise engaged. She sent me to investigate the strange rumors we’ve heard up north.”
“Rumors?” a councilwoman asked, her chest flickering an ill shade of green.
“Well, let’s not call them rumors,” Astra sighed. “That would imply they might be false, and unfortunately, from what I’ve seen over the last twenty-four hours since my arrival, they are decidedly true.”
Ivonne chewed on her lip.
“Of course, I may not have confirmed them if I’d come in through the city gates or the roosts. But as luck would have it, a curious set of arrows sent me into the Rift on my way in. Ivonne, would you like to venture a guess as to where those arrows originated?”
The High Priestess tilted her head, her heart sinking into a murky charcoal ocean. “The rebels are under control, as I’ve told your mother?—”
Astra held up a hand. “The rebels are next on my set of grievances. The arrows were Solarian, Ivonne. Now, how in the Nether would a Solarian manage to find their way not just into my court, but your city?”
Ivonne glanced sideways at the councilwoman next to her, a tight string in her spine pulling her shoulders together.
“Princess,” she said, orange irritation curling within her gut. “Her Royal Highness has made every indication that she trusts my leadership during this tumultuous time. Just last month at the Summer summit, she?—”
“Enough,” Astra said, her chin held high as the command fell from her lips. “For someone so vocally unimpressed by my mother’s leadership, you sure seem to think I’ll be assuaged by her clear lack of interest in what goes on behind Ellume’s walls. We both know her absence has emboldened you to pillage this city. Look at what you’ve allowed to happen!”
“You don’t know what you speak of.”
“I know much more than you think?—”
“That goes for both of us!” Ivonne rose from her chair. “You know, we hear rumors too, Princess. Did you hear of the Lunarian who set her own mother on fire during a petty argument?”
Ivonne spoke slowly, rhythmically as she drew near Astra’s perch, lathering judgment in her ancient palms. Astra’s pulse throbbed under her skin, racing as the memory fought for air in her mind.
Lunelle’s horrified scream had echoed off her sternum. Oestera hadn’t even flinched as her robes went up in flames. She held Astra’s gaze as the heat licked at her, unaffected by the heartbreak that fueled her daughter’s rage.
It was over before it even started—a maiden had been standing just a breath away, watering the plants in the dining hall.
