Astra didn’t believe him. “Ah, yes, of course you would have. The hypothetical right choice is always easy to make.” She should have known her mother was working behind her back instead of coming to her directly with her plans.
She should have suspected it immediately. She’d never been able to outsmart Oestera, and this was no different.
“We should get home,” she whispered. She slammed back the rest of her drink and left a few gold coins on the table. As she rounded the corner, she shook her hands, letting a few errant sparks flicker against the cobblestone street before they consumed her.
“Astra!” Luxuros called from behind her, but she did not slow her pace. His long legs would catch up with her in no time, anyway. “As.”
She pulled her hood over her head, tucking her hair back into her cloak as Ellumians passed them on the street. They didn’t have far to go, but her nerves tangled as more faces entered her space with the commander at her back.
He followed her in silence, even as she scaled the steps of the Crescent Manor’s porch. Before they could enter the house, Eileen was in the doorway, eyeing every movement between them.
“A note came for you, Princess.” Astra’s head tilted. “And flowers.”
“For me?”
“From the Bloodmoon girl,” Eileen sighed. She pushed the doors open and let them pass, handing a note to Astra as she stopped before an explosion of roses in the foyer. “Commander! What happened?”
“Long story,” Luxuros said. “Astra?—”
“The commander needs something to disinfect his arms. Hatchlings got the best of him,” Astra said to Eileen as she stroked a soft petal between her thumb and finger.
“Of course. This way, Commander,” Eileen cooed.
“Roses,” Luxuros scoffed as Eileen led him down the hallway.
“What’s wrong with roses?” Astra asked, sliding her finger through the envelope she’d been handed.
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “If you liked them. Wouldn’t you have preferred moonblossoms?”
Astra felt a soft blush rise to her cheeks as he disappeared down the hallway, leaving Eileen with a magenta explosion in her ribs and Astra with a spray of roses she never would have chosen for herself.
Chapter
Twenty
She’d stared at the note for an entire hour and still couldn’t quite bring herself to descend the stairs and join Luxuros for dinner.
The letters blended into two long black lines, slipping off the page and melting onto the desk beneath her lantern’s heat as she hid in her bedroom.
The card burned under her fingertips. It was a curt note. A warning, really. Three maidens had already knocked on her door to inform her dinner was waiting and when the fourth knocked, she lost her hold on herself.
She rose from the desk and yanked the brass handle inward. “I said I’d be down in a minute,” she sighed into a leather-bound chest much taller than she expected.
Luxuros, in all his bruises and bloodstains, stared down at her. “There’s something you need to look at,” he grumbled, turning quickly and taking the stairs two at a time. She followed him into the study off the second landing, the floor littered with books and documents they’d taken from the temple.
He pointed to the leather tome in the center of the desk, a linen bandage wrapped neatly around each forearm. Elegant script ran across the pages, the midnight-black ink bleeding out in a few spots.
“Shadow Bargaining,” she read aloud. Luxuros wound his finger in the air to keep reading. As she read, he set a cup of black coffee beside her. “The dark art of bargaining one’s Shadow should only be attempted in dire circumstances. The Court Below does not dabble in casual whims or indulge changed minds. To trade one’s Shadow is to make an eternal commitment—what is this?”
“Skip to the next page,” the commander said over the rim of his own cup.
“Once the trade is complete, the Shadow remains in the possession of the Nether Queen, granting the bargainer access to her dark magic in direct proportion to the weight of the Shadow offered. Though difficult to trace, the bargainer should be aware of certain after-effects that, to a trained eye, may reveal their trade. An aversion to light, for example, or even to the more sensitive of the realms, an unnaturally cold signature or dark aura may be detectable.”
Luxuros leaned against the table, sipping his coffee. “A few weeks ago we heard Selenia was spotted in the Mercurian Bazaar. It’s not uncommon for Ascended gods and goddesses to appear in the Living Courts—we assumed it was meant to be a blessing after the engagement. The two women she spoke to at a stall both mentioned that Lunarians were much more frigid than they expected, based on the rumors. You are noticeably colder than Ameera or other courtiers, but I wouldn’t describe you as frigid.”
“Imagine how much easier your life would be,” Astra said, flashing whispers of fire from her fingertips before reaching for her coffee.
He chuckled, pointing to another stack of papers. “Ivonne was studying this. She has pages of notes—I haven’t gotten through even half of what Ameera took, but she seems certain your grandmother bargained her Shadow.”
