“To give up your Shadow…” Astra inhaled, shoving down the unease in her bones. It was a dark trade, indeed. “She’d never be able to reconcile her Soul and Shadow in the Court Below. She’d be doomed to spend eternity there instead of Ascending again. What could possibly be worth something like that to the Lunar Goddess?”
The Ascension journey took the bravest of Souls decades on their first go-around—a century or two. Some never even attempted. Astra shivered. To damn oneself to the Court Below for eternity was not a lighthearted decision.
Luxuros considered this. “But if she stayed in the Court Above for the rest of her existence… the risk that someone could kill her as an Ascended goddess is quite low. Maybe she figured it wouldn’t be an issue.”
Astra arched her ruby brow. “To kill a goddess, especially in the Court Above, is difficult, but not impossible. It’s not as if the rivalry between courts ends at the Eternal Gate. Maybe the power she exchanged it for would help her avoid the consequences?”
“You can only outrun your choices for so long,” the commander said, leafing through Ivonne’s notes.
“I’ve noticed her aura before,” Astra said, thinking back to the last time she was in the same room as Selenia—it was a rare occurrence but she attended some of the more significant events. “I just assumed it was part of her emotional disposition. But it was there.”
Luxuros tilted his head. “Do you typically see auras?”
“No, not necessarily. I see colors I’ve learned to correlate with emotions. The Solstice. I knew you were behind the hedges because of the shitstorm happening in your heart. Whatever you did to tuck it all away was impressive, but I still caught it. All that midnight-black torment… it was a lot to carry, Commander.”
Luxuros stared at her for a moment, fighting a war within himself that manifested in something halfway to a frown. He chose to avoid himself as a conversation topic.
“How likely do you think it is that Selenia traded her Shadow?”
“I can’t say for certain. I did not know her well, but that leaves everything on the table at this point. Ivonne said something about me being just another in a long line of traitors. Daria implied the same. Whatever Selenia did, whatever my mother knows—it can’t be good.”
“Anything that requires more power than an Ascended goddess already concerns me. You should finish that.” Luxuros said, gesturing to her coffee. “I think we’re in for a long night.”
Astra rolled her eyes. “Yes, Commander.” She sat back into a squeaky ancient chair, sipping the coffee as she pondered what her grandmother might have been capable of, all too aware of Luxuros’s stare resting on her.
“So you are capable of taking orders,” he mused.
“When they bring me pleasure, sure.” She enjoyed the sizzling heat that rose to his cheeks as she winked.
He cleared his throat, pointing back at the open book as his fingers pushed at the muscles in his chest.
“We need to figure out the common thread between all of this—the Rift, the Shadow, the novel Ehlaria gave you. It all has to connect somewhere.”
Astra agreed. “We should visit Ehlaria when we’re back.”
“Do you think she’ll share more?”
“Ehlaria always knows more than she lets on. I need to read that book first.”
“Fair enough. I owe her a visit, anyway.”
Astra crossed one leg over the other, pursing her lips.
“Intriguing, Commander.”
“Just checking in on some old friends,” he said. He studied the pages of the book for a long moment before asking the question she’d felt perched on his lips all evening. “Did she at least write a good apology?”
“Who?”
“Daria,” he murmured, his eyes never leaving the book’s pale pages.
“And why would you care?” Astra rose from her chair, leaning against the table beside him.
The commander shrugged. “You’re to be my queen. It’s pertinent that I know who your enemies are.” He turned the page, his calculated casualness flickering under the weight of her stare.
“There was no apology at all, actually.”
“Bold choice,” he scoffed.
