“I think so. No? My head,” she groaned, reaching for her forehead and finding a silk bandage wrapped around it. A throbbing pain at the side of her skull demanded attention.
“Here,” Ameera said, offering her something in a glass cup. “It will help with the pain.” Astra took a long sip and regretted it immediately as the bitter tea burned a path down her throat.
Was that even a fraction of what the Solarian felt as she roasted him alive? Had she killed him? What if there were more?
As if he read her mind, Lux stepped forward. “You hit your head on a boulder, Princess. You may not remember for a few days, but you are safe now.”
Safe. It felt demonstrably untrue.
“I did?” she asked, unsure if she was playing along or genuinely confused.
“There was a snake,” Ameera chimed in. “Your horse got spooked. You couldn’t have done anything to avoid it.” She sounded much more like herself within Astra’s mind now than she had in the Midwood as she beamed to her, Get that guilty look off your face, As. You saved our asses.
“I’m so glad you’re awake, Princess,” Tula breathed. “You gave us quite the scare. I’ll have dinner sent up, stay in bed and rest.” Tula faded quietly out of the room, but Nayson remained by her side.
She tried to piece together what she remembered, but the second her eyes closed, the pain reverberated around her head in a cursed halo and she saw two hateful eyes staring at her. Perhaps Luxuros wasn’t lying about the boulder. It certainly felt like she’d smashed her head on something.
Nayson placed a kiss on his daughter’s hand.
“I’ll be back in a bit with dinner.” He glanced toward Ameera and then Luxuros. “You three better get your story straight before Tula asks questions. Astra could ride Riverion blind through a storm. A snake?”
“Father,” she whispered, tightening her grip on his hand.
“I’ll buy whatever you sell me, my love. As long as you’re okay. But your mother will want answers when this reaches her.”
Astra nodded, Nayson’s cerulean haze retreating into the hall.
“Don’t let it consume you,” Lux said quickly, her breath coming in ragged gasps. He sank into Nayson’s now empty seat. “He was going to kill you.”
“He was going to kill you,” she said, the rage that flashed within her when Lux screamed in pain still lingering in her blood. “Is your leg okay?”
Luxuros shrugged. “Don’t worry about me. Though I have taken quite a bit of damage in your honor lately.”
“I think we’re even now,” she whispered, her eyes hollow.
Lux nodded solemnly, the smile falling from his face as Ameera shuffled around the room, fussing with anything she could. “How did you do it?”
She shook her head, unsure she could relive it, or even articulate it.
“It was… impressive,” Ameera said.
“Impressive!” she cried, a miserable violet bloom choking her. “It was awful. I killed him!”
“As,” Lux said, his voice dropping into a soft, soothing tone she’d never heard before. Managing her, she realized. “The first kill never stops haunting you. I know it well. But that man was seconds away from killing me to get to you. You felt it. He was Solarian, and he was bloodthirsty. You had no choice.”
“I saw it. His hatred for me.”
“There are more where he came from,” Lux sighed. “Ameera warned Archera. She’s agreed to keep it quiet for now. But whatever you did, we need to hone that. Sharpen it.”
“Not tonight,” Ameera added. “You really did hit your head on a boulder. Did you… did you set him on fire with your mind?”
“I think so,” she admitted.
“We’ve never really explored the talents you may or may not have,” Ameera mused. “I wonder… you can sense emotions, but do you think you can influence them?”
“Oh gods,” Luxuros chuckled. “Just what we need.”
“Next time I’ll let you die,” she said, wincing. It was so clearly a lie, it nearly hurt to say. Something in her back ached at the mere concept. She’d burn a thousand men alive before letting them hurt Ameera or Luxuros, and they knew it now.
