The music crackled back to life, disjointed and not quite right as Selenia cut back through the crowd. The courtiers held their breath for a moment, and then the room burst into hushed speculation as the commander and Astra darted through the crowd.
Someone caught Lunelle’s arm.
“Do you’ve any idea how monstrous Solan is?” Arcas rasped at her. “If he knew—if he finds out you’re harboring hisheir?—”
Lunelle ripped her shoulder away from him.
“Then go! No one is keeping you here,” Lunelle hissed.
Arcas pulled her closer, his eyes scanning the room.
“We need a plan, Lunelle. This just got infinitely more dangerous for both of you! For all of us?—”
“I amaware, Arcas!”
He squeezed her hand, his eyes pooling with something much more frightening than his cowardice, or his disdain for many of them.
With concern for her.
Lunelle did not hear whatever he muttered behind her as she shoved her way out of the hall and into the gardens. Mirquios had her elbow and Ameera bumped into her shoulder as they froze, the portrait of her sister and the commander hard to bear.
They were Sun and Moon, drowning in one another’s untenable light.
“I didn’t know,” the commander whispered as he grasped Astra’s shoulders. Mirquios slid behind Lunelle, resting a hand on the small of her back, a pain of which they’d only scratched the surface. “I never dreamed, Astra.”
“I know. I believe you.” Astra’s hand came to his jaw, but she quickly drew it back, her eyes landing on the audience gathering at the edge of the garden. Lunelle glanced behind her at the sound of shuffling boots. Her father darted from the ballroom, eyes wide as he parted between them.
“Nayson,” Luxuros said—a warning to Astra, Lunelle realized. He released his hold on her, stepping as far back as he could.
“As!” Nayson pulled Astra’s shocked frame into an embrace, but her eyes never left the ground. “Luxuros? Are you well?”
“I–I don’t know,” the commander mumbled.
Mirquios’s grip on Lunelle’s back tightened as the energy in the garden soared to new heights, her mother’s wild eyes sweeping over every last one of them as she charged her sister.
“Astra Leona!”
Astra held her hands up in defense. “We didn’t know?—”
“What have you done?” her mother asked, the ice in her tone sending a shiver deep into Lunelle’s muscles. She’d heard her mother yell at Astra thousands of times, but this was decidedly different.
“What?”
“Why did you go to her? What did you offer her?” All of this spectacle was enough to send anyone into a panic, but her mother’s unsteady tone was chilling in a way she’d never experienced.
“I didn’t?—”
“Do not lie to me!” Oestera’s lips curled back, her voice shaking as she yelled. “I can feel it, Astra! What did you do?”
Astra stomped her foot. “I did what you wouldn’t! I protected my sister!”
Lunelle’s ears filled with the hot rush of shame and agony, her head fogging over as she braced herself on the king’s chest. He could feel the pain swelling in her throat, the inky black shades of guilt rushing through her veins.
Her vision blurred as her mother and sister dragged one another down in a screaming match, the anger so thick she could taste the iron dripping from it and feel the sticky blood-soaked words land blow after blow.
Lunelle could have stepped in. She could have stopped her mother. She could have begged Astra to abandon her protection of her, but she could not move. She was a statue, cursed to live within the confines of her stone walls for eternity.
Her mother stormed off, Astra’s face a mess with red blotches, her fingers clutched to her palms as the commander stepped to her side.
