“You’re all going to die tomorrow,” Ameera announced as she burst into the library with a tray of tea and coffee. “Perhaps we save the foreplay for after your sister Descends to the Nether and captures your dead aunt’s Soul for your probably-evil grandmother, hmm?”
Mirquios tossed his head back with a deep chuckle, moving away from Lunelle.
“I see why the commander likes you so much,” he said.
Astra and Luxuros followed, the commander’s eyes still sunken with the strange revelations of the evening.
“All right. We’ve got six hours and a ton of ground to cover,” Astra declared, pushing Luxuros into one of the open armchairs. “The newly crowned Solar prince here is damn near catatonic, so once Ameera fixes him one of her concoctions, we’re going to figure out how to destroy a goddess.”
Mirquios scoffed as Lunelle’s lips fell open, the instinct to protest consuming her, but Ameera beat her to it.
“Are you crazy?” she barked.
“Of course she is,” Lunelle laughed. “But she’s also the only one of us who has a clue where to start.”
Astra grinned at her sister, her scarlet curls bouncing as she flopped onto a cushion in front of Lunelle, much like when they were girls and she wanted her hair braided.
Lunelle reached forward and absentmindedly pulled on one of Astra’s spirals as she spoke, wondering when she had acquired the thinnest strands of silver at the crown of her head—how it could be remotely possible that they were not still children playing coronation games in the garden.
ChapterThirty-One
“Well, tonight certainly took a few turns,” Mirquios said, rubbing at the back of his neck as he returned to the library. They’d spent hours untangling their latest set of complications and finally called it.
Lunelle set her tea on the shelf before her, stretching her legs as she paced in a small circle.
“Is Luxuros okay? He must be a wreck. My sister puts on a brave face, but I can feel her panic.”
Mirquios shrugged, sighing as he leaned against the shelf across from her.
“I left him with Astra. Your grandmother not only shocked us with her news, but exposed his lineage to half the courts. His Fate rests in the hands of three hundred courtiers.”
Lunelle shook her hands, attempting to dispel some of the anxiety boiling in her veins.
“I truly did not see it coming. I knew there would besomething, but that was not it.”
Mirquios rested a hand on her shoulder. “Your sister can do this, Lunelle. Luxuros can do this.Youcan do this.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb, forcing an encouraging smile as she chewed on her lip.
“She’s already done too much,” Lunelle whispered.
Mirquios’s shoulders stiffened. “You speak about Astra as if you’ve never once fallen on your own sword for her.”
“It’s not the same. It’s my duty to protect her?—”
The king huffed a sigh as he cradled her jaw.
“Which of you was the subject of your mother’s constant nitpicking, correction, and ire for thirty-some years while the other ran wild?”
Lunelle laughed, but the memories of her sister’s constant correction under their mother’s watch flooded her mind.
“My mother was hard on her, too.”
“Astra has spent the last three years building her dream city away from the eyes of the entire court. Without you, she never would have found her place in this world. You fight for one another, every day, all the time. Her fighting is just a tad more theatrical.”
Lunelle leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder as he wrapped himself around her.
“I really do like this library,” Mirquios murmured against her hair. “When I’m Lunar king, perhaps I’ll make it my official study.”
Lunelle leaned back, glaring. “You can have the throne, but you cannot have my library.”
