Pluto nodded, tugging gently on the ends of Proserpina’s curls. Something to the edge of them caught his eye, a devilish grin unfurling as he nodded at someone beyond the trees.
“This is the first hope you’ve had that was true,” Proserpina said.
Lunelle’s eyes lit, a flicker of something new in her chest, nestled between her two ties to this world. She turned as footsteps approached her left.
“You’re late,” Pluto said as another god joined their picnic, his face twisted in an eye roll as he reached for a handful of pomegranate seeds. His hand rested on Proserpina’s hip as he and Pluto mumbled to one another.
“Go then, Princess,” Proserpina said. “We’ll be watching.”
Pluto tossed Lunelle a wink. “Give my sister my warmest regards,” he chuckled.
Lunelle’s eyes fluttered open, the spring of the temple gurgling at her knees.
She glanced at the stone in her hands, the white overtaken by a charcoal hue, the center glittering with swirls of gods knew what. She held it to the moonlight above, a glint of sapphire catching her off guard within the silver and emerald tones. She eyed Arcas’s stone beside her, a silvery sheen catching as he leaned over the water.
“You may toss them into the spring,” Tula said quietly. “Gods be with you all.”
Lunelle rose, staring into the water below, sparkling with all sorts of blessings and tears. She let her Shadow fall, sinking to the depths of the Nether, as three others followed.
Her eyes rose to her champions.
Theydidlook strangely unburdened in some ways without their Shadows.
Less interesting, she noted.
“Best of luck, gentlemen,” she whispered, making a quick exit at the back of the temple, a cold sweat clinging to her as she tried to control her breath.
“Lunelle,”her mother commanded. She hovered at the temple’s blossom-laden gate.
“Mother,” Lunelle sighed, in no mood to hear more from her after last night. Oestera reached for her hand, pulling her swiftly into the shade of the palace garden as the maidens around them worked to prepare it for the trial.
“What are you?—”
“I need you to listen to me,” Oestera said, her words sharp. She gripped her daughter’s shoulders, forcing her silver stare to fuse with hers. “Whatever happens in the Nether, youmustnot come back through the gate until I tell you to. I know you resisted me back in the Plutonian Court, but it is more important now thaneverthat you listen.”
Lunelle shook her head, her heart pounding.
“After what you’ve pulled with Arcas, I’ve every reason to do the opposite of what you ask, Mother.”
She backed away from her mother’s grip, but something frenzied in her eyes, something truly desperate in her fingers caught her.
“I am begging you to trust me, Lunelle. Your sisterneedsto come through the gate first.”
“My sister?” Lunelle played dumb, though she could tell without her Shadow, she was hardly convincing herself, let alone her mother.
“I will not force you to confess your plans, but I need you to wait. Wait for my signal, andthenyou bring your king through the gate. Do you understand?”
Lunelle did not, and she would not.
“I am tired of scheming, Mother. It has only dug me further and further into a grave—if you think I woulddaresubject Astra to this—this madness—I will not force her onto a throne she does not want. She’s already done enough!”
“I was once a younger sister thrust onto a throne by an older sister who made a mistake, Lunelle.” Oestera drew a breath, shivering at the top as she whispered. “And I do not resent her for one second. Not once in my life have I been angry at her for the choices she made. For what she thought she was doing. I am honored to bear the weight of her attempt at taking what she wanted…” she trailed off, her eyes unfocused for a moment.
“I do not understand—what are you saying?”
“Look at me,” Oestera pleaded. Lunelle forced herself to connect to her eyes, the pain so clearly still on the surface of her heart. “There are bigger plans at play, Lunelle. Your sister will understand.Youwill understand. Everyone gets what they want this way!”
Lunelle’s head was dizzy as she tried to make sense of the words her mother said.
