Lunelle spun toward him. “You knew?”
She’d asked him how many times? How many dozens of times had she inquired of his thoughts on their strange alchemy?
“I suspected,” he admitted. “They weren’t subtle.”
Lunelle snorted. “Well, weknewthey were sleeping together, but you never once thought to tell me you thought they were Tethered?”
He pushed at his injury, drawing a sharp breath.
“We’ve had a lot on our plate, dear. I assumed Astra would tell you!”
She’d always assumed that, too.
But she had to be forced to tell Astra, hadn’t she?
They both set their eyes on the Fire Queen, her face as warm as her fingertips. She balked, holding her hands up.
“Again, bigger things to talk about right now?—”
“All that stress, all that heartache, all the worry that my little sister must sacrifice her happiness for me was fornothing?” Lunelle’s eyes landed on Arcas again, his lips twisting in an amused smirk as he pointed to his chest.
“Oh, we’re mad at me again?”
Astra cut in. “I think we’re just confused. It’s been a hard few months, and we don’t exactly know who to trust right now.”
Lunelle felt the pain in her sister’s words—the whirlwind of constant betrayal and upheaval must have been tenfold for her sensibilities.
“It really has. Gods, Astra. I wish you had told me how dire this was for you, too. I put too much pressure on you!”
Astra’s eyes widened. “No, no, Lu. You’ve taken the brunt of the responsibility your whole life. I was happy to do this for you, I swear it!” Lunelle could feel Mirquios about to huff an “I told you so” as he held his head in his hands, breathing deeply against the wear on his body.
The commander stepped toward her. “As?”
She sighed, her point still only half-made. “Yes, Luxuros, what is it?”
He glanced at the sky, marking some unseen thing Lunelle could not.
“We’ve got about half an hour before the gate closes. Do you think you and your sister can hash this out when we’re not at risk of getting sealed into the Court Below for three months?”
At that, a wave of clarity washed over her.
“Mirquios is hurt. We need to get him back, but there’s no way he should walk on that leg.”
The king opened his mouth to protest, but she felt Arcas move before he spoke, the darkness within him shifting gently against her.
“I can help,” he said. “Least I can do, I suppose.” He reached for the king, and for the first time, Lunelle wondered if perhaps, had she been honest with herself, and both of them from the beginning, they’d be on different sides of a revolution right now. They were two incredibly sharp minds—imagine what they’d accomplish side by side.
“I got him,” Luxuros said, pushing past the prince. “You good to get what you came for?”
Astra nodded, resting her hand on his arm. “Just get him back safely,” she said.
“Wait for us at the gate,” Lunelle said, her eyes shifting from Mirquios to Arcas.
Astra whipped her head toward her. “Lunelle, no. Go with Mirq. I can do this!”
Lunelle had no doubts about that, not a single lingering thought that her sister couldn’t do any damned thing she set out to. But they were fighting against the same curses, buried in different places within them, but rotting nonetheless.
“Not a chance,” Lunelle said, watching her Soul and Shadow struggle to get the king moving. “We’re doing this together.”
