“I’m sure I do not know,” she said, suspicion crawling over her. In all her years serving at Lunelle’s side, she’d never once seen her so agitated.
Lunelle’s heart raced against her judgment, and her judgment was losing its lead.
“I think he’s in trouble.”
“Princess, you should get back to your?—”
“No, thank you,” she said simply. Her heart gave a satisfied leap at the decision resolving in her mind. She twisted from Lura and took off for the door, the night air greeting her with a balmy kiss on her bare shoulders.
“Princess!” Lura hissed. “Lunelle,” she tried as her careful politeness failed.
“Either forget you saw me or come along,” Lunelle called over her shoulder, a rush so unfamiliar within her she nearly felt as if she’d had another cup of Yallara’s tea.
Lura sighed, glancing toward the guard at the door.
“I need your cloak,” she said flatly. Their nose scrunched, sapphire eyes narrowing. “Doyouwant to be the one dealing with the Lunar queen when the princess has been ambushed in the middle of your city?”
The guard looked at Lura’s outstretched hand, then over to Lunelle, who cut a quick path through the garden, and came back to Lura, their shoulders sinking as they shimmied off their black cloak.
“Your service to the Lunar Crown will be remembered,” Lura said quickly as she broke into a sprint to catch up with her charge.
Lunelle’s pulse drummed against her wrists as the evening breeze seemed to sweep up from behind her and bless her first step from the palace garden and into the cobbled streets of Pluto’s sprawling city, Charon. Guards eyed her as Lura chased on her tail, nearly toppling over her when she stopped to search for any sign of Mirquios in the darkened streets.
Blue flames danced within lamps against gray stone buildings as her eyes locked on that cape, now joined with two others. The Mercurians hustled down a dark alley.
“Princess,whatare we doing?”
Two sets of sapphire eyes glanced at the Lunarians from across the street. They stuck out terribly. Lura tossed the Plutonian’s cloak out in a gentle arc, pulling it over Lunelle’s shoulders.
She inhaled sharply as Lura’s fingers wove the ribbon into a tight bow.
“If my sister is going to be married to the king, we should know what sort of dealings he’s involved in, shouldn’t we?”
Lura stared silently at her princess.
“I’m not a madwoman, Lura, I felt what I felt and I listened to it!”
Her maiden’s lips wobbled into a smile.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever once related to the bags under Ameera’s eyes before today.” Lura held Lunelle’s gaze, searching for anything to hold onto. It was there, buried between her duties to her throne and her sister, the need to see this through. “Let’s go, then, we’re losing them.”
Lura followed Lunelle through the streets, slipping into shadows and hazy fog as it settled over the city like a thick blanket. Plutonians still out at this hour tracked them as they jogged, wondering what in the worlds they may be witnessing.
The Mercurians were nearly out of sight ahead, but Lunelle and Lura pressed on. When they banked left down a street bellowing with loud laughter and distant music, they stopped behind a crumbling building, the sour scent of old hops and ale floating over them. Mirquios’s courtiers stepped through an ancient wooden door first, his eyes sweeping over the street before he disappeared.
“It’s a tavern,” Lura said as they scooted down the uneven stone path. “They’re just having a night out.”
Lunelle shook her head, that strange gnaw in her soul still begging her forward.
“No, I don’t believe so. The way he was looking at who might see him, something must be happening inside.”
“Wecannotgo in there,” Lura declared.
“I thought it was just a tavern,” Lunelle whispered.
Lura snorted, crossing her delicate arms.
“Princess, have you ever set foot in a city tavern before?”
