The Mercurians rose in a wave of broad shoulders and bright eyes, Mirquios leading the charge beside Luxuros as they filed into the alleyway, pulling their jade hoods over their eyes. As the last of them faded from view, she inhaled slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Oh, gods, just do it, she told herself as she stepped up onto the aged wooden stairs and pushed the swinging door inward. Dozens of eyes turned toward her at once, the dim lighting and dusty hall coming to a standstill as she lowered her hood and released her gleaming silver features upon them. She searched the faces, for whom, she did not know, but hoped that someone, anyone, would direct her.
“Princess?” a voice mumbled, appearing from behind a particularly raucous table of Plutonian guards. She turned her gaze in his direction, landing on the cerulean face of the man she’d seen just the night before.
“We were wondering where you came from the other night,” he chuckled. “And where you popped off to just as suddenly. Kwan Alinu, Captain of the Plutonian Novas.”
He stuck out a bare hand, warm in her cool grasp, shaking hers firmly before pointing to a scarlet door at the back of the tavern.
“It’s quieter upstairs.”
Lunelle cut across the bustle of the room and slipped between the door and the staircase, Kwan trailing behind her as she climbed. The skirt had been a bold choice, she realized, as she hit the midway point.
“To your right,” Kwan mumbled behind her as she stepped onto a dim landing. She stopped outside another scarlet door, looking at the captain. He seemed to recognize that she was not used to walking into a room blindly, as she almost always had several guards and maidens around her. He slid past her to enter a small study that was teeming with crooked bookcases and dozens of maps.
Kwan sat behind a writing desk overflowing with letters and ink stains, gesturing to the tattered chair across from him.
Lunelle sat, her eyes taking in one map after another, each pinned with slips of fabric in various colors. She tried to find a pattern, to make sense of the faded blues and reds, but nothing sprang forward.
“I must say, I’m delighted you came to speak with me, but I’m shocked to see you alone.”
“I’m not alone,” she replied, though she did not elaborate that she’d managed to bring but one maiden waiting in the alley, her hands soft from years of dressing hair and selecting silks for gowns.
If pressed, Lunelle was sure Lura could find it within her to defend herself. They both could.
Probably.
“You were quite alone last night,” he said, pulling his lengths of raven hair into a thick knot at the nape of his neck. “Scared our patrons half to death—they thought they were seeing spirits.”
Lunelle blushed. “Hard to say which of us was more disturbed,” she muttered.
“I’d like to know how much you know about us before I give you the whole spiel,” he laughed.
“Not much, I must confess. Our Southern city, Ellume, is overrun with rebels from what I understand, but it’s been unclear who they’re in service to. I thought Solan, and now suspect I am being kept in the dark deliberately.”
Kwan nodded, leaning back in his chair. “That’s likely the case, Princess. The old guard never gives up their power easily. The Lunar Captain has been hard at work trying to undo the damage your High Priestess, Ivonne, has wrecked across Ellume.”
Lunelle’s hands fidgeted. “Ivonne?”
Kwan nodded. “When was the last time you left your crystal tower, I wonder?”
A sigh slipped over her lips. “This is the first time I’ve left home in a decade, at least. We used to travel to Ellume on the Equinoxes, but my mother—the queen—has since moved the celebrations to Lunaria.”
“Ellume has fallen into Nova control. Ivonne has been working to convince your mother that isn’t the case, but like many major cities across the court, there’s a movement growing, a movement that will not be stopped. A movement we’d like you to support, not suppress.”
Lunelle watched as he pulled a stack of parchment, neatly bound with leather lacing, from his desk.
“This is our creed, our vision for a new world. I won’t ask you to make up your mind today, but I do implore you to understand that people are starved for action, and if you don’t take it, they will.”
Lunelle reached for the booklet, running her finger along the title page. “The Gods Have Gods,”she read aloud. “A Perspective on Dismantling the Oppressive Rulership of the Court Above.”
“The Living Courts and the Courts Between are our starting points, but our sights are aimed even higher.”
