“Princess, we cannot?—”
“I did not ask,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “The Courts Between do not answer to the Living Courts. This is a Lunarian demigoddess you’ve tossed behind your bars and I will give you exactly one more moment to consider the repercussions before I let the queen know who is holding her most esteemed maiden.”
The guards looked at one another and muttered in a language Lunelle did not understand. The one who had ignored her earlier sighed, rubbing his temple. The second guard stepped forward, spinning a ring of keys around his fingers.
“Why don’t you send for her, Princess? We’d like to hear what she wants done with a most esteemed maiden who has the mark of the rebellion carved into her chest.”
Lunelle did not flinch as he neared her, hovering just a breath from her face.
“Let her go,” a voice rumbled from the door.
Arcas leaned against the frame, his eyes heavy and framed by deep purple bags.
“Your Highness?—”
“It’s one thing to question a Lunar princess—bold, mind you—but another entirely to questionme. Release the Lunarian.”
The guard sighed, slipping by Lunelle and shoving the key into the cell’s gate. Lura scrambled to her feet, looping her arm through Lunelle’s as the guard rolled his eyes.
Mirquios moved to leave, but Lunelle was not done.
“Release all of them,” she said, holding the prince’s gaze.
His lip curled in a sick smile. He stepped closer, his boots scraping the stone flooring.
“Is that an order from the Courts Between?”
She released the tension in her stance, softening as he neared.
“It’s a plea, Arcas.”
He shook his head, waving his hands to the cells beside them.
“They’re a threat to your own power?—”
“They’repeoplewho disagree with you politically. They’re only a threat to those who hold power that does not belong to them.”
Arcas scoffed, his sapphire eyes blinking slowly as he loomed over her. His gaze slid momentarily toward Mirquios, who looked as if he might lunge for his throat at any moment.
“I see one sister wasn’t enough for you, Mirquios,” Arcas said quietly. “You had to corrupt them both. Though I’m sure the Fire Queen makes for a much more entertaining?—”
Mirquios moved swiftly, darting between Arcas and Lunelle.
“You’ll watch your tongue, Arcas?—”
“No,” Lunelle said, pushing Mirquios aside and closing the gap between them, coming chest to chest with the prince. “Finish.”
Arcas’s eyes narrowed. “Wh?—”
“More entertaining… what? Conversationalist?” She stepped between his boots, her body pressing against his as he tensed. She laughed darkly, a sound she hadn’t thought herself capable of making.
“A more entertaining… fuck?” She arched her brow, his lips pressing tightly together as she swallowed the rage back. “That’s what you meant, right?”
“Lunelle,” Arcas whispered, his breath grazing a loose tendril of silver hair.
“You find yourself in this position quite frequently, Prince. Backed against a wall by a woman you seem to keep in averysmall box when other eyes are around. I’m good for an accessory. Pleasant to look at. But in the dark of night, when we are alone, whose name do you call out? Who do you go to your knees for, the moment the eyes of the courts are off you? Moreover, who do you look for when things get even alittledifficult, begging for my wisdom?”
Arcas teetered forward, the pressure between them suffocating.
