“By your side, as the Lunar king?”
She moved her hand from his chest to his neck, her pale silver melting into his sky blue. His sapphire eyes flared as they found hers.
“Arcas, I?—”
“Oh,” he sighed, pushing away from her. “Do not back out now.” He paced between the cells, the anger rising back into his throat.
“I’m not?—”
He stopped and pivoted toward her.
She saw it—the madness unfold, the desperation as it overtook whatever small piece of him might have wanted to do good.
The desire to maintain his grip over a power he was quickly losing. The way it erased whatever passion he might have kindled for her personally.
“You will marry me, Lunelle. And you will do so happily because if you do not, I will make sure your queen knows exactly which rebel marched into my prison and demanded her contemporaries be liberated.”
Lunelle’s face flushed, the feeling in her body dissolving into the ether as her blood rushed in her ears.
“Arcas—”
He towered over her again, hands gripping her jaw as he pushed through clenched teeth.
“And if self-preservation is not enough motivation,” he growled. “I will happily go straight to the Court Above and let the gods themselves know their monarchs are folding to this rancid rebellion. Because you know what comes after your throne falls, don’t you? They’ll never be satisfied until the heads of the gods themselves roll. And I think they’ll all find it fascinating which Lunar demigoddess sold them out.”
Lunelle pulled away from him, shirking his grasp as her lips snarled in disgust for the boy prince before her.
“I thought you were ignorant, Arcas, but I hoped you were at least redeemable.” She stomped toward the door, heaving it open as she spun on her heels. Lunelle inhaled sharply. “There is no saving you from yourself.”
Arcas caught her hand, pulling her back into him, venom pooling on his tongue.
“Careful, starling. You know how much it turns me on when you hurt my feelings.”
Lunelle wrestled against his grasp, her rage boiling under his fingers.
“That’s not you,” she spat. “But you’resoafraid of yourself, I can taste it.” She did not give him another chance to grab her, moving swiftly into the hall and down the first set of stairs.
Arcas called after her, “I will be Lunar king, Lunelle! Or I’ll be sure to let the gods know who bound you into the rebellion in the first place.”
Lunelle froze, her heart shattering as the words snapped from his mouth.
She did not look back before running down the remaining stairs, hardly able to grasp her breath as she felt her entire world start to crumble for not the first time since she stepped foot into this godsforsaken court.
ChapterTwenty-One
Oestera held her breath as her daughter entered their shared study.
“Good morning,” she said over her tea, watching as Lunelle sank across from her and leaned into the arm of the sofa. She’d snuck back into her bedroom early that morning and had a hushed argument with Lura, but she’d hoped her mother had not been able to make out the panicked notes of the conversation.
Lunelle’s shoulders slumped. A far cry from the posture she normally adopted.
“Lunelle?”
“Good morning,” Lunelle finally muttered.
Gods, she sounded pathetic.
“Darling,” Oestera said softly, a tone she rarely heard from her mother. “Are you feeling well?”
