“Lunelle,” Astra whispered. “You can tell me anything. I’m your sister.”
Luxuros rubbed his broad chest, a familiar gesture to Lunelle. Her throat tightened—how many times had she seen the king push at the same spot? He fixed his eyes on Lunelle and Mirquios, waiting.
“She deserves to know,” he said.
Lunelle swallowed her pride, her shame, her betrayal. Astra did deserve to know. She inhaled, summoning the bravery she so seldom tapped.
“While we were away, I Tethered.”
A sharp gasp escaped her sister. “Oh gods, not the Plutonian!” Astra rubbed her temples, swallowing. She’d been so vocally against their impending union.
“Not Arcas,” Mirquios said.
“As,” Lunelle whispered, letting the wall within her crumble slowly, showing her sister all the layers of guilt and pain she’d built over the memory of her world falling into his.
She bit her lip as Astra watched them, unsure of what came next. The king sighed slowly as he crossed the space between them and rested a gentle palm on Lunelle’s shoulder.
She glanced up at Mirquios, desperate to absorb even a modicum of the calmness in his breath.
He broke the pained silence in the room.
“Astra, I never would have agreed to our deal and put you in such a precarious position if I so much as suspected. I’d crossed paths with your sister a dozen times before we left. I never dreamed…”
Lunelle fought the urge to smile at him. Astra didn’t need to see the spark of joy his words kindled, the hazy library in her mind, built just for them.
“We were trying to find a solution,” Lunelle whispered. “A way to sever it. We weren’t going to tell you until we had a plan.” She placed her hand over the king’s.
“Oh.” Astra sighed, her eyes drinking in the sight of them.
“Astra.” Lunelle leaned forward, ready to throw herself on the ground and grovel, but she watched something snap inside of her sister.
Something like relief.
“Oh my gods,” Astra shouted, falling into a chair and covering her mouth. A ripple of laughter fell from her lips. “Oh, Lunelle. No wonder you’ve been so strange!”
Lunelle joined her laughter as the men eyed them, confused.
“The day you told me you Tethered to Mirquios, I felt a piece of me die, Astra. I thought it was because I was losing you… but I think I was losing both of you and didn’t even realize it. We’ve had every historian we know between the two of us hunting for a way to sever the Tether.”
“No!” Astra stood, pushing the chair back behind her. “You shouldn’t! You can’t!”
Lunelle waved her hands. “Well, we certainly cannot?—”
“Yes, you can! It makes perfect sense, Lu. You’re both so similar, so calm. Like tranquil seas.”
“Boring, you mean?” Mirquios scoffed.
“No,” Astra said, a shallow laugh bubbling from her as she searched for the right words. “The world needs more of you two and less of my uncontrolled burn, I assure you. And besides, it’s not like we had chemistry on our side. I’d begun to wonder if I could go the rest of my life without—” Astra stopped herself, a faint blush crawling over her cheeks. “Sorry.”
Mirquios was not offended. “I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t been a concern for me, too, Princess. Forever is a long time.” Lunelle leaned back into him, his fingers grasping her shoulder tighter.
“Indeed,” Astra relented.
Lunelle watched her sister’s face for any signs of resentment—any hint of pain.
“So you’re not angry? Or hurt?”
Astra shook her head, her scarlet curls bouncing.
