We all did.
Thinking back to the prophecy, I couldn’t shake the thought of a new queen, even as I mourned the last.
Ndrita followed alongside me as I walked down the carpeted halls. Passing tapestries and portraits of our ancestors and ignoring them all. My destination was the only thing I cared for as I explained to my sister what had happened in Dusk.
Her hand landed heavily on my arm when I finished, stopping me in my tracks. I looked down at her hand, then back up to her face. I so often saw the young girl I was left to help raise in the absence of our parents when I looked at her. It hadn’t been fair. Not for any of us. A new babe and a little girl, all to be raised by a young brother, newly made king. I’d had no idea what I was doing and had been buried under all the responsibility heaped upon me after our parents' deaths. I’d done my best, but I knew they deserved better.
I still struggled to see the woman Ndrita had become sometimes. Seeing only the tears that tracked down her face as she asked when Father would be home, and knowing he would never be returning. Sometimes, I hated him for putting that look on her face.
Other times, I loved him for the legacy he left me, for the father he’d been to me while it lasted. My mother’s death had hit us all hard, but none so hard as him. I’d been forced to watch him fade away slowly in the aftermath.
Chasing death like it owed him a debt.
Maybe in his mind, it had.
Having now felt the mate bond myself, I understood in an entirely new way. I breathed out, letting some of that old resentment go with it, and sent my apologies to my father in the Otherworld for ever holding it at all.
He’d done the best he could. Just as I had. Just as I would.
But I refused to lose my mate the way he lost his. A growl rose in my throat at the very thought.
“Brother, you must give her time,” Ndrita pleaded, pulling on my arm as her eyes met mine. The guards around us shifted uneasily, their armor thankfully silent as night, per my specification. But I could see them out of the corner of my eye. Thankfully, their loyalty was assured. I knew they would never speak a word they heard.
Regardless, this was not the place for this conversation.
“Ndrita—”
“No!” she snapped, and my eyes widened at her response. “Do you understand what has happened to her? Her entire life has unraveled before her eyes. Her parents? They can’t be her real parents. Not if she’s Fae. The very Fae whoenslavedher, and now, she’s one of them. I can’t imagine what she’s going through. On top of that, the power coursing through her…”
I growled, frustration rising rapidly, “That is why I need to see her. That power will?—”
“Do nothing over the next day. Give her that, at least. I know you want an excuse to go to your mate, Calix. Truly, I understand.” Her eyes widened, urgency underlining her tone. “But if you force her to talk before she’s ready, you’ll have more of a battle ahead of you than needed.” She sighed, blue eyes looking up at me and beseeching me to listen. “Just, give her time. Let her emotions calm a bit.”
“I should be there for her,” I whispered, defeat lacing my words. Fae hearing allowed Ndrita to pick up the words with no issue, which was another thing Asteria would need to adjust to. All her senses would have amplified, her very body altering. I sighed, my head dropping as I gave in.
I hated it, but Ndrita was right. Asteria needed time and space to come to terms with what had happened. She had requested it even. I needed to push down that instinct from the mate bond that was screaming at me to go to her.
Ndrita smiled in relief, hooking her arm through mine as she began to lead me to the war room. “Now, we need a debrief. Maybe, as king, you could handle such a thing, big brother?” She raised a brow teasingly, and I scowled back at her.
She giggled, pulling me along down the hall. I gave in, walking with her to the war room, where I found the lords and ladies who’d stayed behind when we left to attack Dusk Kingdom.
I considered myself a lucky king. My lords and ladies were loyal. Truly loyal, in a way that was rare among courtiers. But I’d established friendships with all of them, and they went farther than most would expect. I’d worked hard to extend what my parents had started, making our kingdom the very best it could be. Loyal and respectful. Prosperous and magical. My people wanted for nothing. Their urges for violence were curbed with our attacks. We had plenty of money and trade to go around. There was nothing we lacked.
And yet still… the prophecy the Oracle gave at my birth had been in everyone’s minds for years. Until Liviana’s visions of Asteria, at least, which shifted everyone’s focus. I’d been relieved of the break from it, in truth. The waiting and anticipation everyone held for a queen. One who was foretold to stand with me, who’d see the entirety of Celesterra changed forever, to our benefit.
A queen of stars to light up the night.
I nearly snorted at the thought now. I supposed the Oracle had that right. If I could ever convince Asteria…
Chapter Three
Asteria
“Asteria.”Priscilla’s eyes cut to me once again as we walked back to my rooms. She and Ilta had been sneaking looks at me on and off the entire way, and now, finally nearing my door, one of them was finally daring to speak for the first time since the moment they had caught sight of my ears.
I snorted, unable to help myself.
“I look a bit different, I know.” A hysterical laugh crept up my throat, a mad giggle escaping my lips before I swallowed it back down. I didn’t miss the worried glance they shared over my head.
