Chapter Twenty-five
Arien
“Just don’t push her.”I reminded my mother, sitting in the same meeting room we’d met my sister in yesterday. We were waiting for her and Calix to arrive so we could plan our next steps, but I was worried about my mother and sister clashing again.
“She needs to understand—” Mother began, but I cut her off with a glare.
“She does understand, but she also has other concerns,” I told her firmly. “You can’t expect her to have no will of her own, Mother. She’s your daughter, after all.”
She glared at me, slapping me on the arm, but I just shrugged casually. “It’s true. You both have strong personalities and slightly different goals.”
“She needs to take the throne of Day, Arien.” Mother insisted quietly. “We’ve worked so hard to ensure things would be ready, and now she wants to blow it off for aman.”
“You thinking that just proves that you don’t know me at all,” Asteria said, walking into the room.
I sighed dejectedly, closing my eyes briefly. I should have known it was a lost cause.
“Iwilltake the throne of Day.” Asteria continued, and my eyes widened slightly at the resolve in her voice. “But we’re doing this on my terms. Not yours. Not anyone else’s but mine. I’ve had enough of Fae controlling my life.” I winced at the reminder, the one part of my mother’s plan I’d raged against the most: sending my sister into slavery.
“I will never let another control my fate again. Understand?” Asteria raised a brow, and Mother nodded slowly.
Only because I knew my mother so well was I able to detect the conflicting emotions she was feeling. Pain, at not knowing her daughter. Anger, at having to give up control. But mostly pride that her daughter was already proving that she was the queen we needed.
“Very well.” Mother conceded quietly. “And I apologize if my words offended you. That was never my intention. I just worry about the fate of Day Kingdom, and according to Arien’s report, we think…”
She trailed off, looking to me, and I took over.
“Aelius knows about you. Likely thanks to Cyrus. Making this more complicated than we’d hoped.” I informed her. “We had been aiming for the element of surprise at first.”
Asteria nodded slowly, and I noticed Calix kept quiet, but close. He let her take control of the situation, but was by her side should he be needed. I hated to admit it, hated even thinking about my sister withanyone, but it seemed like she could have done a lot worse for a mate.
“Since he’s clearly aligned himself with Cyrus, it makes sense. And we all know this will come to war. With what Cyrus is doing, we have no choice but to stop him, or the balance will be destroyed forever,” Asteria said, clearly thinking over the situation at hand.
“How many lords in Day will follow me?” she asked after a moment of silence.
“About half,” I replied. “The others are too far up Aelius’s ass.”
“It’s a little less than half.” Mother countered, side-eyeing me reproachfully.
I sighed loudly, shaking my head with rising dread. “It’s half.”
She turned a stern glare on me, all queenly offense. “What are you talking about?”
Asteria sat back, hiding a smile as her brow rose. I nearly rolled my eyes. She’d been lucky at least to avoidthisall her life.
“Ergun is with us,” I admitted reluctantly. “His one condition was no one but me knew until it was time to tell Asteria.”
“Arien!” Mother snapped, her eyes wide. “How am I supposed to properly plan when you keep secrets of this magnitude!”
“Did you want him as an ally for Asteria?” I asked plainly, unwilling to let her roll over me on this one.
“Of course I do! That’s why I repeatedly attempted to bring him to our side!” she said, exasperated. “A wasted effort, apparently.” Mother glared at me, making me sigh loudly.
“This was the only way to secure his support. I chose to do what would help Asteria, even if your pride was hurt in the process,” I told her softly, trying to curb the sting of my words.
She huffed, offense in every line of her body, before turning to Asteria instead. I let myself roll my eyes once hers were off me.
“Can we begin pulling in their forces?” Asteria interjected, looking to Calix. “If we can combine them with Night, that would give us the best chance. We need to defend both borders while we’re trying to sway Sunrise.”
