I dipped my head to her. “My name is—”
“Astraea Lightborne. The star-maiden.”
I nodded.
Gweneth studied me for a moment, and I didn’t know why her assessment made me shift my weight between my legs.
“You’re a little smaller than I imagined.”
I couldn’t help but huff a laugh, glad for some of the thickening tensionDrystan had brought to be dissolved. In my defense, Gweneth wasverytall for a woman.
She turned her attention to her father. “Show them. There’s no reason to keep our request a secret until Rainyte wakes.”
Viscarus’s expression softened for his daughter, and that exchange made me believe that Gweneth wasn’t waiting for her father’s death to assume her duty as reigning lady of east Astrinus; she had been slowly filling that role for many years as her father aged.
But there was something else which burdened them, and I knew it was going to be shared with me, with us, as they believed we might be able to help.
“You have no reason to trust me, and even less to trust Nyte and Drystan. But I give you my word that I’ll offer whatever we can to help. There can’t be trust without taking a leap of good faith,” I said.
Viscarus only looked at me briefly, then nodded his agreement to Gweneth.
“Follow me, Maiden,” she said. As we headed out, she addressed Drystan as she passed him. “You can either take my brother to bed, as he seems to need rest after his night of indulgence, or come with us.”
Drystan let go of Lionel to hook my arm. “This could be a trap,” he hissed low to me.
“Trust works both ways,” I said. “You’ve done enough damage to shake that, so you’re coming with me.”
Grabbing his forearm, I dragged him along after Gweneth.
“Where’s Nyte?” Drystan asked, his tone irritable as he tried not to be overheard.
But Gweneth answered before I could. “Our healers are tending to him. He might not wake until morning.”
“I want to see him,” Drystan demanded.
“First, you’ll see why my father hasn’t ordered him chained and tortured instead. Make no mistake, you and your brother are enemies of this kingdom, but sometimes even the deepest hate has to be set aside for those we love.”
We were treading dangerous ground.
“What you think we can do for you requires Nyte’s mind ability, doesn’t it?” I concluded.
They could have held him in the dungeons and refused to get him healer help if it were my magick they sought to use.
“Yes,” Gweneth answered.
We were approached by servants, and I accepted the thick winter coat offered to me. Drystan declined, retaining his sour expression, which I rolled my eyes at.
Outside, my first breath of the crisp air was stolen by the snow-capped mountains glistening under the pale moonlight, their towering peaks crownedwith frost that shimmered. Astrinus was magnificent, and now I had a moment to bask in its beauty. Between the jagged mountain heights, pockets of life thrived—a tapestry of gentle beauty woven into the harsh landscape. Small villages dotted through the snow-dusted ridges, their warm lights flickering against the cold.
It felt as though the mountains themselves had chosen to cradle these sanctuaries, shielding them from the rest of the world. In this secret realm of stone and snow, life blossomed quietly, resilient yet impossibly tender, as if daring the heavens to notice.
I became more antsy the longer we followed Gweneth away from the keep. Glancing back, I tried to measure time in case I had fallen into a trap and had to make it back to Nyte if he were in trouble.
“I should have stayed at the keep,” Drystan said after I looked over my shoulder for the third time.
I was beginning to agree with him.
Around the next street corner, my pace slowed after I saw the large building we were heading toward. I’d seen depictions of a place similar to this in books and conjured my own images through words alone from the vivid minds of authors. But this place… it was sosad.A long abandoned hall that once would have welcomed all walks of life into its gallery to witness performances upon its grand stage.
