He appeared through the doors, a striking celestial far younger than Zephyr, but his double in appearance of blond hair and ocean-blue eyes. The conclusion seemed obvious but… how had I not known he had a son?
“Judging by your surprise, I’m going to assume my father neglected to tell you about me or my sister. He’s particularly overprotective these days.”
A daughter too?
A young woman around the same youthful age—the early teens, I would guess—strolled up beside him. It was easy to see her mother, Katerina, in her features, so stunning a resemblance that it squeezed a fist in my chest.
“At least you get to go help at the sanctuary. I’m practically a prisoner in this castle,” she whined.
“I’m Raider Luna, and this is my brat sister, Antila Luna.” His sister whacked his arm because of the comment.
“I’m so glad we get to meet,” I said, walking up to them.
Raider and Antila were perfect depictions of a prince and princess, in their finery of white and turquoise.
“Me too!” Antila said in a chirp as she looped her arm around mine, guidingme inside. “Our father told us many stories about you while we were growing up. You’re like a fairytale come to life,” she gushed.
My cheeks warmed at that, but to know Zephyr treasured our friendship enough to tell his children about me also bloomed pride.
“I wouldn’t believe everything he’s told you,” I said lightheartedly.
“You mean you didn’t accidentally free a pen of chickens in Notus’s castle?” Raider inquired.
“Of course not,” I said, grinning with the memory. “It was entirely purposeful.”
Antila giggled. “Oh, please say you’ll come by often. I need to hear more about your adventures, and it’s so dull around here.”
“I don’t remember them all very clearly, I’m afraid.”
I enjoyed some fond kernels of the past, but with everything that was threatening my present, I didn’t want to keep feeling torn between two lives. One of failure and one with an uncertain end.
Antila pouted. “Can you try to convince my father to let me go out on adventures with you? Or him? Please, I swear I’ve been training and can handle myself. I want to help, just like mother.”
The young celestial was so innocent and precious; she harbored a bright new candle I couldn’t be the first to extinguish. So I smiled and her eyes lit up.
“I’ll try my best, but you know how stubborn he is.”
Antila squealed. “He admires you very much; he’ll listen to you!”
“I’m here to see him, in fact; could you take me to him?”
“Father’s not here. Mother says he’s been so busy with the sanctuary lately.”
My feet rooted into the ground on my next step, breaking Antila’s arm from mine. When she looked at me with concern, I quickly plastered a smile over my fear.
“Where is your mother?” I asked.
Antila glanced down the hall, and my entire body stiffened, but Katerina—or rather,Dawn—wasn’t there.
“She braided my hair this morning, then said she had a meeting with some lords,” Antila informed. She looped her arm through mine again, tugging me to walk. “Maybe she’s still in the throne room.”
She wasn’t.
Zephyr’s throne room was much different from Auster’s in the Nova province or mine in Vesitire. His throne itself was made of glass like hundreds of icicles had forged together, jutting out at different angles. The hall was empty, but I lost myself in the beauty of his stained glass windows depicting scenes of power and love. Such as the one of a celestial with wings splayed and their sword drawn, or the one that resembled Zephyr and Katerina, joined hands clasped between their chests.
My heart squeezed at the thought of them. If Dawn had successfully taken on Katerina’s life, Zephyr still didn’t know about the impostor in his wife’s body.
I should have come sooner.
