Heavenly Bodies

Chapter Thirty-Six

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Elara looked at her reflection in her ornate mirror. Her gaze flicked from her sallow skin, to the shadows under her eyes, faint red with Ariete’s venom. Then to the crimson eyes that watched her from behind.

Days had passed. Unending torment as Ariete’s venom had ruined her, the Star drip-feeding her his blood—enough so she could talk, but not enough to use her magick.

She took in her dress, heavily embroidered with rubies and garnets, as a glamourer silently worked on her hair. She thought of Merissa. Then she felt like crying, and tried to focus again on her own reflection.

‘You’ll be the belle of the ballet,’ Ariete said, strolling around the room, dressed in a suit that matched her gown.

‘Why are we going?’ she asked dully.

‘Because I have a surprise for you.’

She tried to feel panic, but her box of emotions was firmly locked.

‘Where’s Sofia?’

Ariete, like every other time she had previously asked, didn’t answer.

She watched as her hair was transformed by glamour into midnight ringlets, then placed carefully off her face with jewelled ruby pins that studded the curls like droplets of blood.

Makeup was smeared upon her face, hiding the dark rings. When the glamourer reached the bite marks upon Elara’s neck, Ariete tutted. ‘Leave them,’ he said. ‘The world should see that she’s mine.’

‘I will never belong to you.’

‘Your heart, no. I’ll make sure of that,’ Ariete said. ‘But your soul, your existence. They are mine.’

‘And won’t Gem be a little bothered by that? The two of you seem awfully close.’

He made an amused sound. ‘Oh, she sates my appetite now and then. But not the way a mortal can.’ He drew his thumb down the wound on Elara’s neck. ‘You sicken me, and yet I crave you. You know, I’m the closest to you humans. The god of war, of blood. I understand your fleeting lives, your desperation to make them count. And so, you fuck and kill and love and bleed. And it tastes so delicious to me, all of it.’ He wet his lips, and she watched, unable to look away, as he pulled a knife from thin air, the weapon appearing in a flash of red.

‘Look at how I bleed,’ he said, cutting open the skin on his palm. Sparkling glitter welled up from the wound, a liquid stardust. ‘Insubstantial.’ A snarl curled his features. ‘But a human’s…’ He beckoned the glamourer to him, who laid down the last pin she was about to secure in Elara’s hair. The woman swayed to Ariete, moaning as he embraced her. She whispered fervent prayers as he chuckled. ‘A human’s blood is warm and red and so very alive,’ he murmured as he plunged his teeth into her neck.

Elara flinched, looking away as the woman moaned anew. He smeared her blood on his lips, his eyes gleaming as he pushed her off him.

‘Yes, mortal blood tastes so much more. ’

The glamourer slumped on to Elara’s parents’ bed, as utter fury writhed beneath Elara’s skin.

‘Are we really that expendable to you?’

Ariete chuckled. ‘She’s fine. Unlike with you, I didn’t use my venom on her.’

As though in response, the woman moaned as she touched the wound at her neck, her eyes dazed in a state of bliss. ‘I usually only drink from devotees. I do not relish killing mortals for no reason.’

‘So what was the reason you murdered my parents?’ she demanded.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Ariete replied. ‘They committed starsin. They heard this prophecy at your naming ceremony and hid it for decades from me, from the Stars.’

‘They were innocent,’ Elara said through gritted teeth.

‘No human is truly innocent. Your parents certainly weren’t. And they had been outrunning fate for a long time—had done terrible, awful things to escape it.’

A few of the ruby hairpins were still scattered upon the dressing table, and Elara’s hand twitched over one.

‘There is darkness within you, Elara, as there was darkness within them.’

‘You know nothing about me.’

‘On the contrary,’ he grinned. ‘I know you better than you do. I know that the line between good and evil is thinner than a blade. I know that you’re teetering upon it.’ He leaned forwards, his mouth at her neck. ‘I could show you, you know,’ he murmured. ‘How to become the villain. How delicious it feels.’

‘You know the most dangerous kind of villain?’ she whispered. ‘A woman with nothing left to lose.’

She whirled with a cry of pain, plunging the hairpin into his neck.

Ariete’s shock changed in seconds to pain, a hiss escaping his lips. But as she tried to stagger for the door, he began to laugh, yanking the pin out.

Glittering blood poured from his neck, but Elara didn’t wait to see if he would fall. She yanked at the door, but red starlight slammed into it, the lock clicking.

‘Oh, you and I are going to have some fun,’ Ariete chuckled, standing up straight. Already, the wound at his neck was healing. ‘I see that divine violence was within you all along.’

The carriage, pulled by midnight horses, rumbled through the Dreamer’s Quarter. Bookshops and galleries were crammed side by side, the dark grey cobbles beneath them slick with rain. In one pocket of the quarter sat a group of artists with their easels, painting beneath canopies in the drizzly night. Shops were lit up with a cosy glow, and there was one in particular that she’d snuck out to only once in her life—a café that had made the best hot cocoa she had ever tasted.

She flicked her gaze to the gods sat in the carriage with her. Ariete was looking out of the window, a distant smile on his lips as he toyed with a small knife. And beside him, studying her, was Eli. The god had helped her once before, but since Enzo’s favour had been fulfilled, it seemed he had lost interest in good deeds. Whatever fate awaited her at the ballet, was hers alone.

‘Where’s Sofia?’ she demanded again.

Ariete only laughed, and Eli switched his focus to his fingernails.

The carriage rattled over the Bridge of Tears, stopping directly outside the Asteria Opera House. The facade of the building was made out of a glittering bluestone, twirling features upon it gilded in silver. With a flourish, the footman opened the carriage door.

Ariete stepped out and raised a hand to take Elara’s. She ignored it, making her own way down. But his hand instead clenched her arm, iron-strong as he propelled her through the crowds milling outside and towards the theatre. It was then, to Elara’s relief, that she saw her people properly for the first time—and apparently safe. They seemed content enough, if a little on edge, but whatever atrocities Ariete had committed against the royal family’s closest circle, it hadn’t seemed to extend to her citizens yet.

As Elara stepped into the Opera House, she almost sighed. Deep blue and violet flowers spilled over the grand marble staircase, and a chandelier made with sapphires glimmered in the glowing candlelight. Vaguely familiar courtiers and other aristocrats—those who had clearly sworn fealty immediately to Lukas and Ariete—gathered in the lobby, peering at her with wide eyes as they whispered and gossiped.

‘The lost princess,’ she heard a whisper. ‘With the King of Stars.’

The crowd parted for Ariete, every mortal within the vicinity lowering themselves on one knee. The Star nodded and smiled as he pulled Elara through, Eli trailing behind.

There was a fanfare behind her, more murmurs of excitement, and Elara turned.

Behind her, entering the theatre, with the Asterian crown upon his head, was Lukas. He looked worse for wear, even paler and more ill than before, which gave Elara at least some satisfaction.

He smiled as he approached them.

‘Captive life suits you, Lara,’ he said softly as he embraced her.

Elara was stiff as she pulled away, though she cocked her head and gave a winning smile. ‘I do look good in red.’

The amusement on Lukas’s face slipped, though Ariete laughed. ‘Your Majesty,’ the Star acknowledged. ‘Enjoy the show.’

‘My lord,’ Lukas bowed, ‘I intend to.’

Elara was pulled up the grand staircase, and looked around wildly. She knew that the moment she reached the top of the stairs and entered the royal box, she would be trapped. This was her last chance.

‘I need to use a bathroom,’ she blurted out.

Ariete’s gaze slid to her. ‘Nice try.’

‘I do,’ she insisted, stopping midway on the stairs.

‘I’ll take her,’ Eli sighed.

Ariete nodded. ‘Do not let her leave your sight,’ he said, continuing on.

Eli pushed her in front of him as he took her back down, and she wet her lips as she found the bathrooms over on the far side of the entrance.

‘Be quick,’ he said, stationing himself by the door. Elara nodded, hope thrilling through her as she went into the bathroom alone.

Only to stop still.

In front of her, the goddess smoothing her hair in the mirror turned, smiling.

‘Hello, Elara Bellereve.’

Cancia.

Skies, the Star was ethereal. Silver hair that glowed iridescently, one blue eye the colour of lakes, the other the green of the sea, both sparkling as she approached, and Elara found herself overwhelmed with the smell of ocean flowers. It was a soft, comforting fragrance, but Elara knew better. Cancia was the goddess of pain and penance.

‘What are you doing here?’ she croaked. Elara could no longer bring herself to show the Stars a respect they did not deserve.

An indignancy flashed upon the goddess’s face before it was smothered. ‘We don’t have long,’ she murmured, and took a long pointed nail, the colour of pearls, to her wrist. With a swipe, sparkling blood gathered. ‘Drink.’

‘What?’ Elara exclaimed.

‘The prince of Helios bought my favour. And you need your strength, and your magick, for what is about to occur.’

Elara’s head spun, though she still took Cancia’s wrist.

‘He’s close,’ Cancia said. ‘Waiting by the Bridge of Tears. Use the strength my blood gives you, slip out of this theatre during the show. Run to the bridge. Lorenzo will arrange the rest.’

Tears gathered in Elara’s eyes. She had thought herself alone, abandoned. And here Enzo was, making yet another bargain for her life. But one thing remained.

‘I can’t leave Sofia.’

‘Your friend is taken care of. The prince’s general is at the Asterian palace as we speak.’

Elara’s legs wobbled, and Cancia pushed her against the counter. ‘Drink,’ she said softly.

And Elara closed her eyes, one tear rolling down her cheek, as she drank.