Heavenly Bodies

Chapter Forty-Nine

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

When they reached the palace once more, and she was hurried out of the carriage, Elara leaned towards Enzo. ‘How are we getting to Aphrodea?’

Idris had promised he was taking care of the details, but it dawned on her that the journey would likely take days by carriage, days they did not have.

Enzo winked. ‘You’ll see.’

Idris led the procession, flanked by Leo and a guard that Elara vaguely recognized from her capture—an older man who had appeared with Leo after her altercation with Barric. They turned down a corridor and arrived at a nondescript door. When it opened, Elara’s mouth slackened.

Light danced through the entire space, rainbows cast and refracting off mirrors that lined the walls. Tables were set up in rows, each littered with maps of constellations and stars. And in the centre of the room was a wheel. Upon it were the sigils of all the stars, along with small symbols and writings etched in gold.

‘What is this place?’ Elara murmured.

‘I call it my lucirium. And it is where I Stargaze,’ Idris said. ‘For years I have been learning what I can of the Stars to get to this moment—to make them fall.’

As Elara walked past the wheel, she brushed Ariete’s symbol with a finger. Lines upon lines of text appeared within a burst of red light. Idris glared at her as he passed his own hand over the sigil, and the light and text vanished.

‘Don’t touch anything,’ he snapped, as they reached a mirror at the end of the room, shimmering more brightly than others, almost emanating its own light.

Idris walked right over to it and held out his hand to Leo, who took a knife and made a small cut across the King’s palm.

Elara raised her brows.

Idris held up his hand and smeared it upon the relief of the roaring lion upon the mirror’s frame. ‘Aphrodea,’ he said clearly. There was a ripple of light, and to Elara’s disbelief, their reflection transformed, the mirror becoming like a window that displayed a crystal-clear picture of a garden painted in hues of rose and honey. Aphrodea.

‘They’re called soverins ,’ Enzo explained, looking at her surprise. ‘Royal blood allows you through.’

‘It’s a way for royals to convene and travel between neighbouring kingdoms quickly,’ Isra added. ‘Gatherings, meetings, treaties—it’s far easier to use this than to travel by horse if you’re a monarch.’

‘Of course, you wouldn’t know anything about them,’ Idris said, looking over at Elara. ‘Your father blocked off the soverin from here to Asteria decades ago.’ He gave a nasty smile, before walking right through the mirror, Leo and the other guard with him. There was a shimmer as they disappeared for a moment, before reappearing in the Aphrodean garden.

Elara thought back to the shrouded mirror in her parents’ throne room. Sofia had teased her once that it had been covered because it was a portal to the Deadlands, and that if she ever took a peek, ghosts and ghouls would pour from it and snatch her back with them. Had that been her parents’ soverin ? How much more about her own kingdom was there left to discover?

Elara pushed the uneasy thoughts away as Enzo led her, Merissa and Isra through the mirror.

She felt like she was falling, then flying, then somersaulting for less than a minute, before she landed firmly on two feet in what appeared to be a rose garden.

The perfume from the flowers was intoxicating, blush-coloured butterflies flitting through the air. Lively music flooded Elara’s senses, making her feet twitch to the rhythm and her nerves dance. The soverin behind them shimmered before the image of Idris’s lucirium disappeared. It was replaced with their reflection and a frame of roses, a carved rose-gold swan stamped at the top of it. The small garden was empty.

Isra and Merissa craned their necks as Elara stared up at the palace before her, on higher ground than where they stood, the sprawling capital of Venusa below it. The palace was stunning, looking like it was sitting on clouds. The candy-floss wisps of the Aphrodean sky wrapped around the base of the palace as white and dusky pink columns stretched higher into the sky. Roses climbed up and around the building, every shade of blush imaginable. She staggered a little as Enzo leaned in.

‘Decadent is the word you’re looking for,’ he said.

‘Overkill more like,’ Isra muttered.

‘Excuse me!’ Merissa protested. ‘This is my kingdom you’re talking about.’

‘Sorry,’ Enzo and Isra chimed in unison.

They walked down a path and out of the rose garden, hanging back from Idris a little, who was already a short distance ahead with his guard in tow. Enzo filled her in. ‘We’re guests of the palace today. The queens know we’re arriving for their solstice, they invite us every year. But they don’t know anything about you other than the fact that you’re a guest.’ He glanced at Elara. ‘That means you have to show them who you are.’

‘Don’t worry, Enzo.’ Isra walked up to him, patting him on the shoulder. ‘We’ve got it all figured out.’

‘That does not put me at ease,’ Enzo muttered.

The moment they left the gardens, they were greeted by a parade of people. They blended in with the celebrators singing jovially. Elara had never seen anything like it—the music, the food, the pure joy in celebrating the longest day of the year. Asterians didn’t celebrate the summer solstice, focusing their festivities on the winter solstice and Hallow’s Eve. This was so vibrant, so alive. She saw couples everywhere, dancing to the beat of a drum as pink washed their world, the sky lit up like sherbet. A handsome Aphrodean man danced up to her, his bronzed skin making his green eyes seem even greener.

He took her hand. ‘My, why haven’t I seen you before?’

‘Because she’s with me,’ Enzo snapped, stepping between them. The man took one look at his crown and tumbled on forwards as Enzo firmly planted his hands at her waist and pushed her ahead.

Excitement thrilled through her at his touch, settling deeper as he murmured into her ear, ‘Remember, princess. I’m perfectly comfortable with burning this kingdom to the ground.’

She let out a low laugh as they moved and swayed through the palace grounds to where the main building waited. She spotted Isra moving with a carefree ease; her hands twined in the sky, and a laugh lit up her face as she stomped her feet to the music, entangling with strangers. Merissa blew a kiss to Elara as she passed them. She wound her hips sensually, so casual with the way she moved her body. Elara smiled to herself. Yes, Merissa was Aphrodean through and through.

She readied herself as they reached the palace doors, the parade dancing through the open grand hallway to the ballroom.

‘Elara,’ Enzo said, and she stilled at the hesitant note in his voice. ‘I’m a prince here, and well…’ He ran a hand through his curls, adjusting his crown. ‘They may expect me to…receive guests.’

Elara raised a brow. He led her to one of the walls and away from the crowd, beside a painting of Torra in a chariot upon a lake, pulled by two swans.

‘It’s just a stupid solstice tradition, but the queens will probably expect me to greet members of their court. And let’s just say the tradition isn’t exactly as proper as it may be in Asteria.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said breezily and marched off into the cavernous hall as he followed, confusion on his face.

The drumbeat increased, trumpets blaring as the hip-swaying rhythm of the music propelled her through the enormous ballroom, which had been fashioned to be a receiving hall as much as a room for dancing. She spotted two female figures lounging in chairs upon a dais at the opposite end of the room, viewing the spectacle. The queens of Aphrodea were as stunning as the rumours whispered. Queen Calliope, Elara remembered from her history lessons, was the woman with rose-gold hair and possessed one of the strongest seducing magicks in the land. Her consort, Queen Ariadne, had golden brown hair and clever jade green eyes, and had been a tailor before her ascension to the throne. Both of their complexions glowed a golden shade of olive.

As Elara took note of the rest of the room, she saw that people from all over Celestia were dancing; Elara had already spied a few Svetans, Kaosians and Concordians, all dressed to impress. They each knew the steps flawlessly to dances Elara didn’t even recognize. She realized in that moment, her heart squeezing, just how cut off from the rest of the world and their cultures she had been. Idris was waiting, however, and Enzo squeezed Elara’s waist before letting it go. ‘I’d better greet the queens,’ he said, leaving her with Merissa and Isra.

She watched him leave, nerves finally taking over.

Isra looked at her. ‘Ready?’

She gave a nod, seeing Leo murmur something to Enzo and Idris, the two of them nodding before he disappeared into the crowd. ‘Ready.’