Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Preparing for the social was a whirlwind.
Virgo attendants bustled about Aela with a vigilance she dared not interfere with.
They primped and primed her until she shone like a newborn star.
Wrapped in a near-glowing shimmery lavender sheath dress that hugged her form and pooled at her feet, the material was smooth against her overheated skin.
Aela tried to appreciate the beauty of it, but her mind was filled to the brim.
The social event the Sagittarius attendant alluded to earlier was somehow grander though less opulent than anything Aela had experienced in Avarice.
Both starcities were abuzz with activity after traveling rings had been attuned to each other for the occasion.
Stars flocked between the cities neighboring together for the first time in thousands of years, if ever.
Aela idly wondered if Tabitha had ventured away from her shop to visit with those of her former House.
More likely, she remained in Avarice to attract new clientele and take them for all the credits they’re worth, Aela thought with a smile.
The upper echelon of Sagittarian society mingled with the foreigners in the largest courtyard of Theora, so she’d been told.
Sagittarius didn’t have a grand palace like Avarice but instead maintained estates and separate buildings for different purposes, keeping their private lives separate from official functions.
There was a wildness in the atmosphere, accentuated by the hanging vines and overgrown greenery.
It was enchanting, and Aela found herself favoring the open-to-the-air setting compared to the stifled confines of the gilded palace in Avarice.
The warded air was balmy, carrying the scents of spiced liquor.
Dancing orbs of fire burned high above the attendee’s heads warming the courtyard.
Marbled gray columns supported an elevated terrace where partygoers could observe the social below.
Aela had planted herself beside a column along the outer perimeter of the function, trying to remain unnoticed.
Despite Sulae’s encouragement, she had little time to ponder what she wanted.
While the answer had once been simple, ever since she escaped Prente, more and more obstacles lured her away from reuniting with her family.
Arche waltzed up to her, carrying two fluted glasses of sparkling liquid, interrupting her introspection.
“Forgive me?” Arche asked, extending the drink.
“What for?”
“For not being there when Tarek…”
Aela accepted the drink and waved away his apology. “It’s better this way.”
“What do you mean?”
“You need to focus on those in your House that need you, and so do I.”
Arche’s fingers tightened around his glass.
“I never meant to stay,” Aela said, trying to soften the blow to her friend. She needed to distance herself. She had let too many people in. Had veered too far off course.
“You could,” Arche said. “The work we’ve all been doing is important, and it’s made a difference.” He moved closer, lowering his voice further despite no one paying them any mind. “You are the rebellion, Aela. Whatever gifts you have that free them, how can you walk away from that?”
Aela pressed her tongue into her cheek. “And what about my Line? Don’t presume to know what I have or have not walked away from. Who I’ve left to help you.”
Arche’s warm brown eyes bounced between hers.
“Where do you think you can go? Tarek will not stop until he binds you to him, even if he has to force you to do it.” He clinked his glass against the crystal band on her wrist. “I’m surprised he hasn’t already,” he said and drained the rest of his drink.
“Look. I’m glad I could help, but clearly we underestimated him. The rebellion,” Aela whispered, “will carry on without me just as it had before I got involved.”
“Aela—”
“Arche, please try to understand. I’m—”
“No, you’re right, Starling. We can’t rely on you to be our only hope.”
“I’m sorry,” Aela breathed, averting her gaze.
“Let’s not talk about this now. Maybe the Fates you like to pray to will help us each find our own path,” Arche said.
After Aela finished her drink, Arche took their empty glasses and disappeared into the revelry in search of an attendant to replenish them.
Tarek had arrived some time ago, and despite his egocentrism with the Primary Stars, he had drawn in a large cluster of celestials.
Aela watched him beam, dark skin aglow under the firelight, not an ounce of remorse to be seen.
Arche stumbled back to her hiding place, the jacket he had worn lost somewhere since the last she had seen him. His hair looked even more disheveled than usual.
“Enjoying yourself?” Aela asked with a knowing smirk.
Arche tilted his head from side to side.
“Enough for now,” he said with a glimmer in his eye.
He extended a fresh glass to her, and Aela accepted it with a nod before she raised it to his with a clink.
After taking a drink, she returned her gaze to the stars in the courtyard.
The Asterisms of Sagittarius and Taurus were out in full splendor tonight.
Not to be outshone, the Gemini and Virgo attendees had also donned their finest attire for the event. All but Aries were present.
“What about you?” Arche asked, elbowing her side.
“Hmm?”
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Enough for now,” Aela parroted.
“Not overwhelmed yet?” her friend asked, his tone softening. The hum in the air of other conversations and laughter offered a shield of privacy.
“To be honest, I don’t know where to begin with it all. The meeting was not what I had expected—what happened to Prente, what Tarek’s doing in Avarice, everything. Not to mention, I think I may have seen a ghost.”
The ever-present anger within her cooled under a blanket of worry. Aela exhaled before she tipped her flute of sparkling liquor to her lips and drained the glass.
Arche’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. He signaled for more drinks and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly as an attendant replaced their empty glasses.
Aela’s eyes caught on a dark figure on the far side of the courtyard as the crowd parted around him. Aries had arrived.
Worrying her bottom lip, she uttered, “I need to do something.”
“Yeah?” Arche asked, suggestion heavy in his tone.
“It will probably end in disaster. But at this point...”
“Meaning you want to bed a disaster?”
Aela coughed on her drink. Arche took her glass as she covered her mouth and cleared her throat. Taking her drink back, she glanced up at him through her lashes.
“Not exactly what I had in mind, but now that you mention it, it has been a while.”
“Starling, I will bed nearly anything that walks, so I am the best one to encourage you to unleash your sexual prowess.” Arche jerked his chin, “Go bed a disaster. Go be a disaster.”
“No words of caution? No warning of what the magnitude of Tarek’s wrath will surely be?”
Arche smirked and whispered in her ear, “Burn him without name.”
Huffing a laugh, Aela stole a glance at the figure in the crowd she couldn’t shake from her thoughts. “You truly think so?”
“Starling, I know so.”
“There will most definitely be consequences,” Aela warned, more to herself than Arche.
“There always are.”
Pink stained Aela’s cheeks. “Just to be clear… I’m not asking for this with you.”
“Oh, Aela,” Arche said as he slung an arm around her shoulders. “You wouldn’t know where to begin with all of this,” he said, gesturing with his drink to himself. “I like you too much anyway.”
Aela gave him a playful shove and set her sights on the immovable male now off to the side of the dancing, listening to Asters around him with a bored expression on his face.
“I’ll be here to pick up the pieces as always,” Arche said gently.
“As always? We barely know each other,” Aela tossed back, though his words warmed her.
“I take offense at that. And yes, I’ll be here for when it inevitably goes wrong, as all things do in this godsforsaken realm.”
“You’re a good friend, Arche.”
“The best,” he said with a puff of his chest before he sauntered back into the revelry in search of another companion for the evening.
Aela leaned back against her hiding place once more. As the social wore on, the invisible lines between Houses blurred. Sentinels on duty held their crystalline weapons at the ready but without the rigidity of impending conflict. Even Asters from each House appeared less calculating.
Where do I fit in with all of this? And when was the last time I slept?
Aela closed her eyes and leaned her head against the column at her back. Willing its strength to seep into her bones. If she were lucky, her dreamscape would sweep her away and spare her from socializing. Her lips quirked at the thought of her slumped form against a column and Tarek’s livid face.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” a deep voice uttered. Eyes snapping open, she turned her head toward the voice. All she saw were shadows behind her.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Aela said, peering into the darkened alcove.
“You think if you lurk in the background, no one will notice you,” said Eros, stepping away from the shadows.
Aela raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m lurking? You’re the one hiding in literal shadows.”
The corner of his lip tilted in an almost-smile as he came up next to her, looking out upon the courtyard where celestials were dancing.
Aela felt his magnetism as if it were a living force and she shoved the thoughts of pursuing him to the farthest corner of her mind.
He was not some male for a fling to get back at Tarek, to claim agency for herself, or to satisfy her needs.
That is a very bad idea.
She tore her gaze away before it lingered too long on features that shouldn’t live on his face.
Many of the stars in attendance were socializing with hesitation brewed from millennia of being separated from each other.
Even as the social crept on and liquid courage lifted spirits, a bittersweetness clung to the air after so long being sequestered with no one but their own constellations.
“Even with all this,” Aela gestured to the gala with her fizzing drink, “they still seem so lonely.”
Eros hummed his agreement. “It’s a shame what the curse of the Gods wrought, isn’t it?”
“As if it could be any other way.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve lost hope?”
Aela went still.
He could be referring to anything.
“You’ll have to elaborate, Primary.”
“You’ve caused quite a stir.”
Aela narrowed her eyes at his evasion. “Not that it’s helped me at all,” she muttered before taking another swallow of her drink.
“What is it you want, Aela?”
“Why is everyone suddenly asking me that?” she snapped.
“Do you speak to your Primary this way?”
“He’s not my Primary.”
“What does that make me?”
“Not my Primary?” Aela said, growing a little flustered.
Eros’ face shifted toward hers. The gold of his eyes caught the shimmering flames overhead, giving them a molten aura. When he didn’t speak, Aela cast her eyes up at the luminous eternal night sky before answering his earlier question.
“Fate hasn’t offered me the luxury of choices. None that matter anyway. At each turn, I find myself at a disadvantage. So when given a choice, how do I know how to make the right decision?”
Eros cocked his head to the side. “You won’t always get it right. You have to determine for yourself what you believe that is.”
“And if I’m wrong?”
He shrugged. “Don’t be wrong.”
With that sage wisdom imparted, Eros walked away from her with a slight haze of darkness clinging to him as he melted back into the crowd, clusters of Asters attempting to capture his attention.
Lost in her thoughts once more, Aela tried to mull over everything that had turned her life inside out: ascending, falling from the sky, not knowing what had happened to her family, the village, Renee’s death, Kaitos finding her, The Games, The Darkness in her dreams, Tarek and his constellation, and the destruction of Prente.
Aela closed her eyes as her thoughts sped through her mind, racing one another, faster and faster, becoming a rainbow of light that flared behind her eyes. The surrounding atmosphere shifted while her eyes remained closed.
What do you want? What do you want? What do you want?
A firm grip on her forearm revealed the last celestial she expected to see.
“Miss me?”