Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Elnath stared out the glassless windows in her private study, overlooking the heart of Avarice and the Core Tower.
The summons from the other Primaries had come at last. She was still fuming that the invitation was only sanctioned for Tarek, his intended, and a small retinue.
Given that her typical duties as Regent made her the gateway to Taurus, to exclude her could be interpreted in no other way than as grave disrespect.
Fools, all of them.
Her office was wholly white. Sterile and cold, the interior represented purity.
A not-so-subtle reminder of how far above her House she was.
Her desk rested at the highest point of the room, with the open windows behind her.
It might as well have been a throne room for all intents and purposes.
Astral sky leaked through the windows, a wash of aqua bleeding into black.
She had delayed Tarek’s Ascension as long as she could. Her relationship with her so-called niece and nephew was already strained at best, the facade growing old. She was much inclined to take what she was promised.
The contents on top of her white desk went flying as unwelcome thoughts of the female who spurred her fall from grace entered her mind.
Elnath settled her arm back to her side; the tiny crystals along the hem of her blood-red robe tinkled with the movement.
Her outburst was a long time coming. She had nearly throttled her nephew in front of their court.
Promising Line placement for an outsider was one of Tarek’s more idiotic decisions.
But as her Master had told her, when she completed his Trial, chaos gained favor.
And favor gained power.
The new female Tarek had taken to was not something Elnath had planned for.
The Prime Apparent had found his workaround to Ascension.
She was out of time. Elnath needed to accelerate her plans before the young celestial caused more of a disruption, although chaos and disorder only made it easier for her to claim what was hers by right.
Elnath tossed her black hair over her shoulder, dispelling thoughts of all she had to do.
She stared down at Kaitos, who was still kneeling at the foot of the shallow steps of her tiered study.
His skin had healed well after her personal physicians saw to him.
Of all stars, it was Menkar of Aries who had delivered him to her.
Elnath pursed her lips. She would owe him a favor for bringing her faithful hound back to her.
And knowing Menkar, he had likely already set his price.
Tapping her long nails on the back of her crystal chair, she pushed a measured breath out of her nose.
The chair was a work of art and was one of her finer pieces.
She felt calmer just looking at it. Shaped like incandescent wings of flame, the glass-like seat had been seamlessly grown together from various crystals, including selenite and quartz for a calming effect.
Her eyes traced the flame-like feathers and sighed, dropping her hand.
“Approach,” she said to Kaitos, the faithful mutt. As he ascended the steps, she turned her back to him and gazed once more at the city below her.
As it should be.
Being Regent of House Taurus was the unofficial ruling power until the constellation had an Ascended Primary Star.
Though her position and influence were higher and greater than any other member of the Asterism—some would argue more so even than the Prime Apparent himself—all it did was remind her of how far she had fallen.
She made sure that when anyone uttered statements about the title of Regent being less than Prime Apparent, the speaker inevitably found themselves without a tongue.
The dried collection of muscles she had amassed was smaller now that the stars in her court had come to their senses.
How close she had come to having everything she could ever want, only to fall just short of it.
It was a history etched into the permanent downward tilt of her lips.
Yes, she had authority—some would argue the authority of the House—compared to the juveniles who thought they ran things. Though being Regent would never be enough.
It would all have been mine.
Sensing her mood souring, Kaitos inched closer.
She let him skate a finger up her arm. He continued his advance and massaged her shoulders.
They had been good together, she and the first Primary of Taurus.
Until she came and tore Aldebaran away from her.
Clenching her teeth until her jaw ached, Elnath turned and slapped Kaitos across the face, sending the male staggering to the side.
It had been quite some time since she had let her mind wander undisciplined and think of Alcyone, Tarek and Tala’s mother.
Aldebaran had been hers. She was his Adjacent and soon-to-be-bonded when everything went to all the hells.
When Alcyone was born, Aldebaran had felt the soulmate bond, and that had been that.
All her dedication and all her sacrifices were for nothing.
Elnath had to watch as Aldebaran discarded her and all they had built together in favor of another.
And so she had sworn a long time ago that his entire Line would suffer as she had suffered.
She had started first with the prominent stars who knew her before her time as Regent.
It hadn’t been an effortless task, slowly gathering in her former contemporaries under the guise of building a strong Asterism to help guide the Heirs of Taurus.
A trace here and there of her own brew of blended crystals.
Unscented, tasteless, and toxic when ingested or inhaled.
Those who remembered her former position painfully withered away until, one by one, none survived who remembered her past failures.
After she dismembered Aldebaran’s legacy, nothing would be left but rubble at her feet, hers to rebuild.
Her Master had promised her House Taurus in his Trial, telling her of a power hidden in the realm that would help her gain back what was rightfully hers.
Yet despite her efforts to weaken Aldebaran’s intimation, Tarek had still assumed support of his own Asterism by his pedigree alone.
She was the one who kept the House from crumbling when Alcyone didn’t return from the nebulae.
She was the one who brought the Primary and his twins home and assumed the role of aunt—a simple favor from Gemini had spun the tale.
And she had been the one to seize Aldebaran’s energy and contain it when he became a danger to himself and their House from the loss of his soulmate.
The void within Elnath’s chest where her heart should be howled open before she could staunch the pain.
Tsking under her breath, Elnath pushed her past-life thoughts away from the front of her mind.
Her outburst wasn’t enough to take the edge off what she felt heating her skin.
She looked toward Kaitos, who was patiently waiting for her a few paces away.
Noting her eyes on him, his gaze darkened with desire.
Elnath smiled. She preferred his scarred appearance, flecked with obsidian crystal, to his previous unblemished features.
When she continued to stare at him, Kaitos hesitantly took a step forward. “Would you like my debrief now… or after?” he drawled.
Elnath considered. A physical release sounded appealing to her. But given the unwelcome presence that plagued her House, business would need to come first.
“Now.”
The shift in Kaitos was immediate, and Elnath was pleased with his one-track mind.
The tonic regime she kept him on ensured his obedience.
She settled herself into her crystal chair, willing the calm to seep into her veins, and beckoned him to give his report.
Her faithful celestial debriefed her, and the longer Kaitos spoke, the wider Elnath’s smile grew.
It has to be her. The loose end I need.
Kaitos hadn’t had time to tell her what transpired on Prente as he had been set in a slumber to recover from his ordeal.
Elnath hadn’t been certain when Aela erupted at The Games.
There were many stars and Lines unaccounted for.
But based on what she heard from Kaitos…
Not one for displaying emotion outside the sanctuary of her office and private quarters, Kaitos halted his report when he heard Elnath laugh.
“May I ask what has you in such a delightful tick?”
“Kaitos, Kaitos, Kaitos,” Elnath nearly sang. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“I did what you asked to the best of my ability,” he dropped to his knees as he gazed at her with the only loyalty she ever needed—the controlled kind.
Elnath stood and waltzed around her desk to stand before him. She threaded her ebony fingers through his steel-gray hair and gripped the strands harshly at the back of his skull.
“You’ve done well. You may have just found the loose end I’ve needed.” She dropped one of her hands and traced the delicate yet dull stone she had inset across her brow. “Now, as for the other thing…” she said, her tone shifting.
Kaitos grinned as he reached for her, hoisting her up so her legs could wrap around his waist. As Kaitos carried her through the discreet door off to the side of her desk, Elnath devoured the sight of the city beyond her office windows.
How would she angle her blade so Tarek could witness the downfall of his House?