Page 64 of Heavenly Bodies
Once the adjustments were finished, the glamourer stepped back and Elara admired the final result in the mirror.
Merissa had tailored the perfect dress for her return to her kingdom. It was the indigo blue of an Asterian evening. Silver constellations adorned her décolletage, the rest of her neck and chest left bare.
From there, the gown fell into a cinched waist and theninto a flowing skirt of stars. It glittered and shimmered as she moved. Her hair hung to her waist, threads of silver woven through it. Merissa handed her a delicate silver mask that she placed over her eyes. She looked every bit Asterian, every bit ready for a royal ball.
‘Be safe,’ the glamourer whispered, squeezing her shoulder. Elara put her hand on top of Merissa’s, stroking it once. Then with a deep, shaky breath, she left the room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The moment Elara saw the split in the sky, from bright orange crimson to dark periwinkle twilight, she knew she was nearly home.
As they crossed the border between Helios and Asteria, their carriage barely halted with the number of guests pouring into Asteria—for the first time in decades. And when that shroud of twilight fell over her, the familiar sounds and scents of her kingdom, the writhing worry within her eased a little.
After a few hours trundling through the lush lands of Asteria, indigo grass lining the silverspun roads, they reached the outskirts of Phantome. The carriage weaved through the cobblestone streets until they reached the grand gates of the Palace of Darkness. Elara’s eyes welled to see them open for the first time in her life, a line of carriages filing through them.
They were encouraged to dismount and were guided by a footman towards the small lake that connected the grassy banks to the palace. Lanterns that glowed in varying shades of blue and purple floated through the night, and music wasalready drifting towards them as they descended the slight bank to where gondolas waited.
Enzo extended his hand to Elara and she took it, sparks thrumming within her at his touch, as he helped her into the boat. Moments later it began to drift towards the palace, steered by an invisible magick, and Elara peered over the side, her throat clogging with emotion at the recognizable silver dreamfish that swirled in pairs through the water. How many times had she swam with them when escaping the palace grounds with Sofia?
As she looked past the fish, she saw her reflection, and Enzo’s beside her. The black mask around his eyes deepened their gold and brown, and his earring glimmered in the starlight. His jaw was freshly shaven, and her eyes caught on the set of it, clenched with tension. It was his only tell. Enzo was so at home in any room, any kingdom. And here he was, gliding into the court of his enemy, looking as though he could command it. She noticed up close that the navy blue tuxedo he wore was sewn with intricate silver stars to complement her gown. She hid a smile at the sight of him in the attire of the Asterian court. He looked back at her, his eyes unreadable as they settled on her glossed lips.
They’d barely spoken since he had helped her with her corset, and she found herself missing their sniping. As the gondola neared the mouth of the cove that provided an entrance to her palace, the familiar music of a waltz billowed from up ahead. She sighed to herself, and Enzo turned to her.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked quietly. She fidgeted with her silver mask, a twin to Enzo’s black.
‘Yes, I’m just trying to prepare myself. For whatever I may see in there.’ She took a readying breath, gazing ahead. ‘It’s so strange. Everything looks the same, but so much has changed.’
Enzo nodded, looking forwards. ‘I’ve never been this farinto Asteria before,’ he whispered, turning back to her. ‘It’s beautiful.’ His eyes roamed over her face as he said it, and she swallowed.
‘Now can you see why I miss it so much?’ she murmured back.
He paused for a moment, and thinking the conversation over, Elara turned in her seat to watch the guests in boats behind her.
‘I do,’ he said suddenly. ‘I would never want to part with it, if this was my home.’
As they entered the cove, Elara bent closer to him. ‘We should probably decide on aliases now.’
Enzo nodded, extending his hand. ‘The name’s Alec. Enchanted to meet you.’
Elara smiled, shaking it. ‘I’m Nova, and the pleasure is all mine.’
Enzo’s grip tightened, just a little. ‘For the record,’ he murmured, ‘Elara is much prettier.’
Before she could respond, there was a jolt as the gondola came to a halt at a small dock at the side of the cove. A servant wearing a hook-nosed mask and lavender wig extended his hand as Elara rose from the gondola. Having disembarked, they produced their carefully forged invitations, which thanks to Merissa showed the names of the Argentes—a wealthy and sprawling Asterian family—and were led up hewn stone steps and through a door smattered with stars, into one of the main palace hallways. The grand ballroom doors were flung open, right ahead, music booming out from the space beyond.
Elara took a steadying breath as they approached, clutching Enzo’s arm, and walked through them.
She swallowed down the anger writhing in her veins as memories flooded her of the last time she was here. Theroom was still grand, with arching ceilings whose colour seemed to hold the night sky. Thankfully, some things had changed. The floor had been cleaned, leaving no trace of her parents’ blood. No screams rang out across the marble. In fact, there was no marble on the floor at all. Grass cloaked it, turning the room into a magickal woodland. As Elara walked tentatively through, she saw the touches that turned it into a dusk-kissed paradise. Twisted trees rose through the room, their midnight blue branches adorned with lavender-scented and coloured leaves. Candles floated through the air, and at the back of the room lay a small pond adorned with dark-roses and starflowers. Indigo swans floated in the pool, serene and graceful, and vines of fragrant night-jasmine climbed up the walls, creating a canopy of lilac upon the whole ballroom. And stars. Stars everywhere. Constellations lit up the roof as if the ceiling were the night sky itself.
Elara did a quick scan of the room, her eyes looking for any hint of red or black. Her heart calmed slightly. Wherever Ariete was, he wasn’t here. But a pulsing energy made her still, the air heavy with charm. Her gaze caught on a figure, the magnetic pulsing air around him catching her attention instantly. Sat at a table, surrounded by adoring devotees, was the Star Scorpius. His charm felt like drowning, intense and roiling, with a faint waft of a salted sea breeze. Despite his intimidating presence, Scorpius looked bored, nursing a cup of what she presumed was ambrosia, his deep-sea green eyes dull, his light brown, waist-length locks glowing in the magickal starlight.
Elara whipped around to Enzo. ‘The other Stars are here,’ she breathed as panic seized her. ‘Oh gods, oh gods. I don’t think I thought this through, I—’
‘Nova,Nova,’ Enzo hushed, clamping down on her hand as he searched the room.
‘Yes,Alec,’ she retorted.
‘You’re going to take a deep breath. We are two excited courtiers of Asteria. We have masks on, the entire palace is packed with people andyouhave lived inside the castle walls most of your life. No one apart from Ariete and Lukas—and Leyon, I suppose—knows what you look like. You are going to pull yourself together and play your part.’