She was grateful for the darkness now as her face flushed with embarrassment. She wasn’t going to be queen at all. These things he saw in her were lies.
“Thank you,” she finally said.
“I’ve been deceiving you though, and I need to tell you the truth. The real reason I came over to Sol is much more complex.”
Zwaantie leaned forward, curious. “Go on.” She didn’t know where he was going with this, but it made her feel slightly better that he hadn’t been honest with her. Maybe her lie wasn’t quite as awful.
“Have you heard of the Old Mother?”
“Yes. We have legends about her.” Old stories meant to scare kids.
“Have you ever seen her?”
“No, of course not. She’s just a myth.”
“She’s no myth. She came to see us the day Candace announced her pregnancy. She told us if Stella and Sol were not joined by the baby’s first birthday, then the baby would die. So I came to join the kingdoms.”
Zwaantie sat back, stunned. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know. The Old Mother didn’t elaborate.”
A sick feeling crawled across her stomach. By running away with Phoenix, she’d ensure a baby’s death—the baby she just delivered.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I didn’t think you’d agree. You had no reason to want to save my sister’s baby.” Leo paused, and Zwaantie wondered what he was thinking. He let out a breath. “Besides, there’s more. The Old Mother said that after the baby dies, the vipers would kill more people. The entire survival of Stella rests on our marriage.”
Rage welled up in her chest. How dare he do this to her? He hadn’t even given her a choice or an opportunity to find solutions. Her chest constricted, and anger swelled in her stomach. She felt trapped. She was so close to freedom. To following her heart. She thought for a moment, trying to fully understand the implications. She gripped her head. This was impossible.
The Old Mother. Zwaantie’d studied the rumors. She and Luna used to speculate what would happen if she showed up. It had always been a bit of a joke, but this was no laughing matter. From what Zwaantie understood, prophecies from the Old Mother were insanely complex and often held double meanings.
“Did she specifically say you had to marry?”
“No, but how else do you join two kingdoms? You don’t want us to conquer your kingdom, do you?”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“To save Candace’s baby? You bet we would. We’re talking about the life of a child. That’s precious, and we will do whatever it takes to save him, even if it means war.”
A lump formed in Zwaantie’s throat. If she disappeared, not only was she condemning the baby to death, but Leo would attack Sol. Stellans had ways to turn off the Voice. By sheer numbers alone, they’d slaughter the Solites. She squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn’t fair. If she refused to marry Leo, she’d either be responsible for death on the Stellan side or the Sol side. Maybe both.
How had this happened? She didn’t want to be important. Normal seemed so far away in that moment, and her heart broke a little. A few tears slid down her cheeks. She was once again grateful for the pitch black.
Leo let out a breath. “Please understand. This does not change how I feel about you. I love you. I’m excited to join our lives together. What we’re doing is historical, and that makes it scary. But I feel better knowing I’m doing it with you.”
Zwaantie didn’t say anything. She just listened to the awful thumping on the boat and door. After several moments, Leo’s hand found hers. He placed two small pieces of cotton in them.
“I brought you earplugs if you want to sleep.”
Like she’d be able to sleep. With the pounding on the boat and the thoughts racing through her head. She took the earplugs anyway. “Thank you.”
She shoved the cotton in her ears, which dulled the sound. Leo pulled her into him, and she hated how comfortable he felt. Right now, she didn’t like him at all. He’d brought her an impossible choice between her own happiness or the death of thousands of people, but she allowed herself to lay her head on his shoulder. The boat rocked back and forth. Exhaustion overwhelmed her. Today had been too much and certainly hadn’t endeared her to Stella. She hated to think what tomorrow would bring.
Chapter 5
The Stars
A few minutes later, or maybe it had been a few hours, Leo shook her awake.
“You look peaceful when you sleep.” He stood above Zwaantie with a huge smile on his face.
The bright fake lights had come on. The night was over and they’d survived. Then the memories came flooding in. She scooted away from Leo. She didn’t want anything to do with him.
He gave her a wide smile, but she scowled. His smile faltered. “I convinced the captain to slow the boat down so we could watch the stars for a bit.”
Stars. She did want to see them. She sat up and looked around. Blood and fluids covered the floor around Candace’s makeshift bed. Both Candace and the baby were sound asleep together.
“We should clean up the mess.” One thing Wilma had taught her was to always clean up her messes.
Leo smiled at her. “You’ve been begging to see the stars. The captain can clean up the mess. He probably won’t let you clean it up anyway. A captain rarely allows civilians to touch his boat.”
Zwaantie fought to get out of the couch, but it seemed to swallow her up. Leo chuckled and offered his hand. She didn’t want to give him any indication she was happy about their current situation, but she was stuck. She took his outstretched hand, and he pulled her up. She immediately backed away from him. She was being rude, but she needed time to absorb what had happened, and the night before had been too traumatic to process anything. Leo seemed unfazed.
“Close your eyes. I want you to get the whole effect at once.”
Zwaantie almost ignored him, but she was excited to see the stars, so she did as he instructed. He gently led her up the stairs. He put his lips close to her ear and whispered, “I’ve put a blanket on the deck. Lie down.”
She patted the ground and gripped the soft fabric of the blanket. Slowly, she lowered herself down.
“Now open your eyes.”
A whole new world opened up. Tiny dots filled the space. Some were brighter than others, and some were clustered together, and in other places there were only one small dot.
Sound died, and a light breeze blew over Zwaantie’s face. She could barely take it in. The sky was breathtaking. Zwaantie could lie there for hours and never get tired of staring up at the stars.
It was amazing.
“Is it everything you hoped it’d be?” Leo lay down next to her. He stared at her, not the sky. How could he do that, when the stars were wide open above them?
“No, it’s better. There’s no way to imagine this.” She was giddy. This was incredible.
“See the bright star right above us,” he asked, his finger pointing high in the sky.
“Yeah,” she said.
“That’s Solaris. God of Light.”
“It’s just a star.”
“Maybe to you. But to me, it’s the reason I can do this.”
The star suddenly changed to a bright green. Zwaantie gasped.
“Did you just do that?”
“I did.”
She propped up on her elbow and faced him. “You can change the color of the stars?”
He laughed. “No, it’s just an illusion. A green light in front of the star.”
He pointed at the light and moved his finger to the left. The green light moved with his motion.
“Show me how,” she said, the excitement overcoming her.
“I wish I could, but this comes with years of practice. You have to be comfortable with your own magic first. Only when you know how to access the magic will you be able to use it.”
“But how did you do it?”
“Well, you have to feel the magic inside. Then you envision what you wan
t. That’s the hardest part. Anyway, after we envision it, we invoke the god who controls the magic.”
“God?” Zwaantie asked. There was only one god. Sol.
“Yes, Solaris is the god of light, so we use him when we want light. We worship the stars. We believe they are all gods.”
“That’s a lot of gods.”
“But we also believe that every time someone dies, they create a new star. Every god controls a different aspect of magic.”
“So every time someone dies, a new magic is created?”
“Yes. There is a whole career field in discovering new kinds of magic.”
“Wow.”
“There are books and books filled with god’s names and the magic they control. Sometimes we can just invoke the major god, but it works better if you can be more specific. Potion makers are the best at finding the right god.”
“So is there a green light god that would be better than Solaris?”
“Yes, there is.” He screwed up his face. “I can’t remember what god though.”
How odd. Solites worshiped Sol, the sun. He was the only one who controlled the world. Zwaantie wondered how Sol felt about the Stellans worshipping so many different gods. Though, they didn’t have the sun, so she expected Sol didn’t care much about them.
“Oh look.” He took his finger and traced in the sky. His green light connected several stars together. “There’s Leo.”
“Is that a god as well?”
“No. Just a constellation.”
Zwaantie counted for a second. “Seven stars. What do each of them control?”
“Now you’re really challenging me. Let’s see, Denebola is the goddess of paint, Zosma is the goddess of lilies.”
“Just lilies? Not all the flowers?
“All the flowers is Albireo. He’s over here.” Leo flicked his green light across the sky and then back to his constellation. “Next is Chertan, god of sweets, and then Regulus. He’s the god of war.”
“Would you have used him if you had to declare war upon Sol?” Zwaantie wanted to understand how far he would’ve gone.
He dropped his hand, and the green light disappeared. He turned to face her. “I have to do whatever I can to save my kingdom. Can you honestly say you wouldn't do the same?”
She stared out at the stars. This was his kingdom. It was strange and foreign to her. It was scary. But the people were still people, just like in Sol. They cared for one another, and Leo was only doing what he thought was best. He was right. Though she didn’t like it, she could understand where he was coming from.
The captain appeared from the hull and tapped his foot next to Leo’s head. “It’s time to go.”
Leo addressed Zwaantie. “Are you ready?”
“Not really.” Leaving meant facing reality, and what she really wanted to do was lie here and watch the stars.
When they arrived, Phoenix would be there, and Zwaantie would have to make a decision. Would she stay with Leo and save the baby, or would she follow her heart and run away with Phoenix? She had to do the right thing for both her people and his.
She looked up one last time before she headed down into the hull. The stars were supposed to represent freedom, so why did she feel more trapped than ever?
Chapter 6
The Runaway
Back in the hull of the boat, Candace was awake.
“Come here, you,” she said to Zwaantie.
Zwaantie stared down at the small, peaceful sleeping baby. Her heart swelled at the thought of what she’d done. If they hadn’t stopped the boats, Candace or the baby could be dead. Candace reached around and wrapped her in a one-armed hug.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Candace let go. “Leo, we need a picture. Hunter, get over here.”
Zwaantie crouched down on one side of Candace with Hunter on the other. A light flashed from Leo’s disc.
“Send that picture to the Ticker. You tell them what a brave soul your fiancée is and how she delivered my baby after midnight. People will be talking about it for days. They are going to love her.”
Leo nodded and spoke at the picture. The baby had started to fuss, so Zwaantie couldn’t hear what he’d said.
The boat came to a slow stop, and the captain yelled down into the hull. “We’re here.”
Leo waved her over. “I can’t wait to show you my home.”
Zwaantie gave him a strained smile. She wasn’t looking forward to what lay on the other side of the boat. She’d had more than enough of Stella in the last twenty-four hours than she’d hoped to have in a lifetime. Even the thought of spending another night filled her with dread. Those monsters terrified her.
She held onto Leo as they headed up the stairs. She still wasn’t certain of her future, but he was the only person she had at the moment. Zwaantie blinked at the brightness. Huge white lights hung over the docks. As Zwaantie’s eyes adjusted, she shrunk into Leo. There were people everywhere. Too many. Men yelled at one another on the packed deck and the people on boats.
Leo pulled Zwaantie up onto the dock and kept her close, but people jostled around them. Zwaantie’s heart tightened. She was hoping it would be easy to find Phoenix. She had to talk to him and tell him about what would happen if she didn’t marry Leo. Maybe he would have ideas of how to make things work. Though now, it seemed impossible.
They squeezed through the crowds and tromped off the docks. Standing in a doorway a few feet away was a man with a black ponytail. He waved at them over. He looked like Viggo, whose head she’d seen floating above Leo’s disc in The Black City. Luna stood next to him, an anxious expression on her face.
Thank goodness she finally found a familiar face. Luna was safe. Zwaantie could breathe a bit easier.
Leo embraced the man and Zwaantie looped her arm through Luna’s.
“What’s the matter?” Zwaantie asked.
Luna looked at Leo and shook her head. Leo stepped away from the smiling man and snaked his arm around Zwaantie’s waist. “I want you to meet my brother, Viggo.”
Viggo pulled Zwaantie into a hug, and she stiffened. She wasn’t sure she’d get used to hugging strangers. He let go of her.
“Congrats on the successful delivery of Candace’s baby. You are the kingdom’s sweetheart at the moment. Let’s keep it that way.”
“I have no idea what you mean, but okay.”
He laughed. “We met the rest of your party just before midnight. I freed everyone this morning like Leo asked. They are off with the jobs master.”
The slaves were free. She and Phoenix would finally be able to have a normal life together. She looked around the group and didn’t see Phoenix’s face anywhere.
Zwaantie’s stomach tightened. “I thought Luna and her brother were going to wait for us.”
“Oh, I didn’t know,” Viggo said.
Luna wrung her hands. “I’m sorry, Zwaantie. I was one of the first ones freed, and a few of Viggo’s friends were asking me about Sol, and by the time I went to see what had become of everyone, Phoenix was gone with the rest of them.”
“Maybe he didn’t realize he was going to stay with us. We should go find him.”
“Princess, we’ve got a lot to do today. Let’s get you settled in, and I’ll see if we can send someone to find him.” Viggo fished out his disc and studied it.
Zwaantie clenched her fist. She wanted to tell Viggo that wasn’t good enough. She needed to talk to Phoenix. Maybe if she could just spend a few moments with him, the tightness in her stomach would relax. She needed to touch him. Hug him.
Leo touched her back. “We should get up the castle. There are a lot of people who want to meet you.”
Zwaantie’s mind spun. She was so lost. Phoenix was supposed to be here. She was prepared for a hard life. A commoner’s life. But not one without Phoenix. Everything had tipped on its side, and she didn’t know how to right herself.
“Zwaantie? You okay?” Leo asked.
“No, I’m s
orry. I don’t feel well. The boat ride didn’t agree with me.”
Zwaantie’s whole insides felt cold and alone, and she wanted to sleep in a warm bed with no dreams. Perhaps in the morning she would awake, and this would be one big nightmare. There were definitely cool things about Stella, but right now, she wanted to go home and forget this ever happened.
At the end of the street several horseless carriages awaited. Zwaantie hardly even noticed when Leo pulled her into one. Viggo and Luna joined them, and he chatted animatedly with Luna, pointing out various buildings. Luna listened to him, but she was still wound up tight. Maybe she missed Pieter. Silently, Zwaantie cursed her father for not letting him come with.
Yesterday, Zwaantie would’ve found the scenery fascinating and had her face glued to the window watching the buildings as they passed, but now she only wanted to wallow in her misery. Leo put his arm around her and she shuddered. She would have to marry him and accept Stella as her home. A world where they had no rules and clothes were optional. With monsters that came out in the middle of the night to kill them. Who would want this? Zwaantie wanted to be home where she understood the rules and knew what was expected of her.
Maybe there would be a way. Maybe the Voice wouldn’t remember her indiscretion when she returned. She had to hope. She couldn’t be stuck here forever. Plus, at some point, she’d need to explain to Leo why she couldn’t go home.
Luna gripped Zwaantie’s hand, and Zwaantie startled. She stared at Luna’s red wrists. Yesterday they had been bound, and Luna had been a slave. Today Luna was free. If nothing else, Luna had given her the one thing Zwaantie could never give her in Sol.
Freedom.
Chapter 7
The Castle
The palace was completely circular, which Zwaantie thought was odd. The castles in Sol had corners and squares.
“The shape is unique, isn’t it?” Leo asked.
“Yes, it is different.”
Zwaantie craned her head up to see if she could spot the top. It spiraled up, the tip of the castle rising high into the dark sky. It was pearly white with a soft blue glow.
The palace suddenly changed to green, and Luna let out a gasp and then a giggle. “That’s amazing.” She gripped Zwaantie’s arm. “Isn’t this incredible?”
Stella and Sol Box Set Page 20
