Stella and Sol Box Set

by Kimberly Loth

  “And Lyra? She’s going to be furious.”

  “Are you really going to base this decision on what Lyra thinks?”

  “And avoid a slow and painful death? Absolutely.” Maybe that wasn’t entirely true, but Lyra was someone she had to consider.

  “No. Let Ari and I take care of Lyra. She’ll be fine.”

  “You seem pretty strongly opinionated on this.” Sage had been so against them when things first started happening. Now she acted as if there was no other choice. Maybe there wasn’t. Maybe that was the point.

  “Well, I want you to be happy. Ari too. You won’t be happy with Leo. That much is clear.”

  “I hardly know Leo. That can’t be determined yet.”

  “Can you honestly tell me you’ll be fine married to Leo, knowing Ari is still out there and available?”

  “No. I can’t.” Of course she wouldn’t. Ari stole her heart, so she’d never be able to give it to Leo, no matter how hard she tried. Maybe that was her problem. As long as she’d known Leo, her heart had always belonged to another. She hoped Leo would someday find the kind of love she had. He deserved it.

  “There. That’s your answer. Now you get some sleep. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You need to change the wedding plans. Your wedding is scheduled in less than a week. Your family is coming. You need to make sure everyone knows of the change. This will not be easy, sister, but you’ll get it done. I’ll help as soon as I get back.”

  “How can you think about the wedding with everything else going on?”

  “Because that wedding is the key to our salvation. Nothing else matters. I’ll get Pieter tonight and be back in City of Stars by noon tomorrow. We’ll lock him up, plan your wedding, and end this curse. I’m out.”

  She clicked off, and Zwaantie scratched Andromeda behind the ears.

  Sage seemed to think their plans were completely changed even though Zwaantie hadn’t confirmed anything. Deep in her heart though, Zwaantie knew it was the right thing to do. Was that the answer then? Would she really marry Ari? She wanted this to be the right answer. All she could think about was Leo. This wasn’t fair to him.

  She allowed herself to feel a little bit of happiness. In spite of the bad things raining down upon her, she was about to marry the love of her life. She allowed thoughts of Ari to fill her head as she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 27

  The Virgin

  Zwaantie blinked her eyes open and met the gorgeous gray ones of Ari. She stretched and smiled at him.

  “How’d you get in here?” she asked sleepily. “I have guards.”

  “They let me in.”

  “Not very good guards then.” She rubbed her eyes.

  “Nope, certainly not. Maybe I need to sleep with you from now on. Keep you safe.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  He pulled her into him, and her entire body buzzed. “Does that mean you’ve made a decision?”

  She leaned into him and planted her lips on his before saying anything because she couldn’t stand it anymore. He returned the kiss and pulled her on top of him. His hands wandered over her body, and she pressed herself into him. Then she slowly broke away and smiled down at him.

  “You haven’t given me an answer yet,” he said with a cocky grin.

  “Yes, Ari. I would be honored to marry you.”

  He kissed her, but she wiggled away, climbed off of him, and shrugged on a robe. They still had a lot of decisions to make, and she didn’t want to get carried away first.

  “We’re not waiting,” Ari said, sitting up. Leo’s face flashed on the wall.

  “Leo,” Zwaantie said and spun around to face him. She flushed as she sat on the couch. “How are you?”

  His eyes flashed to Ari on the bed. “I’m fine. I wanted to apologize for my behavior while you were here. I should’ve paid more attention to you.”

  She ran a hand through her hair. Could he tell she’d been kissing Ari?

  “No, it’s okay. I understand.”

  He furrowed his brow. “Mother said Luna died yesterday. Poisoned.”

  “Yes, she did.”

  “I’m so sorry. She also said the poison was meant for you.”

  “Yes. Your mother increased my guard, and Ari is staying with me when Sage cannot.”

  “Where is Sage?”

  “Out searching for the assassin.”

  He looked between her and Ari and pursed his lips. Perhaps he wasn’t easily convinced. “Well, I need to get back to my own investigation. Have Sage call me if she finds anything.”

  As soon as Leo clicked off, Ari pushed the button that turned off the screen.

  “I’m really surprised Sage has this turned on.”

  “Not anymore,” Zwaantie said with a smirk.

  Ari lowered himself next to her. “That was a close call.”

  “It would’ve made it easier to tell him. We need to.”

  “Maybe, but it would’ve hurt worse for him to find out this way. No worries now. We have a couple of hours before Sage returns. Any ideas what we should do?”

  Zwaantie placed her hands on his chest. “Oh yes, I can think of a lot of things we can do.”

  ***

  “Don’t you have your own room, Ari?” Sage asked when she walked in later.

  Ari grinned at her as Zwaantie untangled herself.

  “We were already here. Where’s the prisoner?”

  “In the interrogation room. I think you both should come. Zwaantie, you’ll probably understand more of what he says than I do. We should get Phoenix as well.”

  Ari went to fetch Phoenix as Sage and Zwaantie made their way to the interrogation room.

  “Has he told you anything?” Zwaantie asked.

  “I haven’t asked. I drugged him to get him across the wall, so he’s just now waking up.”

  The interrogation was in a large inner stone room with several chairs surrounding the prisoner. Aside from a handful of lights floating around, the room was very dark and cold. The dampness seeped into Zwaantie’s bones. She shivered. Pieter’s head hung, and he fought against the chains.

  Anger swelled in her chest. This was the man who was responsible not only for Luna’s death, but her own terror for the past couple of months.

  He jerked his head up.

  “Princess. Get me out of here. What is this madness?”

  Zwaantie didn’t answer, afraid of the words that would come out of her mouth. She wanted to slap him across the face. Sage sat directly across from Pieter, and Zwaantie settled on her left. Pieter continued to fight.

  “Please, Princess. Why have you kidnapped me? I have no information on the king, I swear. Why would you send a Stellan to capture me? Help me.”

  She crossed her arms and glared at him. If he wasn’t the Voice and wasn’t responsible for all the trouble she’d had in the last several months, she might feel inclined to help him. For now, she kept her mouth shut and watched him, disgusted.

  Once Ari and Phoenix arrived, Sage spoke in a low voice. “Tell me about the Voice.”

  “The Voice? He’s all powerful, all knowing, and keeps us in check.” He searched the faces around them. “Where’s Luna?”

  How dare he ask such a question, when he knew that he killed her.

  “Tell me more,” Sage said. Zwaantie studied Pieter.

  He jerked his hands. “No. Not until you tell me where Luna is.”

  “She’s dead, and it’s all your fault,” Zwaantie spat, losing control. She couldn't help herself.

  Sage glared at her. “Let me do the interrogations, please. I’ll let you know if I need your input.”

  Her words stung, but Zwaantie focused on Pieter. His face went white.

  “Dead?”

  “Yes,” Sage said. “By your hand. She drank the poison you sent for Zwaantie.”

  “What are you talking about?” Silent tears flowed down his cheeks. His grief was real. Of course
, he’d expected Zwaantie to die, not Luna. Perhaps he’d been unable to see the death.

  “Just before she died, she told us you were the Voice and you told her to poison Zwaantie.”

  “Me? No, I would never. I’m not the Voice. How can the Voice be a person?”

  “Why would she say it was you?”

  “I have no idea.” He creased his eyebrows together.

  Sage looked at Zwaantie. “Exactly what did she say?”

  “She said it was the father of her child.”

  “Luna’s pregnant?”

  “Was.”

  Pieter squeezed his eyes shut, and a red flush crawled up his face. “I’m not the father.”

  “What do you mean?” Zwaantie asked. Luna and Pieter had been married. How could it be anyone else? Even if Luna had slept with someone else, there was no way for Pieter to rule himself out.

  He let out a breath. “Luna and I had a whirlwind romance, but we never consummated the marriage.”

  “Why?” Zwaantie asked.

  He narrowed his eyes at Zwaantie. “Because you never let her sleep at home. Okay, you did a couple of times, but she came home so exhausted nothing ever happened.”

  What? No. Zwaantie always sent Luna home. Early sometimes.

  “For the love of all the stars. We got the wrong person? For real?” Sage dug a necklace out of her pocket. “Do you have any desire to kill the princess?”

  “Zwaantie? No. Why would I? Is Luna really dead?”

  “I’m afraid so. Though I’m not sure I believe you about Zwaantie. I’m going to put this necklace on you. Then you’re going to tell us who the father of Luna’s child is.” Sage fastened the necklace on him.

  “I never kept Luna up at the castle. Not even once,” Zwaantie said.

  The freckles on Pieter’s face paled, and he let out a breath. “She was sleeping with somewhere else. Not with me.”

  “Then who?” Sage asked.

  Pieter didn’t respond, but Zwaantie’s mind raced through her memories of home. “No, wait, she couldn’t spend the night with someone because of the Voice. The one time Phoenix slept in my room he couldn’t even stand up because of his headache.”

  “Phoenix slept in your room?” Ari asked with a glare at Phoenix.

  “Yes,” Zwaantie replied. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Not with his past.

  “She said the Voice was the baby’s father. Obviously he could make it so she didn’t feel any guilt,” Phoenix said.

  “We’re still not any closer to finding out who it is,” Sage muttered.

  “Someone at the castle,” Zwaantie said.

  “Oh Sol,” Phoenix muttered.

  “What?” Zwaantie asked.

  “I often stayed in the castle. I had a bed in Raaf’s rooms. It was easier. One time I was late, just before midnight, and I saw Luna running down the hall. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I figured she’d be staying with Zwaantie. Except I found it odd that she wasn’t going toward Zwaantie’s rooms.”

  “Where was she going?”

  “Down a hall that only had one door. The king’s.”

  Chapter 28

  The Wedding: Part 1

  Zwaantie fled. Her father would never Sleep with Luna and impregnate her. Bile rose in Zwaantie’s throat. How could he do such a thing? So many questions and no possible answers. She’d never seen her father even look at Luna. Perhaps he caught her one night and coerced her.

  She stopped a little ways down the hall and closed her eyes. Her father was a sick, sick man. She would make sure he paid for not only Luna’s death, but that baby as well.

  They’d never been terribly close, but to think he wanted to kill her. This wasn’t possible. Her head spun. Why would he want her dead? He couldn’t be that desperate to hang on to his reign. If he had been, then he wouldn’t have encouraged her marriage.

  The attempts had started before Leo showed up though. Maybe he wanted Raaf on the throne. She could think of no other motive. What would she do now?

  Hands caressed her arms. “Are you okay?” Ari asked.

  “No.” She opened her eyes and met his.

  “We’re getting married today.”

  “What? I just found out my father is the Voice, and he wants me dead. He’s the king of Sol. We can’t think of marriage now. We need to think of how we can assassinate him. I’m going to invade my own country.” She took a deep breath. “How can you think of marriage?”

  “Our marriage will strengthen that position. I’ll take my place as the king of Stella, which will make you queen, which will give us more power when we take him on. You will claim your own kingdom. I’ll see to it. But nothing can happen unless we get married. Today.”

  Zwaantie searched his face. He wanted this more than she did. Her heart belonged to him, and she couldn’t wait to begin their life together, but she felt like there were too many other things to worry about. Weddings were supposed to be happy, not just something they did out of necessity. Though perhaps princesses didn’t have that luxury.

  He pulled out his device. “Sage. Meet Zwaantie in your rooms.”

  “Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Zwaantie asked. Was Phoenix really telling the truth? Of course he was. He wouldn’t lie, but did it mean that her father was the Voice? She suddenly doubted everything. They were wrong about Pieter. They could be wrong about this. Though probably not. However, she couldn’t base an entire war on probably. How could she think about getting married now?

  “Yes. I’m off to find a discreet marriage mage. I love you, Zwaantie. Together, we will fix this.”

  Thoughts hung heavy in her mind, but Ari placed a light kiss on lips sending shivers down her spine.

  ***

  A couple of hours later, she and Sage were just sitting down with the beauty mages when Ari showed up. Zwaantie was shocked at how fast things were going. Sage had kept up with Ari via their discs, and she hustled Zwaantie all over the city. They went back to Nash and had a last minute simple white dress made. Sage paid him an exorbitant amount of money not to ask any questions. The circumstances that brought the marriage together weren’t ideal but Zwaantie was excited to marry Ari. Sage promised she would worry about the Voice while Zwaantie focused on her wedding. Sage reassured her that this was the best course of events.

  Ari sat across from her as the beauty mages worked on her hair. They didn’t know what was going on, though it would take an idiot not to recognize the look of sheer sappiness on Ari’s face. Zwaantie tried not to stare at him, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off him. She clung to the feelings of love they had, and the thousands of other worries didn’t plague her.

  After her hair and makeup were done, Ari took Zwaantie out of the castle and toward the docks.

  He kept a tight grip on her hand as they walked and spoke in low voices. “This is going to be done in secret. We can’t tell anyone yet because of Leo. I haven’t figured out how to tell him yet. But we can’t wait any longer. I want to be with you and save our kingdom. Leo will understand in the end.”

  Zwaantie knew Leo would be crushed. She couldn't think about him because she had to save not only her own life, but the lives of all those in Stella. Plus, if her father was the Voice, who knew what kind of terror he was wreaking on the citizens of Sol. If he was going to such lengths to murder her, he was capable of so much more. She still couldn’t wrap her head around that it was him.

  “Where are we going?” Zwaantie asked as Ari hopped down into a boat. He placed his hands on her waist and lifted her in. A small thrill went up her spine. She’d have only his hands on her for the rest of her life. She liked those hands.

  “We are going to get married under the stars. Sage, the marriage mage, and Xandria are already out there on a different boat.”

  “Why is Xandria coming?”

  “She creates the binding potion.”

  After they climbed down into the boat, Ari pushed a few buttons, and they were off. It was amazing to Zwaantie how quic
kly the stars appeared.

  She liked this boat, with only her and Ari on it. She slid her arm around his waist and stood up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. Her problems seemed a thousand miles away out here on the water.

  “Calm down there, princess. We have a ceremony to complete first.”

  She raised her eyebrows at him. “You sure? Maybe we can change the order.”

  He snorted and planted his lips against hers briefly. “You are going to be such a fun wife.”

  After about thirty minutes, they arrived next to another boat in the middle of the ocean. Ari lashed the boats together and helped Zwaantie onto the other boat.

  The marriage mage fiddled with his glasses. Sweat beaded on his forehead. “Are you sure about this, Prince Ari? Shouldn’t we tell the king?”

  “No, I’ll tell the king when I’m ready.”

  The mage nodded, and Sage squealed with excitement.

  Xandria stepped forward. She had a long sharp needle in her hand. Zwaantie backed away. Next to Xandria sat a wooden table filled with small bottles of all different colors.

  “Before the ceremony, we will do the parting of the potions. Ari will drink yours, and you will drink his. It connects your souls. Your arm, please.”

  Zwaantie hesitated but held out her shaking arm. She hoped that wouldn’t mess things up for Xandria. She was surprised by the idea of blood. It seemed so barbaric.

  She almost smiled. Not so long ago she thought of Stella as a barbaric country that she would never set foot in. Xandria stuck the needle in the crook of Zwaantie’s elbow.

  “Ouch,” she yelped from the pain.

  Xandria drew out a small amount of blood into a tube. Then she did the same with Ari, but used a different needle. Zwaantie rubbed the spot where she’d been poked. No one had told her the wedding would be painful.

  In a porcelain dish, Xandria deposited Zwaantie’s blood. She stirred it with a silver spoon, stuck her nose in the dish, and inhaled. Her hands found a tiny gold bottle, and she set it aside. Then she waved her hands above the bowl, and the blood floated in front of her.

  Ari dropped his head next to hers. “Isn’t this cool? It’s one of the only times we get to see potion makers work. Normally they insist on complete privacy, but the wedding ceremony calls for the work to be done in front of everyone,” Ari whispered in Zwaantie’s ear.