Page 1 of Fallen Stars

Prologue

The Stars were hunting the Moon.

They had started when she had burned down Leone’s temple and sent out a promise and a warning that she would watch them all fall.

A meeting had been called, ten Stars communing in the heavens, their constellations bright in the sky.

There once were thirteen, but the Moon had killed Gem, Ariete had disappeared since the heavenly body had awoken, and Piscea… Piscea slept, the way she had for centuries.

The pantheon they gathered in was suspended in the clouds, their white cast and the orb that took its namesake from the Moon the only light in the black sky. It illuminated ten occupied thrones, each decorated elaborately with the symbols and sigils of each Star.

The head of the table remained empty.

“We need to do something about the girl,” Verra said sternly, her copper hair brushing the floor, half adorned with blooming flowers, the other half with dead ones, drooping and brown, a stench of sickly mildew emanating from them. The throne beneath her twisted into branches full of leaves, half green, half decayed. “Shekilledone of us. And she is nowhere to be found.”

Leone tutted, sipping on his chalice of ambrosia, the golden throne around him illuminating his blonde ripples of hair. “I say let her be for a while. She makes things…interesting. A feat in our endless, immortal existence. How much harm can she really do, trapped in that mortal body?”

Aquaria threw him a stern look. “Do you forget that it was your temple she burned down?” the goddess of misfortune snapped. “Your brother she nearly killed?”

“Eh.” Leone shrugged. “Burning down my temple only made Helions worship me more, and as for Ariete, well… I can’t say his teetering-on-the-edge-of-insanity self is missed tonight.”

“Take your head out of your self-absorbed ass for a moment, Leone,” Scorpius growled. “She’ll be the downfall of us all. You should know that better than anyone.” He exchanged a glance with Verra and Aquaria before his hand tightened around his trident, his green eyes flashing dangerously. “What do you think she’d do if she discovered what we took from the titans?”

Leone blanched a little, his usual nonchalance gone.

Aquaria nodded tightly. “We hunt her, and we kill her.”

“And how do you propose we do that when there has been not a whisper of her since she turned the sky black? We have spies in every kingdom, and there hasn’t been a single report of her whereabouts,” Verra said.

“It’s that damned magick of hers,” Scorpius growled again. “Illusions and shadows. The bitch is almost as slippery as Eli.”

Eli’s grip around the stem of his goblet tightened.

“I, for one, miss Ariete,” Sagitton slurred.

“Of course you do. You’re a match made in the heavens,” Torra muttered. “Just as depraved as each other.”

“Finally, she speaks.” Sagitton smirked, his head deep in a glass of wine. The god of revelry and madness was always drunk, but today he seemed on edge, nastier than usual.

Torra flicked her eyes to him, a look of barely veiled contempt on her face.

“I’d like to echo the sentiments of Scorpius,” Capri drawled. His blonde hair was slicked back, an immaculate suit pressed to him. “If we don’t kill the Moon and make sure the Sun is dead along with her, do you think they’d allow us to continue ruling the heavens? War is the only certain outcome if we do not find her.”

There were murmurs around the table as the Stars agreed. Eli rolled his eyes, kicking one leg over another onto the table. He played with the small knife pendant sitting against his chest.

“Something you’d like to share with the group, Eli?” Lias crooned, his feathered wings stretching out behind him, white as first snow.

“Anythingyou’dlike to?” the silver-tongued retorted. “You know having to clear up your messes is getting rather tiresome. I’ve spent my week in Concordia fixing the minds of the women and men ready to take their lives after you charmed them to fall in love with you, fucked them, and disappeared without a word. I know we don’t care for humans, but we get too much of a bad rap, and the mortals will turn on us, just as we turned on the titans. We are only as powerful as those who believe in us.”

Lias, god of love, chuckled, plucking a vine of grapes from the platter in front of him. He took one lazily with his teeth, chewing as he grinned.

“Do I detect jealousy? Do you wish I could use my charm on you?”

“You have a little too much cock to be my type, Lias,” Eli drawled.

“Boring.” Lias smirked. “And I can’t help being irresistible. It’s not like I can just turn my charm off. Mother, surely you can attest?”

Torra pressed two fingers to her temples, massaging them. “Enough. Eli, part of your charm is knowledge, wisdom… Please tell me your thoughts on the situation. You have nothing to say? No way of locating her? The girl killed your twin.”

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