Page 155 of Of Stars and Lightning
Semmena crossed his arms over his chest, stopping his pacing beside Gina. The Noble hand wore a navy-blue dress reminiscent of the one Sol had worn during the Royal Dinner what seemed like ages ago. Her lilac eyes were fixed on Sol, a scowl strung to her lips.
Sol swallowed a lump in her throat.
I have a bad feeling about this.
“But you are both here before me,” Semmena said. “And I can only grant one of the pleas.”
Sol met Sawyer’s eyes. Her cousin looked away.
“So, since you refused the fight to announce a dutiful winner, you will do it here. Now.” Gina finished, retrieving a box from a chair on the front row. She opened it, revealing a worn, ancient parchment rolled and secured by a crimson thread. Beside it was a stunning crown, black enough to be carved by the night sky itself. Violet jewels were strung through the peaks, silver vines rolling over them with elegant twists.
Purple, black, and silver.
A shaky breath escaped her lips as she looked back at Cas. His chest steadily rose and fell with calculated breaths, silver eyes dazzling like the heart of a flame as he met her gaze. She could see it then—the same glint of longing he had let slip in the colosseum, the yearning of being unable to return to his people. And although he gave her a chance to end things before she used Lora’s magic, Sol couldn’t guess what would have happened had she not done so.
Even after the tenderness at the healer’s quarter—she wouldalways be second to Eswin.
I don’t think the amount of time you spend in a place is indicative of how much you’re allowed to miss it.
The words he spoke when they had been in the tunnels at the Gods’ Villa echoed. Although Sol had only been in Rimemere for weeks, it filled a hole within her, a rightness nothing else had been able to before. Even with the absolute horror of the Vows and the despicable Semmena court, Sol knew the kingdom was a piece of…
Home.
The way Cas looked away from her in that moment solidified the suspicion he felt the same for Eswin.
"We don't have all day," Samara drawled with a sigh. "Either the Vows are dissolved, or Casimir is Prince of Eswin again. Someone choose—unless you’d rather draw blades."
The nobility around them was silent. Sol wanted to look over at Sawyer or Nina for comfort, for guidance. But she didn’t dare tear her gaze from the man before her.
Her attention remained on the Prince of Shadows.
"Cas," she breathed, taking a step forward as the wind whispered a caress through her hair, the same breeze cutting straight between them with a tendril of leaves.
His eyes dulled with resolve. "There is no choice, Majesty. The victory is hers."
The King grinned. "Excellent."
Before Sol could speak, Cas turned away and walked back to the Castle doors, leaving her with the thought that although the Vows hadn't ended in a marriage, something told her they chained her to something else entirely worse.
SAWYER
IN THAT MOMENT,Sawyer didn’t know what Cas would say. When her father had announced his scheme in the colosseum, a similar feeling had gripped her—one of totalloss.
She knew Cas. She knew his duty to Rimemere, although forced initially, was genuine. She knew he loved them, knew his gentility beneath the rough exterior. They’d grown together, bled together, cried, and cursed the King together.
Surely, he would let Sol win.
But like with any sentient being, emotions are volatile. Sawyer knew it to her core. Something that might have been a priority one second could perish in a plume of indifference the next.
She bragged she would kill her father given the chance. But would she?
Cas’s connection to Eswin withered when his mother and sister, Maya, vanished. But did it?
Sawyer didn’t have to see Cas’s face to know that dissonance was exposed. From where she stood, she could see it in Sol’s delicate features. Her lips were pressed into a tight line, brows and eyes pulled close as she watched him, waiting for his answer.
Her cousin stepped forward, stopped by a gust of wind so sudden it was as if Winderlyn himself blew Sol back. “Cas??—”
"There is no choice, Majesty. The victory is hers."
