“To Lunaria, then.” Our smiles met as our lips came together. Apex kissed me slow and deep and so perfectly, I never wanted to pull away.
“I think,” I heard Ronan say softly, “I am going to cry.”
“Well, I am going to be sick if they do not stop licking each other’s tonsils soon. Dis-gusting.” Gallix chuckled as he clapped Apex on the shoulder. “Come on then, specter. You heard the lady. Time to go home.”
20
Apex
The moons shone brightly when our ship entered Lunaria’s atmosphere. Gallix served as our pilot, Ronan as our navigator.
For once, I had been left with no schemes left to scheme, no plans left to plan. No seeds of intrigue left to sow.
For once, I was left with nothing to do…but, strangely, to enjoy myself.
It was a rare chance, but I took it. Atlanta and I sat in the back of the ship, whispering in each other’s ears and touching gently. Making plans.
“Where will we go now?” she asked of me.
“Where do you want to go?” I countered with a smile. With Lady Idria’s death, the planet was ours. The galaxy, even.
Wherever she chose, I would follow.
“Hate to break up your little lovey-dovies there, sweethearts,” Gallix called over his shoulder as he guided the ship through Lunaria’s skies. “But we may have some business to settle first.”
“An alert came in just as we broke atmosphere,” Ronan explained. “King Brixta. He wishes for our presence in the capital.”
All the joy that I had held in my chest up until that moment drained quickly.
Of course, there would be no true respite from Lunaria’s politics.
Of course, this feeling would not last.
“He wishes for us to answer for his sister’s death, I take it.” A glance at Atlanta’s face told all. Her complexion, so warm and flushed up until now, was suddenly ashen and pale. “Take us to Lord Haelian’s palace in the mountains. We do not answer to a king with a stolen crown.”
“He wishes to thank us, actually,” Ronan said. He sounded surprised of it himself. “Specifically, he wishes to thank Atlanta. It seems that he does not find his sister’s death an unwelcome occurrence in the least.”
“Is it a trick?” Atlanta took my hands in hers and squeezed them tight. “I don’t know these people. I don’t know what to expect. But you…you know everything. You have all along.”
“Not everything,” I said with a chuckle. I was finding myself laughing more and more frequently these days, now that I was no longer under Lady Idria’s command. “But King Brixta…he is a coward, my love, and you have done him a great service. If word that you have killed his sister has reached him, then so too has word that she all but declared her intent to see him dead to Nightmoor’s court. He is right to want to thank you. In taking his sister’s life, you saved his.”
“And if he’s bluffing?”
“He is not.”
“But if he is.”
“Then I will kill him myself.” I raised her fingers to my lips and kissed each of her knuckles, one by one. “I will cut him down on the throne that he stole and crown you queen in his place.”
“I don’t want a crown, Apex.” Atlanta laughed at the very suggestion of it, the sound of holy bells ringing on a quiet, clear morning.
“Then we will give it to someone else,” I said with a shrug. “You are queen to me. Nothing else matters.”
When we arrived at the palace in Lunaria’s capital, we were given a hero’s welcome—just as I had suspected. On our way to King Brixta’s throne room, Atlanta was crowned with wreaths of flowers by no less than three noble ladies. If she had not begged me to stop them, they would have laden her with more.
“This is too much,” she said, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. “They can’t seriously be this grateful to me for just killing someone before she killed me first.”
“Lady Idria?” I curled my fingers around her waist and kept her close to me as we passed through the throne room’s doors. “You met her, my love—though, perhaps that was not enough. If you had known her as I have—as Lunaria has—you would understand. Wreaths of flowers and a king’s thanks are not nearly enough.”
In the throne room, King Brixta sat on his throne in the same way I had sat atop the walls of the specter’s labyrinths in my youth, once I had pushed all the other cubs off of them. His face lit up when his gaze fell upon Atlanta. He brought his hands together in slow, emphatic applause.
“Well done, fair lady.” King Brixta rose and stumbled down the steps to his throne, then took Atlanta’s hand in his and laid a remarkably wet kiss upon her fingers. “You have my eternal thanks. All of the gratefulness I could ever hope to bestow. Well done. Well done.”
“All this, just for murdering your sister?” Atlanta raised her eyebrows at him, still obviously stunned. “I only did what had to be done.”
“Please, do not assume that this is all I wish to bestow upon you. I understand that you and this specter here—Apox, is it? That you are with child! Thrilling, truly.” The king’s smile was broad and enthusiastic. “I offer you lands—whichever you desire. We will simply kill whatever lords they currently belong to. Have your pick.”
Atlanta and I shared a glance.
“We do not wish for lands, Your Highness,” I told him.
“Ah, but you did not just kill my sister, did you? You, Apers—you killed the Rutharian king as well!” King Brixta placed his hands on his belly—much larger now than it had been the last time I saw him—and let out a hearty laugh. “The whole Rutharian fleet is in chaos yet again! Lords and dukes and princes all scrabbling for power once more—oh, it will be
