Asteria stood in the center of her room, her mind replaying the waltz – the feeling of Valerius's hand, the weight of the Queen's gaze, and the terrifying revelation that her soul was no longer a secret.
Mistress Hestia was a whirlwind of anxious motion. She moved between the wardrobes and Asteria with frantic precision, her fingers trembling as she adjusted the collar of a smoke-grey morning gown. "Keep your shoulders back," Hestia hissed, tucking a stray strand of hair into place with a sharp tug. "You are representing us. If you trip over your own feet or speak out of turn, it is Lord Valerius who will bear the shame. Do you understand?"
Asteria didn't answer. She was watching the way the grey silk draped over her frame – it was the colour of a storm, dull and unassuming, yet heavy.
Valerius stood by the door, his silhouette framed by the silver light of the corridor. He looked unusually grim, his arms crossed over his chest. He gestured for Hestia to leave, and the housekeeper scurried out with a final, panicked look at Asteria.
"The carriage is waiting," Valerius said, his voice a low vibration. He stepped into the room, his eyes scanning her. "I've seen men march to the front lines of a war for the Queen with more colour in their faces than you have right now."
"I'm going to live with someone who is crazier than you." Asteria said flatly. "I think I'm allowed a bit of paleness."
Valerius's expression softened, just for a second. He reached out, his hand hovering near her arm before he gripped her shoulder firmly. "Stay cool. Keep that fire in your chest caged. Halesia is a creature of whim; if you bore her, you're safe. If you fascinate her, you're a player. But if you threaten her... I won't be able to reach you."
"I'll be safe," Asteria whispered, though she wasn't sure who she was lying to.
"You'd better be," he muttered, his gaze intense. "I haven't spent all this effort on you just for you to break. Go. The sun is rising, and she doesn't like to be kept waiting."
***
The solarium was not a room; it was an amphitheater of light. Located at the very apex of the palace, the ceiling was a massive, seamless dome of reinforced glass that captured the artificial starlight of the cavern.
Asteria felt the physical weight of the Queen before she even saw her. The pressure was immense – a warm, suffocating sweetness that made her lungs feel tight and her skin prickle with static.
Queen Halesia was not sitting on a throne. She was standing at the edge of the dome, looking out over the sprawling spires of Aethelgard. She wore a gown of translucent white that seemed to be woven from the mist of the waterfalls below. Her hair was unbound, trailing down her back like a shroud of silk.
The air here felt thin, charged with the ozone of a coming storm. The silence was absolute, save for the low, rhythmic thrumming of a chime somewhere in the distance.
Asteria walked to the center of the room, the click of her heels on the glass floor sounding like gunshots. She sank into a deep, graceful curtsy, her head bowed. "My Queen," she said, her voice steady despite the hammer of her heart. "I have come as summoned."
Halesia didn't turn at first. She remained motionless, a divine statue silhouetted against the glowing city. "Lord Valerius told me you were a quick study," the Queen said, her voice resonating not in the air, but directly in the marrow of Asteria's bones. "He says you are a girl of many... hidden depths."
She turned then, her sky-blue eyes tracking Asteria with a predatory, languid curiosity. She walked toward Asteria, her dress swirling around her ankles. She didn't walk so much as she glided, a goddess moving through a world she had created and grown tired of.
"Stand up, little shadow," Halesia commanded.
Asteria rose, meeting that divine gaze. Up close, the Queen's presence was even more terrifying. She smelled of danger and boredom, a scent that triggered every survival instinct Asteria possessed.
"I did not summon you here to polish my glass or serve my tea," Halesia said, circling Asteria slowly, like a hawk circling a strange new prey. "I summoned you because you are a new type of instrument amongst all this song.
She stopped in front of Asteria, leaning in until their faces were inches apart. "I want to know what kind of music that filth – corruption – makes when it tries to be a lady."
"I am whatever you wish me to be, My Queen," Asteria replied, her teeth clenched.
Halesia laughed, a sound like falling crystal. "A liar, too. How delightful. Valerius has taught you well."
She stepped back, her expression shifting into one of bored amusement. "For the next month, you shall not be a maid. You shall be my shadow. My companion. You will walk where I walk, see what I see, and perhaps... you will show me the world through those strange eyes of yours."
The Queen turned back toward the view of her kingdom, her hand gesturing vaguely toward the exit.
"Prepare yourself, maid. I have many errands today, and the city is a noisy place. You shall accompany me on my rounds."
Asteria bowed again, the grey silk of her dress feeling like lead. The cage had just gotten much smaller, and the bars were made of gold.
***
The transition from the clinical blue of the palace corridors to the solarium's gardens was a sensory assault. The gardens were a sprawling, vertical labyrinth of suspended terraces, where crystalline vines dripped with blossoms that looked like liquid rubies and pale sapphires.
Halesia walked with a slow, deliberate grace, her bare feet silent on the paths of crushed diamond dust. Asteria followed half a step behind, her grey silk skirts hissing against the ground.
Internally, Asteria was a screaming wreck.
'Say something. No, don't say anything. Say something... If you stay silent, she'll think you're plotting. Damnation, how does Valerius breathe in this woman's presence?' Her heart was pacing in her chest, its predatory instincts confused by the Queen's overwhelming warmth. It wanted to snarl at the divinity; it wanted to curl up and hide.
"You are shaking, girl." Halesia remarked, not looking back. She stopped before a tree whose leaves were thin sheets of hammered gold. "The air is quite still, yet you seem to be caught in a gale. Is my garden so terrifying?"
Asteria swallowed hard, her throat dry. "It is... beautiful, My Queen. I have simply never seen things grow like this. In the mines, the only thing that grows is the dark."
Halesia turned, her sky-blue eyes sparking with that terrifying interest. "The dark. Yes. I suppose it does. It grows thick and heavy, doesn't it? It clings to the skin." She reached out, her fingers brushing the petals of a sapphire flower. The bloom shivered and turned a brilliant, blinding white at her touch. "But here, everything is light. Do you find it peaceful? Or do you find it dishonest?"
Asteria froze. It was a trap. It had to be.
'If I say peaceful, I'm a sycophant. If I say dishonest, I'm a traitor.'
"I find it... orderly," Asteria managed, her voice carefully neutral. "It is a beauty that knows exactly where it is allowed to be. There is safety in that."
Halesia let out a low, musical hum. "Orderly. A diplomat's word. Valerius has spent too much time polishing you, I think. I prefer the rough edges you showed at the banquet."
She began to walk again, leading Asteria toward a bridge of woven glass that spanned a chasm filled with glowing mist.
"Tell me," the Queen said, her tone light, as if they were discussing the weather. "Does the Architect – that fox, Valerius – treat you well? Or does he merely view you as a structural support for his grand designs?"
Asteria's heart hammered against her ribs. 'Stop asking questions you don't want answers to, damn it!'
"He is... a man of great foresight," Asteria replied, choosing her words like she was navigating a minefield. "He values efficiency. He has given me a life far better than the one I had in the dust."
"Efficiency," Halesia echoed, her voice dropping into a whisper as they reached the center of the bridge. She stopped and looked down into the mist. "A cold word for a cold man. But efficiency cannot account for the soul, can it? It cannot account for the way you look at me when you think I am not watching."
She turned to Asteria, her presence suddenly expanding, the golden light of the solarium flaring around her like a halo.
"You look at me and you see a corpse in a shroud of light. Don't deny it. I can feel the judgment in your marrow."
Asteria felt the her eyes twitch, the high-pitched ringing starting in her ears. She clenched her teeth, her knuckles white as she gripped the fabric of her dress.
"I see a Queen," Asteria forced out, her voice trembling with the effort of standing her ground. "And I see a kingdom that is very, very quiet."
Halesia stared at her for a long, agonizing moment. Then, she laughed. It wasn't the cruel laugh from earlier; it was something softer, yet infinitely more dangerous.
"Quiet. Yes. It is a silence I have spent centuries perfecting." She turned back to the path, her mood shifting as quickly as the light through the dome. "Come. I have grown tired of the flowers. I wish to see the work being done in the lower tiers. I want to see how you react to the sound of my kingdom's heart."
Asteria let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She was still alive. For now.
"As you wish, My Queen."