Light of Stars [2]

Chapter Twenty-Six

♕ City of Stars ♕

Night fell over them quicker than any had expected. And the sky had turned into something she could not part her eyes from. Lost where the clouds and the mist and blurriness of ocean skies, above them, shinning the way the sun did on a soft morning, waited an ocean of stars, so bright that moonlight barely shined through. There were thousands of them, almost being impossible for her to distinguish the few constellations she had learned over the years, but what captured her the most was not their brightness, nor the overwhelming amount, what captured her was the infinite twinkling of color shining from them. Some of them shined so bright Aubrette could spot the hue of their tone perfectly, green as the grass of Wood Sorrow, crystal blue as Mistburgh's river had been. Others, were barely shining at all, their light fading in with the others. She stared and stared and wished more than ever she had bothered to learn how to read their fates.

Adrean stopped, the river turning away to the right, surrounding the city ahead. Aubrette dropped her eyes from the sky, spotting for the first time two mountains, still too far away for her to see fully, one on each side of the river, a hanging bridge, that seemed to be made out of glass, connecting them. She looked at the water, her reflection lost inside of it. Even her horse stepped away. She had tried her best to remember any mention of it, in one of Exilium's limited books on Luxem's geography but the one thing she could remember was that it crossed through all cities, fueling them, giving them life.

"Zander" Adrean said, lowering his head. "My queen" he said next, the word still forced and unnatural in his voice. "I'm afraid this is as far as I can take you." Aubrette nodded once, turning her eyes away from him. "Best of luck to you all. I hope the stars let us see each other again" Zander nodded. "I'm sure they will" he added, as if he knew something they did not. No one bothering to reply to his fake courtesy.

Bliss rode off, neither moving or daring to speak until the galloping of his horse was lost in the distance. Zander laughed.

"What?" Sybilla asked, smirking.

"Nothing I just, never thought I would be here again. Much less under another queen, fighting another war." He said, his eyes marveling at the sigh of his home.

"You are free to return to your sister's court Zander" Aubrette said, meaning it much more than she thought she would. She never wanted them to feel trapped underneath her or less than her, she would not rule over her friends, ever. "I would never hold you here"

Zander shook his head. "I belong here more than I'll ever belong to my sister's. Trust me."

Aubrette sighed, holding onto the reins of her horse tighter than before. The city looked nothing more than a land of light and silence, but every city seemed that way from afar. A place calling to be entered, explored. She swallowed her fear and locked it down at the bottom of her soul. Her eyes looked at Zander, who looked twice as terrified as she did.

"We'll be fine" she said. "Nothing can be worse than what we've left behind"

"I'm sorry for bringing you into another mess" Zander spoke. "To all three of you. It was all I could think about"

"We know how to manage inside court life" Izabella said. "Its not our first time"

"Still, I'm sorry of what... my sister might say." He said.

Sybilla rode closer to him. "Zander, remember what we spoke about?" Zander turned to her, slowly nodding. "It applies to you as well. We needed to run. You gave us an out." He smiled.

"Thank you"

Aubrette cleared her throat, Izabella looking away.

"Well, lets go before sunrise beats us, shall we?" Zander turned to her, nodding. "Lead the way prince"