Suns and Shadows

Not For Every Single Star

My pounds as the blood rushes through my head. Etiquette classes are worse than knowing you're about to do something that will probably kill you. My back aches as I collapse on the bed. I'll kill Zillah for these idiotic etiquette classes.

It hurts to flop over onto my stomach. I wince and try to remember all the names, history, families, and manners I'd tried to learn. I can't even remember half. The only name I do remember is the Pero family.

"Besides the Lightbooks, the Pero family is the richest and most powerful family in the Council. Their seat holds the power of foreign travel and trade." Zillah had said. My interest had peaked immediately.

Get close to the Pero family means getting to the Shadowlands. 

And that's what I intend to do. I don't care about anything else.

With a groan, I roll off the bed and get changed into a flowy and much too frilly lace nightgown. It's soft to touch as I rub my finger over it. I unbraid my hair and the usually straight and boring strands have turned bouncy and curly, almost like Saiya's. 

I almost feel pretty as I turn around, the moon shining on the nightgown making it glow. That's when I hear someone tap on my door. Joshua stands in the doorway, a crimson tinge on his cheeks. "Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to come with me to celebrate the start of the mission."

"Really? You couldn't have come twenty minutes before I changed?" I sigh.

"You can go in that. It'll just be the two of us." He replies and smirks at me. 

I scowl. "I'm going to get changed, so you can leave now." I push him outside and lock the door behind, getting dressed in the same plain tunic as before. when I walk outside, I'm blindfolded and reach out my arms. 

"This is not funny Sun boy! Get this stupid thing off of me!" I thrash, but Joshua's steady arms wrap around me.

"I want it to be a surprise okay? Please stop hitting me when I'm trying to do something nice for you." He whispers.

"Blindfolding me is not what I'd call nice." I snap, but I do let him guide me through the halls, only being able to see darkness. 

"No, but, " I feel his hands in my hair untying the blindfold. I realize we're outside as a cool breeze hits my face. "this is." I gasp as the blindfold comes off revealing a small picnic Joshua must've laid out for me.

It's small with a red and white gingham tablecloth draped over it. He's put out muffins, fish more food than I've seen in my life, even at the marketplace. "How...did you make all this food yourself?" I ask.

He laughs. "Only some. I really just wanted to show you the stars." 

So I look up.

Each star is a diamond, twinkling brightly. They look like every jewel I could never afford, but now I have them all right in front of me. "I've never seen stars like this before."

"I thought so. In Rook, it's so polluted you can't see any of the stars. It's one of the things I did with my dad when I was little. See that one there is the Nymph constellation." He takes my hand and uses it to point to a star.

And that's how we spend the next hour. 

I eat everything. Joshua points out every star, naming them, telling me the stories. It reminds me of what I used to do with Saiya. Telling stories that always have morals you'll never use. "I'm sorry I asked you to do this," Joshua says all of the sudden in the middle of one of his stories.

I frown. "I'm enjoying myself and...I don't do that often."

"I meant work for the Inferno. We kidnapped you and I'm sorry, but I promise I won't let you get hurt."

"You did kidnap me, but it was from an execution and prison," I say softly, turning to look at his eyes that reflect the moonlight. His silver eyes glow. "And you gave me a choice." I squeeze his hand. "That's what matters. You never forced anything upon me."

He doesn't smile. "After I saw the way you were with Saiya, I regretted my choice. I saw the way she looks at you. If something happens, she'll break and I'm not sure any medication could fix that."

A lump grows in my throat and I can't speak. I hadn't thought about that at all.

Joshua's face turns away and he looks up at the stars. "I won't let anything happen to you, not for all the stars in the sky."

And I know he means it.