"Who the hell are all these people?" Domi's aedificans snapped at his Praetor the instant they arrived for Valens and Arbita's wedding.
Nearly three hundred people were milling around Cerasus's spacious salutatio hall, which had been decorated with countless hanging pots of dangling blossom and grape-laden vines.
Domi peered at the gathered people in confused curiosity. He'd never seen so many sorcerers in one place. Where had these Promethidae come from? There were even some Pyrrhaei bustling about, carrying the heavy winter paenulas of the Lightholders they accompanied. Radix had told him once that less than ten adult Lightholders lived here in Urbs Hostiae, so most of these people must have traveled.
He glanced sideways at the redhead, smiling. They knew everything.
The younger Pullatus smirked back, amber eyes sparkling. They placed one hand over their non-existent laurel and dipped in a dramatic bow. "Allow me to take your paenula, your Promerentiness."
Domi snorted but nodded. Best to keep up the appearance of master and servant, at least in public. He let Radix help him out of the heavy winter mantle.
Sidus caught his eye with a slow smile. "Need more help undressing?"
"Y-yes?" Domi said absently as he struggled out of the heavy layer, then realized what the starholder had just said and, worse, what he'd just replied. He felt a flush heat his cheeks. Eyes devour. "I mean, no."
Sidus chuckled but let him be.
Cerasus seemed to be in a pleasant mood for once. He grinned like a proud father as he draped his arms around Valens's and Arbita's shoulders and drew them into the crowd. "You may not have wanted to invite anyone, but I had a few guests of my own in mind."
"It isn't even your wedding, Cerasus," his sister pointed out, although, unlike Valens, she seemed more amused by the hubbub than annoyed.
Cerasus shrugged. "I'm officiating it. It's my only sister and best friend who are getting married." He squeezed their shoulders and grinned jovially. Domi could not help but stare at the weird expression. He had not known the grouchy royal could smile. "So I invited a few people to share the happy day with us. If you want to whine, lodge an official complaint with your Praetor."
"You invited the whole damn curia, Praetor," Valens said. "And everyone's servants."
"Yes. Not everyone could make it to Urbs Hostiae on such short notice, but-"
The worldholder's eyes narrowed. "I mean you invited the whole curia."
"Oh. Right." Cerasus offered a sly smile. "Yes, your mother and father are indeed on their way. And your siblings. You think I want your mother after my hide for not inviting her? I doubt that they will make it in time for the ceremony, however."
"Damn it, Cerasus."
Domi lifted a brow at his aedificans. "You have a family?"
Surly amber eyes narrowed down at him. "Everyone has a family, Alumna."
"What," Radix teased, elbowing Domi's side, "did you think he hatched out of an egg or something?"
Bellus seemed to have an uncanny ability to melt into a crowd until he found something to disapprove of. The Empowered mindholder glided forward now, his gold-banded laurel like blue fire at his throat, and gave the redhead a stern frown. "Hush in public, servant."
Domi shifted a little in front of Radix to block Bellus's disapproving view. "More like the Devouring Eyes spat him out on Aquarius fully spawned."
"I knew I liked you for a reason, kid," Cerasus said with a broad smile.
What the hell? Domi eyed the royal cautiously. "What? You were, uh, mad at me not long ago, Praetor."
"If my darling can forgive and forget," the man said, weirdly beneficent as he waved a hand airily like he had not ordered Domi's execution one month ago, "then so can I."
"Your..." Domi blinked. "Edera?" The idea of anyone calling the beautiful but terrifying girl "darling" was laughable, even if Cerasus was her father.
The Praetor shrugged. "She was worried about you when you disappeared." Domi very much doubted that. What game was Cerasus playing? "Speaking of my daughter, Arbita, your niece is so excited that you are getting married at last. She grew all these plants herself."
"You bribed her, didn't you?"
Cerasus laughed. "Of course not. I'm telling you the Eternal Radiance's own truth, she grew these herself as soon as she heard the news yesterday."
"Yes, he bribed me," a familiar voice said. Edera stepped alongside Domi, flicking the boy a haughty glare that her father scowled at, and then smiled at Arbita. She kissed her aunt's cheeks. "But I'm still happy for you."
"Thank you, Edera," Arbita said, ruffling the pixie-like girl's short pink hair. "The flower arrangements are lovely." Her smile grew wry. "I hope you were paid well for your excellent work."
She smirked. "Oh, I was. But I was thrilled to do it for you. I want a little cousin almost as much as Father wants a niece or nephew."
"Yes, we're all eager to provide the curia with more children," Valens said, eying the flowers above him with a sour look.
Edera ignored him, instead beaming at her aunt. "I hope they favor you and not their father, Arbita."
The lifeholder chuckled. "You and me both, kid."
Cerasus clapped his hands. "Alright people, shall we do this?" The gathered Promethidae continued their conversations and the Praetor scowled. "Shut the hell up and get in your places!" he bellowed.
That brought instant silence and an aghast look from Bellus.
Cerasus beamed as everyone started to shuffle toward their seats. "Thank you." He stepped up onto the dais. "We have gathered here on this beautiful Germinating day to witness the union of these two Promethidae..."
"Is he really just-" Arbita broke off as her brother cast a pointed look at the spot on the floor before the dais. "Eternal Radiance, I guess he is. Well, we need to go."
Valens nudged Domi toward Sidus, leaning close to the starholder to murmur, "Stay close by him, Sidus."
"Oh I will," the boy said with a lingering sideways glance at Domi that had the younger boy's face heating. He still didn't understand how Sidus could undo him with one look. "With pleasure."
Behind him, holding their friend's heavy winter paenula draped over their arm, Radix glanced from one Lightholder to the other and frowned. Domi blinked at the weird look, but Radix turned away stiffly and so, shrugging in confusion, he turned as well to watch Aquarius's most reluctant couple join their lives in holy matrimony.
<>
Since he had been enthroned one month before, Daedalus had only met one time with the Rex and his fellow three Principia all together like this. As he was admitted into the Rex's tablinum office and found all four of Aquarius's high rulers waiting for him in high-backed chairs, he found himself feeling ill at ease.
He had been waiting for this conversation to come. Dreading it. But he had dropped the Trellis three days ago. It had not been his fault that he had done it, but still, he had done it. Of course, there would be consequences.
Daedalus tried to maintain his composure as he held one hand over his black laurel to hide its shimmer and bowed his head low.
"May the Eyes pass over you," the Rex said.
"And you also, Augustus," Daedalus said, lifting his head and lowering his arm. His voice had not wavered, at least.
He kept his shoulders square as he approached. He would face his chastisement with dignity. He would not enjoy it, but it was just criticism, well-deserved criticism, and he would maintain his composure throughout it. He would answer their questions as truthfully as he could without letting them know about-
He broke away from that dangerous line of thought, not looking at the mindholder in the room as he directed his thoughts away from his twin and toward the sensation of the Trellis anchored to his being. The heat and the weight of it, tethered to his breath and heartbeat. He inhaled slowly through his nose and out through his mouth as he had been trained since infancy, focusing his mind with rigorous control on thoughts of molten gold.
He studied his fellow royals as he approached. Rex Decus Astralis looked exhausted, his mahogany skin sallow and his eyes bloodshot. Daedalus was not sure the elderly man's long white beard had seen a brush in days.
Next to him, Princeps Buccina Exaudibilis was Decus's polar opposite. Only the Eternal Radiance knew what she truly looked like beneath the latest illusion she wore of a legendary Pale Person, all fair skin, apple green eyes, and golden curls that fell loose to frame her blue laurel. She could have been terrified or angry beneath the illusory mask for all he knew, but she appeared serene.
Oliva Florulentus, the Princeps Lifeholder, looked far older than her seventy-two years. Even the emerald laurel beneath her throat seemed to smolder more than burn. Her full lips pursing, she glanced at Daedalus as he approached and then away again, her stormy gray eyes filled with guilt and her normally serene face lined with sadness that had Daedalus gulping.
At her side, the Princeps Forgeholder, Fidentia Carbae, met Daedalus's eyes with a polite nod, her expression unreadable. Of all the world leaders gathered in the tablinum office, the thirty-three-year-old royal was usually the most animated and free in her speech, and her unusual reserve made him nervous.
He was in a lot of trouble, and they did not even know about-
Heat. Gold. Weight. Vastness. Daedalus breathed in and out and folded his hands before him.
The Rex cleared his throat. "Basilicus, I have called you here today because I have some terrible news, but also some hopeful news."
Daedalus blinked. News? Wait, was he not going to be censured? He kept the relief and curiosity from his tone. "What news, Augustus?"
The Rex shook his head. "I think you should sit down first, Basilicus." The old man looked tired as he sighed. "This is going to be a hard thing to hear, I'm sorry to say."
"Alright." Heart beating faster, he lowered himself into one of the high-backed chairs. "What is it?"
Decus glanced at Fidentia, and the young forgeholder fixed Daedalus with an inscrutable look. "Do you recall from your history lessons an event known as the Calamity of the Twins?"