Page 13 of Celestial Bodies

They shifted back to human form to continue their verbal sparring.

“He’sfucking the enemy!” Ferrean yelled.

“I’m notfuckinganyone!” Dacias screamed back, his rage boiling andturning his face bright red.

The two started to go after each other again, but Klorin pushed them in opposite directions. “Both of you shut up! Now!” He breathed and shook his head, looking for something to say. “I was joking before. Dacias wasn’t flirting with anyone at Cupidor. A hookerdidflirt with him, and I’ve been jabbing him about it for days.”

Ferrean shook his head and shoulder-checked Klorin. “You’re covering for him. Isawhim making eyes at that guy in aLapistrean Battle Tog.”

The gasps from the other cadets sent nerves prickling down Dacias’s back. He knew he had to say something. He ran the risk of alienating the troop. Many of them despised Lapistra.

Dacias pointed at Ferrean saying, “You don’t know what you saw. You were too busy being a dumbass and getting into bar fights!”

It wasn’t like Dacias didn’t feel the same rage as his fellow cadets, butHaligrandenied Rugiria access to the medicine they needed. Territory relations improved under Morab. For a moment, it seemed like Lapistra and Rugiria would sign a peace treaty. It wasn’t Lapistra’s fault that this was all happening; it was Haligran’s.

Dacias wanted to tell these dimwits that noteveryonein Lapistra was a monster like Haligran and that some of them had it pretty bad there.People like Arlo.

He thought about how nervous Arlo looked when they danced.He wouldn’t be afraid if he lived here.

But Dacias knew this wasn’t the time for a lecture. These cadets wouldn’t understand. Anger fueled their hatred, and rage never produced a productive conversation.

Ferrean narrowed his eyes on Dacias. “Youweren’tmaking eyes with that Lapistrean?”

Dacias responded, his voice deep and low, almost a whisper. “No. I wasn’t.”

Ferrean’s slimy smile made Dacias’s gut clench. “My mistake, brother. I must have seen something else then.”

Ferrean turned and walked back to his station. An awkward silence filled the air until a cadet broke it with a crude joke. Everyone laughed andcarried on with their business.

Dacias bent down to get one of themanytowels around him, then Klorin approached. “Dax, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything; I messed up.”

Klorin and Dacias’s bond ran deep. They had always been close, but after their mother’s death, their father’s devastation rendered him incapacitated. Klorin became a second father to Dacias. Haligran’s mineral embargo killed their mother. She had battled a disease called spirarex, which corroded her lungs, for years. The deprivation of the minerals her body had become dependent on ultimately ended her struggle and took their mother away from the Validars.

As bad as Dacias’s father took it, nobody was more crushed than Ferrean. He had always been a pain in the ass, but the death of their mother took any last bits of pleasantness he had and replaced it with vengeful wrath.

Klorin and Ferrean had left Cupidor before the dance court, so neither had seen the extent of his connection with Arlo.Thank the Mother Planet.It didn’t surprise Dacias that Klorin had picked up on his yearning for Arlo at the Black Crag; that’s just how well Klorin knew him, but Dacias hadn’t anticipated fucking Ferrean noticing, too.

Dacias patted Klorin’s back. “No worries. We all make mistakes.”

Dacias scanned the room, aware that nearby cadets could be eavesdropping. Klorin noticed and gave him a knowing look before nodding and returning to his station.

Dacias dried himself off. His mind returned to Arlo’s soft brown curls, wide green eyes, and lithe body.I’m in trouble.

7

Chapter 6

Julen

Piercing light illuminated the pendulum, hurting Julen’s eyes. Haligran, Lupan, and the head physician stood in the observation gallery, shrouded in shadows. For nearly two generations, the crypt had been the burial site of the past ruler’s father, King Praecepto, Lapistra’s ruler. Haligran scrubbed the territory clean of anything resembling an homage to his predecessor, King Morab, including his family members’ tombs.

Julen’s breath hitched at the sight of the pendulum resonator, and a cold chill ran down his spine. It resembled a torture device. A heavy bob dangled from a sturdy cable connected to an axle perpendicular to the platform. An intricate gear system started with a pinion attached to the axle, setting off a cascade of gears linked to discs positioned beneath the platform. As the pendulum swung, this system would unleash intense vibrations.

Julen’s disastrous performance at the showcase led to a team of physicians working around the clock to find the cause. Days after his return from Cupidor, they presented a plan to Julen and Haligran.

The ancient texts spoke of a monumental planetary quake that still reverberated in the form of periodic aftershocks. Before this seismic event, Vexorlings were devoid of any magical powers. However, several years post-quake, powers began to emerge. This gave birth to the prevailingtheory that the quake and the vibrations of its ongoing aftershocks were the catalyst for these powers and why Julen was about to be strapped to this nightmare machine before him. The logic was that the intense vibrations of the pendulum would mirror those of the tectonic plates, thereby expediting his power manifestation.

Julen agreed to the procedure, knowing his father would ridicule him if he didn’t. Truthfully, Julen was willing to do anything. He couldn’t be the only adult male in the royal family who couldn’t manifest, and the brutalistic citizens would demand that he be removed from the line of succession if that were the case. He would endure whatever was necessary to bring about his powers. He had to.

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