Page 6 of Ties of Starlight

The answer: He didn't.

Nyrunn stared at the sun breaking the horizon, sitting on the window seat of his extravagant and vast quarters.

He'd taken the perch when he'd returned after finally scraping up the strength to move long after Idonea had left him in the library. Since he’d made it back to his room, he hadn't moved an inch.

He was only in the beginning of his reign, but he couldn't imagine anything being harder than this. Idonea would be married to someone else—worse, toOlaug—and Nyrunn was going to live the rest of his life watching her happiness from a distance.

Worse, Nyrunn had no heir, no siblings, no cousins he could trust the kingdom to if he died. He would have to marry. Or he’d risk sending his country into chaos as any elf with a distant claim would come forth. Should that happen,the Moon Elves who were watching them with eagle eyes for weakness would come in and decimate them.

If they didn’t attack even sooner.

So Nyrunn didn’t have a choice. He would condemn some poor elven maiden to a husband who would never love her because he couldn’t control his runaway heart not to want the one girl he could never have.

But that was a problem for another day. Right now, he had to get through this one.

If he thought last night had been hard, the following one was going to be worse.

Times like these made Nyrunn miss his father and uncle. They’d had their flaws, more than Nyrunn could ever forgive, but his uncle most certainly would have at least been able to understand.

How would his father have reacted to Nyrunn’s plight?

Maybe Nyrunn should make like his father and dedicate himself to the abuse of the castle's caskets of Nebulan wine. The longer Nyrunn was king, the more he understood why his father had seldom been seen without a glass in his hand.

Of course, then Nyrunn ran the risk of becoming as wretched and miserable a creature as his father had been. Who was he kidding? He already was even without it. He'd been fending off his advisors attempts to sit him in front of a physician to try to diagnose whatever illness had taken over him and caused such drastic changes in his personality.

A knock sounded on the door.

Great. Thinking of them had summoned them.

“Your Majesty?”

Nyrunn slowly shifted, wincing at the stiffness in his muscles from his vigil. “Yes?”

“Oh. Good! You're awake.” The door opened andNyrunn's favorite, and least favorite, advisor came in, Lord Frode. He was the only advisor anywhere close to Nyrunn’s age, which made him far more friendly and familiar than the others, unfortunately. The second Frode stepped inside he spotted Nyrunn pushing himself up off the seat and gasped. “Did you sleep at all?”

“A little. Besides, I'll catch up on it eventually. There's too much to be done today; no one is going to be taking the Midday Rest anyway.”

“Your Majesty, you need—”

“And starting tomorrow we'll be on the road for two months, so I might as well get used to being awake all day.” Nyrunn rolled his eyes.

The Star Elves spent part of the day and part of the night awake, sleeping once after midnight and then again at midday as their energy peaked and waned. It was one of the strengths they had over the Sun Elves and the Moon Elves, since there was always either the sun in the sky or the stars in the heavens, connecting to their energy and magic. But they suffered their own weaknesses, especially with the last few Cometa Couples failing to complete the rituals, and their magic was weaker than it had been in centuries.

If they didn’t strengthen their magic, the Star Elves would go the way of the Night Elves and be wiped off the map entirely.

Frode huffed. “It's impossible to argue with a king, so why don't you just be reasonable from the start and make my life easier?”

That was why Frode was both Nyrunn’s favorite and least favorite. He somehow made Nyrunn laugh on what was the worst day of his life.

“As king I get so little personal amusement. Don't askme to eliminate what I do have in making your life difficult.”

“At least tell me you're going to make yourself presentable for this evening and less like...” Frode gestured to all of Nyrunn. “That.”

“What? The king showing up in his wrinkled clothes from the night before and unbrushed hair isn't appropriate for the wedding of the Cometa Couple?” Nyrunn shot Frode a wry look as he stretched his arms up and moved to his wardrobe, a beautiful silver and gray wood that sparkled in the light.

“Hey!” Frode clapped his hands together and stepped forward. “You made a joke and you mentioned the Cometa Couple in one sentence. We're making real headway here.”

“Did you just come here to make sure I didn't have any plans to humiliate myself or ruin the ceremony our people desperately need?” Nyrunn asked as he opened the doors and reached for the outfit his tailor had made for the occasion. “Or was there something else you wanted?”

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