Page 19 of When the Moon Met the Sun

Seeming just slightly more at ease, he turned without another word and opened the door behind him, then motioned for me to follow him.

The moment I stepped out of the door, though, I nearly slammed right into a wall of flesh. I looked up slightly, meeting the light green eyes of the female in front of me, then cocked my head to the side. I looked over her shoulder as Robyn turned back, having noticed I wasn’t following him, and his eyes widened slightly at the sight before him.

What’s this all about?

I shifted my eyes back to the female, ready to get a better look. The girl seemed to be roughly my age, maybe a little older, but she had a fierceness about her—like she’d seen things I couldn’t fathom. She had a mass of wavy, bright, ginger hair, and a scar that ran down the right side of her face, cutting through her eyebrow and over her eye, straight down her cheek.

She took a half step closer to me, so close I could smell the scent of rosemary as her hair slid over her shoulder.

“Quinn,” Robyn said, as if warning her.

“Listen closely,” she said. “You may be my queen, and I’d lay down my life for you, but Robyn is a good person. He doesn’t deserve any of this. You may not trust us, but we don’t trustyou, either. Trust isearned, understand?”

Suddenly feeling attacked, and by a stranger nonetheless, I raised my lip in a silent snarl. “That goes both ways,” I snapped in response. My skin buzzed with pent up energy.

Quinn’s eyes lit up ever so slightly, as if surprised and somewhat satisfied by my response. She took a step back, then turned around to look at Robyn. A look passed between them, one I imagined would lead to a talk later, before she dipped her head to him and walked away swiftly in the opposite direction.

I looked to Robyn, tossing him a confused yet curious look, but he simply shook his head and sighed. I couldn’t help but noticethe way his hair shifted, showing off the tips of his pointed ears that were adorned with small gold hoops chained together. Truly fit for a king.

He led me back the way we came, through the same tall doors I had stood at before with Teagan. Although, this time when I paused, it was because I could hardly believe I was walking into the same courtyard as what felt like just moments before.

The rows upon rows of chairs had been done away with and were now nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were two long rows of tables with all types of foods and beverages on them, most of which I didn’t recognize, and a makeshift, checkered dance floor in the middle. On the outskirts of the open space were tables and chairs, decorated in green table cloths and some type of gold centerpieces. They matched the long buffet tables flawlessly.

Robyn looked back at me when he realized I had ceased following. A soft, handsome smile overcame his face as he noticed my awe-filled expression, flashing that dimple that had my stomach feeling like it was doing a flip.

“If everybody helps, it makes the load lighter and work gets done faster,” he said, still smiling.

As if that explained everything, he carried on, heading straight for the platform again. The platform now had a long, rectangular table on it with eight chairs on one side, all facing the rest of the open room and the people filling it.

Before we could walk around to the other side of the table to sit, two tall males stepped into Robyn’s path.

“Byn!” the blond one said.

“How are you feeling, brother?” the other asked, the one with a white streak in the front of his hair, slightly falling into his face.

“Fine. Good. Great, actually,” Robyn replied, seemingly flustered all of a sudden. He cleared his throat, then stepped out of the way to expose me standing behind him to the two males.

“Oh! My apologies, my queen,” White Streak said.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Queen Aviva,” the blond one said as they both bowed at the waist.

Robyn seemed like he was holding back another sigh, but his eyes had lit up since these two had shown up. They must mean something to him.

“Aviva, this is Chester, but we all call him Chess,” Robyn said, motioning towards the blond one. He was shorter than the other two males, but still far taller than me, and had a softer face. He was probably younger than them both. He had brown eyes that were as dark as chocolate, and his hair was barely long enough to fit into the small tie he held it back with. I noticed he had a belt on with various bottles and pouches.

I dipped my head towards him politely in response.

“And this,” Robyn said, “is my oldest friend, Ezra. We’ve known each other since we were both very small children.”

He motioned towards White Streak, which I realized then wasn’t due to age—it must have been a birthmark of some sort. His face and eyes were still youthful, and the remainder of his hair was all a dark brown. His eyes were the color of fresh honey, and he wore an orange sweater vest on top of his creamy, long sleeve shirt, even though we were exposed to the warmer elements.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said, an automatic response.

“Chess is my royal trokav, though he’s just recently been appointed as such. And Ezra is the most knowledgeable in probably all of the South. We rely on him quite often,” Robyn said, providing me with further context, which I realized I greatly appreciated. Back home in the North, both Father and Dimi would rarely fill me in on such details. They always said they were unimportant or unnecessary for me to know.

Against my will, I could feel myself beginning to warm towards the South, just slightly. Nothing I had seen so far screamedbeasts,despite what I’d been taught my entirelife.

“We know this whole arrangement probably isn’t what you wanted, but wearehappy to have you here, my queen. I’m confident you’ll fit in nicely,” Ezra said, a soft, genuine smile on his face.

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