Page 5 of When the Moon Met the Sun

A choir of responses along the lines of,noandnot a chancerang out from the table of advisors, causing Teagan to inhale a sharp breath.

Father’s advisors each had a smaller city than Hollis that they oversaw and cared for in the North, most being scattered aroundwithin the mountains somewhere. It didn’t surprise me that Father was displaying the situation as leaving the decision up to them, though they all know they’d risk losing everything if they went against him.

“I’m sorry, Princess Teagan, but I don’t think that will work for my people. Did your king have any other ideas?” Father asked, swiftly rejecting her proposal and turning his full attention back to her.

“Of course,” Teagan said, refocusing. “We’d like to offer to have a portion of our plant wielders visit some of your less privileged towns to provide healing herbs and vegetables. They could teach them how to maintain the plants in their environment, so your people could provide for themselves. We assume after being at war for so long, this would be beneficial for your people. Many of them also serve as our trokavs, and as such, they can teach your people which plants could best serve them based on different illnesses or wounds.”

Trokavs—our healers—in the North were often water wielders, but in the South they must be plant wielders.How convenient it must be to be able to sprout any herb you need, I couldn’t help but think.

Father looked around the table of advisors once again before he asked, “Advisors—are you having any trouble providing for, healing, and feeding your own people?”

Another chorus ofnorose from the table, but it was noticeably less confident this time.

“It seems we’re sufficient on that front as well, Princess Teagan, though it was a swell idea. What else do you have for me?” Father asked, his grin growing slightly.

A muscle in Teagan’s jaw ticked in frustration, but she quickly masked it, moving forward. “Truthfully, Your Highness, we were hoping one of those solutions would work for you. But, we also considered asking some of our crystal wielders to come to theNorth for a period of time, to help your people find your moon stones easier and more efficiently. Is that something that would interest you instead?” Teagan asked.

The South had their own set of zirilium—earth, fire, plants, crystals, and shadows. Although shadows didn’t originate with the South, but rather the Ocrein Isles to the west, their two peoples mixed for centuries in the past, their zirilium melting together in return.

The South’s crystal wielders were so in tune with the world around them, they could sense the crystals in the ground that they forged their sun stones from, and those which the North forged our moon stones from. Without crystal wielders, our people dug blindly for these rocks. The sun and moon stones were then fashioned into different pieces that can be worn, the most common in the South being gloves, so the zirilium wielder wearing them could draw strength and power from them. These stones were essential in battle and they helped those still mastering their wielding to have better control and focus over their zirilium.

Father took a moment before turning to one of the advisors sitting across from Teagan. If my memory served correctly, he oversaw Neokell, to the east.

“Advisor Clive. How are things at the mountain dig site and mines? Has our efficiency decreased at all as of late?” Father asked, addressing Clive directly.

Clive, a burly male who looked as though he desperately needed a hair trimming, cleared his throat before responding, “No, Your Majesty.”

Nobody addressed his obvious hesitation.

“I thought that was the case, though this is my favorite proposition so far, and can be discussed further in the future. Princess Teagan?” Father said expectantly.

Teagan’s pointed ears had turned a bright shade of red, but her face was a perfect mask of control.

“Your Majesty, did you have something specific in mind instead of the propositions I’ve brought before you?” Teagan asked, her tone clipped and more serious than before.

I turned my head to watch as a full smirk spread across my father’s face. For a moment, he looked purely wicked.

“Everybody besides our dear guest and my children, get out of my sight.Now.”

There was a pause, as if the room itself was holding its breath. Nobody present had been expecting something like this, but to disobey Father was a death wish. I watched the back of Aurora’s head as she walked out after a beat of hesitation. A few moments later, the room had been cleared, even of the servants.

Teagan raised an eyebrow and motioned to the now empty room. “So?”

“You were right, Princess. I do have something specific in mind. Aviva, stand.” Father commanded.

My stomach plummeted to the floor, but I slowly rose, standing straight with my wings tucked close to my back. My heart began pounding as I turned my head to gaze upon my father in anticipation.

My father held an arm out to me, turning back towards Teagan, before announcing: “To begin finding a way to coexist peacefully, I want your king to marry my daughter, Princess Aviva.”

Chapter Three

“What?” Dimitri exclaimed, suddenly on his feet and slamming his hands onto the table before us. “Father, you can’t be serious.”

My ears rung as Father and Dimitri argued, and suddenly I couldn’t hear a single word they were saying as my thoughts spiraled.

Me.Marry. My father wanted to marry me off to the King of the South, to theenemy. I knew my father likely resented me, but I didn’t know heloathedme like this. I’d lived my whole life hearing about the atrocities the South had committed against my people, to the point where I only knew how to feel disgust and fear towards them.

This must have been thesomething bigDimitri had felt our father was planning. We had recently turned nineteen, the age where Northerners were generally allowed to start getting married if they wished to do so. But I always thought I’d marry for love—not as one of Father’s power moves.

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