Read an exclusive extract from the second book in the Sunday Times bestselling celestial Heavenly Bodies series from TikTok romantasy phenomenon Imani Erriu!
Part One
Prologue
Blood dripped from Enzo’s side, which he clutched as he staggered on, head whipping back periodically to check behind him. The Dreamlands were a cruel and cursed place. His surroundings shifted violently – one moment they were a skeletal forest with twisting branches snapping at his clothes, the next a desert more arid and unforgiving than the Sinner’s Sands, where his own sun above him beat on, blaring and red.
He was parched. Starved.
Yet nothing could sate him. He could not rest.
He stumbled forward, the landscape changing once again, the sun extinguished, sweet shadow and greenery wrapping around him.
He pressed his burnt face to cool, dew-dropped grass, giving a rasp of relief.
‘There has to be a way out,’ he panted. ‘There has to be a way back.’
‘And just what are you willing to pay for it?’
Enzo stilled. No magick worked in the Dreamlands save Elara’s, so his fists clenched uselessly by his sides. He raised his head slowly to see rows of crooked tombstones, like a jagged, yawning maw. A temple made of obsidian glittered ahead. And before him stood a figure swathed in black robes. Its voice was terrible, rattling – like a dying breath.
‘What is your price?’ Enzo rasped. The darkness smiled.
Chapter One
Elara yanked her dagger out of the face before her, watching in satisfaction as her blade slashed it to ruins.
There was a low whistle behind her as Leo approached through the shadows, folding his arms.
‘Getting a little bloodthirsty, Bellereve.’
Elara turned, holding up the ravaged piece of parchment. ‘Wouldn’t you be offended too? I’m much prettier in real life.’ She tried to force a smirk on to her face, though her fury was now a writhing, living thing within her, a beast that was fed every day.
Leo scoffed as he took it from her, reading out loud: ‘WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE – PRINCESS ELARA BELLEREVE OF ASTERIA.’
‘Queen,’ Elara corrected, sheathing her dagger as she began to stalk down the rain-slicked cobblestones.
‘WAR CRIMINAL. GUILTY OF COMMITTING STARSIN. FLEEING THE WRATH OF DIVINI- TAS. STARKILLER.’
‘At least that part’s true,’ Elara muttered, eyes flitting over every figure that passed them, looking for a particular face in each one. She caught herself in the reflection of a shop window: skin wan, eyes dark, and black lace gown trailing in puddles as though she was dressed for a funeral. She pulled the hood of her cloak further over her.
‘Possessing a dangerous and blasphemous power that killed our Lady Gem,’ Leo continued, matching her pace. He looked handsome as ever, dressed in the Castorian high fash- ion of a long coat, ruffed shirt and britches, a far cry from the Helion general she’d left the Kingdom of Light with. ‘Approach with caution and notify your nearest city guard of any sighting of her. Reward for her capture, dead or alive – 10,000 midans. BY ORDER OF THE STARS.’
Elara made a disgusted noise as she snatched it back, crumpling it up before she tossed it into a puddle. ‘They couldn’t even stretch to twenty?’ she said as they stopped before a non-descript slate-grey door.
‘Perhaps that’s why Eli didn’t answer your call.’
‘Perhaps,’ she muttered, leaning against the wall and trying to tamp down the flash of hurt.
She had tried, days before, to call upon him when they had exhausted every other option. Healers had come from far and wide – the best in Celestia. From the botanical healers of Verde to the songsoothers of Altalune, Elara had begged and threatened them all as her soulmate had lain prone upon his bed. To no avail.
When the last had shaken his head and offered his condolences, Elara had rushed out of the palace to Isra’s and taken her Stella deck before the seer could even protest.
She’d spilled her blood upon Eli’s card, a serpent with grey eyes, its jaw hanging open. Had waited, as the Helion sky bled over the card with her. Surely, he would appear – the god who had aided their cause before, who was potentially the only person who possessed the knowledge on how to wake Enzo. She’d waited all night, praying to the god, and he had not come.
So now, she was in Castor, hunting down the Star herself.
And it seemed the Stars were hunting her, too.
A lamplighter neared them, his long stick raised to the sky as it lit the candles within the glass lanterns.
When Elara had turned the sky black in her fury, her shadows swathing it, she hadn’t realized that the impenetrable darkness would last as long as it had. She was not actively using her magic to keep night over the world, and yet day still hadn’t dawned.
To their credit, the citizens of Castor had adapted to the lack of light quickly.
She saw other lamplighters further down the row, stretching their lit sticks to the inky sky.
Food and warmth didn’t seem to be much of an issue, either – restaurants and pubs were still open and bustling thanks to the Verdans and Helions, who likely would make a fortune off Elara’s actions.
Not that she regretted them. She had made a promise. She would turn the world to darkness if Enzo was taken from her.
And she vowed Celestia would never see light again unless it was Enzo’s.
‘Come on, Merissa,’ Leo muttered.
‘Patience is a virtue,’ Merissa said lightly as the door swung open – as though on cue – tucking her honey curls beneath a hooded cloak. She gave Elara a wide smile, jade eyes bright, and Elara tried to force one in turn. But she couldn’t quite separate the girl before her from the demi-Star who had shoved a blade through her back.
They’d spent an uncomfortable night in the ramshackle inn Merissa had just appeared from, Merissa making small talk in the bed they’d shared while Elara barely spoke. She stretched her neck; gods, she’d slept badly, too. It had barely felt like rest at all.
‘It’s already late,’ Elara said, beginning to walk. Leo passed her a peach, and she took it, her grimace softening a little. ‘Thanks.’
‘They taste like shit,’ he professed through a mouthful as he made a face. ‘Nothing like Ma’s.’
‘Have you heard any word from the palace?’ Elara asked softly. Leo had headed to the Raven’s Post while she’d gone to a mapmaker’s, determined to find Eli’s temple as swiftly as possible.
Leo nodded. ‘Isra sends her love. All is as we left it. My men guard Enzo round the clock, and Isra is helping the council in your stead. She says the progress they’ve already made with the Asterian council is miraculous.’
Elara nodded, though the weight on her chest did not ease. She thought of both her and Enzo’s kingdoms, the disarray they were in with no rulers. She trusted no one but those closest to her; she knew how councils worked. Coups were far too frequent within the history books. She only prayed that whenever she returned to Asteria, there’d still be a coun- cil and kingdom to rule.
‘Up here,’ she said, jerking her head to the narrowing alley ahead, and pushed the worries away. Right now, only Enzo mattered.
The sound of a bell pierced the air as Leo went to speak. ‘Hear ye, hear ye!’ shouted a town crier, waving his bell to and fro. ‘Murder on Remus Street! Body vanished in the dead of night!’
‘We need to be careful,’ Leo said quietly once the man had passed. ‘Who knows how many spies the Stars now have on the streets?’
‘Maybe you should ask the daughter of one and see if she knows,’ Elara said, failing to keep the bite out of her voice.
Something like hurt flashed across Merissa’s face, but Elara had no time for it. Torra, Eli, Merissa. As good as they’d claimed to be, they’d all known the kind of fate that would befall Elara but had not cared to share it. And Elara had paid for it. As always.
‘I haven’t spoken to my mother since that night in the throne room,’ Merissa said a little coldly.
Elara ignored her, rolling her shoulders as though she could still feel the blade Merissa had pushed between them, and scanned the signs of the bookshops they passed. Janus and Sons, Hermes Booksellers, Ink and Scribe. The names meant nothing to her.
Finally, the small, haphazard streets opened up on to a huge market square with a towering temple in its centre. Slate and smoky quartz made up the pillared structure, which had a giant stone serpent wound around each column. Lit sconces lined the entrance, making it almost inviting.
The anger inside her, which had been tamped down by her need to focus, now reared again as she looked upon the place of worship for the gods who had done nothing to help her, nothing to help Enzo.
She cut through the milling crowds and the few lazily erected market stalls. She felt Leo and Merissa behind her but didn’t stop, only sinking further into the hood of her cloak as she cut a line straight to the temple steps. To her satisfaction, she saw some worshippers kneeling before one snake – the white one – weeping. Good. She hoped killing Gem had left a mark on the world, rid it of at least one worthless god. She said no prayers, made no sign of worship, as she entered.