“It pains me to say it but I’m actually very impressed,” Cassandra crooned down at the sitting Mauvian as she set down each collected crystal shard so far in measured distance on the floor in front of her crossed legs.

“Although the finds are getting relatively smaller. I hope I’m not soon seeking out dust particles and if I were, you would find mercy somewhere deep in the marrow of those bones of yours, dear priestess.” She ended on a high lilt implying a joke, but the glance up said there was more serious to it, and dared Cassandra to answer.

Cassandra let the silence linger with intentional motivation to cause the cat discomfort. She spoke after she was satisfied with a small twitch of uncertainty in her body language. “No, of course not. The majority of it should be enough to reconstruct it. It will take a great deal of magic, but the court is strong. We can handle it together.”

“Of course.”

Zirconia arranged the pieces with careful intent. “Tell me about the moon. Who sits the throne with Nehelenia gone?”

“They appear to have followed the hierarchy. With the queen and yourself absent, along with Aphrodite, the outer captain Ouranos has arrived to act as regent. Our contact has been very sparse in these last few years.”

“Have you sent word of our break in communication to Ouranos? Even with political tensions certainly you’d allow her passage for this.”

Cassandra’s gaze didn’t shift or falter, but in a way, Zirconia found that more chilling. “Or…” She started carefully, as if she were still debating going there. “Am I your prisoner?”

“I see no cell.”

“Yet you won’t let me out of this universe I’ve become trapped in. Have you even told anyone I’m alive?”

“I recall you followed your queen willingly. This is no fault of mine.”

Zirconia blanched. It had become apparent that she has misjudged her situation. If Ouranos and the rest of the moon court had no idea she was alive, they wouldn’t ask questions if Cassandra decided to seal her away here forever. Her plight, Helen’s death, Ares’ betrayal, her victory in finding the mirror. All of this would be for nothing. “I…”

“It should be of no matter if you complete the crystal.”

Zirconia stared up to the priestess and back downward, eyes still wide with the realization Cassandra was more ruthless than she had originally seemed. “Our interactions haven’t been the warmest, but I thought you a girl stricken with grief, Cassandra. We have never been personally close, but I remember the day you were born, and the day you ascended to this position. But to me you have always seemed fair, although naïve. We have never been very agreeable, but I never thought you would take it upon yourself to be judge, jury, and executioner.”

“Surely you do not forget the broken bonds of your time. I haven’t.”

“That was before you were born!”

“And still, history persists to infect our present. My father has a long memory, and I carry on in his duty. We do not forgive, and our wounds bleed anew with the death of both princes. What could you possibly offer that would undo all of the pain you caused, Mauvian?”

“You’re speaking as if I was ever king myself. I had a duty to—“

“Yes. To Tyndareus. I am not ignorant to the Moon’s past. I have often wondered, though,” Cassandra leaned forward, and the soft corners of her mouth twitched up to reveal the slightest hint of mischief. “Whose idea was that? It’s been said you were always a shadow on the throne. His loyal castellan, running his house, eternally at his side. What whispers did you purr in his ear?”

Zirconia’s expression of indignity mounted with every word, and Cassandra’s grin crossed the line into blatant territory. Her words were spoken with controlled melody, but her eyes were bright with an excited feverishness that made Zirconia’s skin crawl.

“I would hope you are not implying anything crass and inappropriate, child.”

“Oh never,” Cassandra countered with a breathy laugh. “I have just always been so curious. With the hatred you bear for our species laid out on your sleeve. Was it truly his war, Zirconia? Or yours?”

“It was never a war to begin with. The bonds were severed and we withdrew our borders to you, that is all.”

“But with prejudice.”

“Isn’t everything?”

“Perhaps for an alien such as yourself,” In the wake of such brazen hostility. “It was always obvious you hated the bond Nehelenia had with my brother. It was hard to suppress the laughter when you expressed condolences for his fate.”

“I might have had a heavy dislike for your father, but I respected his drive,” Zirconia countered defensively. “And the prince was a good boy. I trusted Helen was not going to jeopardize the realm. Her duty came before her heart, her priorities were always in balance. He never posed any threat to me, I recognize his death as a tragedy. His loss weighed on me as well as hers.”

“You always made sure of that, didn’t you? That politics would come first. Nehelenia was just another ear for you to whisper to, like her father,” Cassandra openly snarled. “If you had your way, you would have possessed my brother and the earth would have been a plaything to the moon.”

“I am only an advisor. Helen and Tyndareus made their own choices.”

“Right. Precious Tyndareus.”

“He was my king. I would urge you to speak his name with respect or at the very least without such venom.”

“Is that all he was?”

Zirconia rose to her feet and regarded Cassandra with narrowed eyes, trying to realize some revelation from her expression.

“Of course not,” Cassandra answered for her, looking perfectly smug about the whole thing. “Nothing but an old crone on the eve of repose. He favored your magic and wisdom and when he died he left you the keys to the kingdom and his brat of a daughter, but he never loved you. Not truly. Your bond was of manipulation and dependence. Did you hope to win his affection someday, if you tried very hard, Zirconia?”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” Zirconia said finally, standing up tall as she spoke. “Romance was never a factor. Our bond was never anything so base.”

“I never said it was. But you and I both know that for all your dedication you were always an outsider. It has always appeared clear that you loved him more than he cared for you.”

“If you say so. His faith in my words speaks otherwise to me,” She answered, folding her hands at her waist with all the dignity she could muster. “My loyalty to my king does not need reciprocation regardless. My faith in his rule was unshaken to his death, and Nehelenia was a wise and just monarch beyond her years. Their loss has hardened my heart in ways you could never hope to know, Cassandra. They were my family, whether they ever truly returned that affection or not. I am the shadow behind the throne, but there is where I have always been content. My years as his regent during Nehelenia’s infancy have left a bitter taste in my throat, and I have learned that I do not need to sit on a throne so long as I believe in who does.”

“And who do you believe in, now that they are dead? If you so sincerely fancy yourself the kingmaker. Tyndareus failed to rise to your expectations, didn’t he? And now he and the daughter lie cold and breathless. You have failed both of them, or you’ve failed them depending on how you look at it. What side do you hope to support now? If you do not rule, then who does? Who are you fighting for, Zirconia?”

“That’s yet to be seen. But our dynasty isn’t dead. Not yet.”

She could feel it. Somewhere in the muddled memories and thoughts of herself and Zia. Something important lingering in the darkness of mental abeyance. Layers of dust and suppression, but it desperately needed to be found. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she could feel the rising excitement of its presence, and she knew she wasn’t following a ghost.