Render Me Starless

♛ | Chapter 33 - "one way message"

Orion's POV

I missed her. Lords, I missed her. I yearned to have her besides me, to have her laugh out an absurd comment about my ass or just to simply smile at me. I let out a breath, it sounding strangled even to my own ears.

"We will get her back," Gray says from behind me and I look up, meeting his eyes.
"Anything else wasn't an option, Night Weaver," I tell him, my jaw straining with how hard I've been clenching it. His arm is wrapped around his mate in an embrace that mocked me of what should be mine. I can't bear to look at the pair of mates anymore and force myself to turn around. I instantly regret this decision as I meet my own eyes that have refused to stop glowing gold ever since their mate was stripped away from them.

I look at myself and only see a failed mage who couldn't keep his mate safe with him. Either empty side of me looked bare, felt bare. I was bare.
The urge to grab the nearest thing and throw it flits through my mind but I don't let myself delve on it. That wouldn't bring my mate back to me. "I'm going to go speak to my father," I tell Orion and Magda Rose as I turn.

"Want us to come?" Gray asks.
"No, I want you to speak to Lady Angelina." Her name felt like sandpaper on my mouth.
"Wasn't she at the council meeting? She gave her agreement."
"Even though she claims to not be on my father's side anymore, we need to make sure he hasn't conned her into doing something she might regret," I say. Despite her lapse in judgement, she was a good leader of the warriors. I would hate to have to train another. "I know you have a way with words and can get her compliance and the truth out of her." Gray wasn't feared as The Night Weaver for no reason after all.

He nods. "We will do that then." The pair leave and I don't waste any time, following behind them and out of my room. I stop when I find Maxwell waiting for me. "Prince Orion," he bows.
I nod my head, "Maxwell."
The lanky mage straightens. "If you need any help with retrieving Astr- Lady Starlight back, please inform me. I want to help in any way I can."
Only a few select mages knew of the situation and Maxwell was one of them. "I will," I say before continuing on. It was obvious my mate had succeeded in capturing not only my heart, but everyone else's around her as well.

My father was going to tell me how to get back my mate. I was done waiting around for a solution to appear. The castle was ancient and had been built with a chain of dungeons that only people of royal magic could access. They had been modified as time went on and there were select cells that cut off magic. My father was in one of them.

It's not long till I'm staring at the pair of blue eyes I grew up with; my father's.

The cell wasn't anything extraordinary to look at but I could feel the magic humming over my skin. It was old magic, very old magic. There were no bars disrupting my view into the cell, instead an invisible wall of magic. Only a single bed, toilet and sink occupied it with the addition of the King. He sat on the bed, leaning on his elbows like he didn't have a care in the world and this only infuriated me more. How could he sit there like he didn't just sell my soulmate away?

"Have you finally decided to release me?" he asks.
I cross my arms, keeping a tight lock on the shadows that wanted to seep out. "Why did you do it?" I counter, deciding to ignore his question but he follows in a similar fashion.
"I'm your king, I shouldn't be here. Get me out." My father stands and walks as close to the magic as he can without burning his skin off. I refrain from rolling my eyes, something I've picked up from my maddening mate. "You've been overruled, father. The council has agreed that you're no longer fit to rule," I tell him.

It meant I was to be King now. There was no waiting till my father retired. We had already done that for him.

His eyes widened and an emotion I had only seen once crossed my father's face; fear. The last and only other time I had seen it was the morning mother died. I frown. Mother would have hated seeing him like this, hated seeing what he's done; willingly given over my mate to the enemy as a bride. I knew she would be disappointed but I also knew that she would never forsake her mate, my father.

"My own son has overthrown me," he murmurs to himself and I look away as he sits down on the metal bench, all fight left out of him.
I thought the sight would have made me at least feel slightly better, but it didn't. Instead, I was just as tired as the man in front of me. "Just tell me how I can get her back, father." I look back at the withering man.

The crown proved too heavy for the forsaken.

I hadn't spoken about my mother with him in years and the thoughts of what we as a family once had clogs at my throat. The pain had never gone, would never go, but this pain, this raw scratching at my heart was never something I had wanted to experience. My mate was gone and my father had finally lost it. The sheer loneliness that only appears when I am without Astraea haunts me and I have to once again, reign in my shadow. "Mother wouldn't have wanted this." I force the words out of my throat, knowing it was a dagger against his already dead but beating heart.

The magic separating us doesn't save me from the gasp that my father lets out and I go on. "But you can fix this. Help me get Astraea back, father. Just tell me how to." I let out a shuddered breath. "Please."

And he does. "Astraea will be marrying Thorin, the prince, in two days time."
I refrain from interrupting, knowing it would only make this longer but that doesn't stop my blood from running colder than it felt.
"It will be held at noon when the sun is at its highest. I was supposed to attend this wedding to acknowledge the union so Taylem created a window through his defenses that protect his kingdom. You will be able to enter then. It won't be open long so you will have to hurry."

With the plan already formulating, I turn to return to my office but halt. "She would have loved you regardless." I continue without waiting for his response and make my way to my office. As soon as I open it, I hear a familiar yip. "Stella?" I saw her on my desk, sitting facing me. She lets something fall from her mouth as I stand before and I realise it's a piece of paper. "What's this?" I ask the puppy, not expecting a response. I unfold the paper and find familiar handwriting that has my heart stopping. I had only ever seen her handwriting a few times but I would never be able to forget the big and sloppy scrawl.

'I am at the Day Throne, surprise surprise. They want me to marry some prince which I really don't want considering there's only one prince I want to marry.
I don't really have any news to help you but I thought it would be fun to annoy you from here.
Get your hot ass here ASAP please.

Ps, don't send our baby back to me because you might blow my cover.
Pps, I swear I'm not a damsel in distress. I'm just a human.

Sincerely, your hot mate AKA Astraea AKA your baby mama AKA the greatest person you know.'

I can't help but shake my head at the absurdity and brilliance that was my mate. This was the woman I had fallen in love with. And yet, I wouldn't have her any other way.