Since the war, there were not many ways that Astros could get any worse. The land was practically divided in two, both physically and metaphorically. The Highers still thought it was necessary to distance themselves from the Lessers, and it was rare to see a conversation between the two groups, let alone a peaceful one. 

And somehow, Lark’s sister managed to be courted by the ruler of Astros, who was most definitely the highest of the Highers. Lark’s sister Ayanna was a human, which made her essentially the lowest of the Lessers. This wedding was going to be atrocious, especially since there was no way out.

“How did you even meet him?” I asked my sister, furious about the whole situation.

“I didn’t!” she insisted, “I have no idea why he would want to marry someone like me.” Ayanna sounded a little disappointed, since she knew that a Higher would never willingly marry a Lesser. She knew that she was unwanted, especially among the population that was able to support her ridiculous spending habits.

“Well, we have to think. What would he want with you? Is he going to kill you? Use you for breeding?” I wanted Ayanna to marry for love, not for some ulterior motives. And the ruler of Astros was cruel enough to do such a thing to her. He didn’t even know anything about her, so how could they possibly love each other?

Ayanna just bowed her head. I could tell in her face that she wanted a lover, finally, but she didn’t want it to be like this. Not when she knew nothing about them and didn’t know if she was just a pawn in someone else’s game. Since we were part of the Lessers, we didn’t even have magic to use on the ruler so that we could ask what his intentions were. 

“You will marry him,” I decided, “but only so you can infiltrate his throne. He is such a monster that I bet he is planning some sort of attack on the Lessers because of our stalemate in the war.” Even though Aeden did nothing to help his army fight in the war, he still blames us Lessers for being smart enough to trick them a couple of times. 

It didn’t help that me and Ayanna were all on our own, either. Our parents died when we were too young to remember them, so we became orphans at a very young age. We knew nothing of their lives or how to make a life for ourselves, other than looking beautiful and tricking men into giving us what we want. I guess Ayanna looked a little too good, and Aeden wanted to take her off the playing field.

I don’t think Ayanna had anything wrong with this plan, because she also hated the bastard. Aeden has publicly announced multiple times how he would love to rid Astros of the Lessers, and forced the Lesser women into baking him bread every morning. He was nothing short of a close-minded immature racist with too much power. 

For the rest of the day, the girls packed Ayanna’s things in silence, not wanting to speak into the air the impending doom that was undoubtedly going to come to Ayanna at the palace.