Chapter 1179: Fortune and Calamity [Part 6]

Celestine’s smile remained. "No."

One word.

Lux waited.

Her fingers tightened against his shoulder.

"Aurelia would remain here," Lux said.

Silence.

"She has your father. Servants. This estate."

Celestine didn’t answer.

"She would eventually learn to live without you."

The chandelier above them flickered.

Lux noticed.

Celestine’s eyes didn’t leave his.

He continued softly. "Perhaps she’d marry." Another chandelier flickered. "She might find someone who cares for her."

The music distorted.

Only for a heartbeat.

A violin note stretched unnaturally long before snapping back into place.

Lux’s smile deepened.

Celestine’s fingernails pressed through his coat. "She wouldn’t."

Lux tilted his head. "Wouldn’t what?"

"Marry."

"Why not?"

"She can’t."

"Can’t?"

Celestine’s smile was still there. But it no longer reached her eyes. "Aurelia needs me."

Lux said nothing.

Celestine moved closer, almost unconsciously closing the distance he’d carefully maintained. "She has always needed me."

The ballroom lights dimmed.

Nobody reacted.

Nobody except Lux, Yue and Lullaby.

Across the room, Lullaby’s sleepy expression sharpened.

Yue looked ready to set something on fire again.

Lux merely smiled at the beautiful woman in his arms.

He’d touched something. Something possessive enough that the dream itself had flinched when he suggested Aurelia might build a life without her.

Lux lowered his face until his lips hovered beside Celestine’s ear. "So if I took you away..." His voice became velvet. "...you’d leave her behind?"

Celestine stopped dancing.

Around them, the ballroom continued moving.

Couples turned.

Music played.

Wine flowed.

But Celestine stood perfectly still in Lux’s arms.

Then she whispered, "No."

Lux’s red eyes gleamed.

Audit finding number one.

The Lucky Star could imagine leaving her home. Her father. Her title. Her kingdom. But not her sister.

Now Lux wanted to know why.

He didn’t immediately ask.

That would’ve been too easy.

Instead, Lux allowed the music to pull them back into motion. Celestine followed almost automatically, though her fingers remained tighter against his shoulder than before.

Lux smiled. "So serious."

Celestine blinked, then seemed to realize she’d revealed too much. Her elegant smile returned. "You asked a serious question."

"I asked whether you’d abandon your sister to run away with a handsome duke."

"That sounds rather serious."

"Handsome?"

Celestine laughed despite herself.

Lux counted that as a tactical victory. He guided her through another slow turn before lowering his voice. "Did Aurelia do something to you?"

Celestine frowned. "Do something?"

"Curse you, perhaps?"

"What?"

Lux made his expression perfectly sincere. "You’re famous as the Lucky Star. She’s famous as the Disaster Star. Maybe she tormented you with some horrible curse that makes you incapable of leaving her alone."

Celestine stared at him. Then laughed. "No."

"No mysterious blood oath? Forbidden twin magic?Ancient ritual?"

"No. There is no curse."

Lux watched her carefully. That answer felt genuine. "So you can leave her."

Celestine’s smile faded slightly. "I suppose."

"But you won’t. Why?"

Celestine looked past his shoulder.

Toward Aurelia.

The blue-dressed twin stood quietly beside Lullaby now, holding a glass she hadn’t touched. Yue remained nearby, apparently pretending not to watch while watching with the subtlety of a dragon contemplating arson.

Celestine’s expression softened. "I just..." She hesitated. "I don’t like leaving her out."

Lux said nothing.

That encouraged her to continue.

"She has always been pitiful. She never had friends," Celestine continued. "Servants avoid her. People whisper wherever she goes. When we were children, nobody wanted her near their games."

"And you did?"

"I let her stay with me."

There was something almost proud in the answer.

Lux smiled politely. "How generous."

Celestine didn’t catch the blade hidden beneath it. "If I wasn’t the one protecting her, then who would?"

Lux looked toward Aurelia. Then back. "Well..." He sighed dramatically. "You can’t keep her as your responsibility forever."

Celestine’s eyes immediately returned to him. "Why not?" That answer came too quickly.

Lux nearly grinned. Instead, he summoned his most devastating expression. His shoulders lowered slightly. His smile weakened. He looked at Celestine as though she’d personally informed him that love was dead and his favorite horse had joined it. "You’ve made me heartbroken."

Celestine blinked. "What?"

"I travel all this way after hearing stories about the beautiful Lucky Star." He placed one hand over his chest.

Lux continued, "I dance with you. I become enchanted. I start imagining stealing you away to my estate, spoiling you shamelessly, putting jewels around your neck and perhaps becoming scandalously possessive."

A faint blush touched Celestine’s cheeks.

"And then I discover there’s another woman permanently attached to the arrangement."

"She is my sister."

"Worse."

Celestine laughed.

Lux leaned closer. "You’re telling me that even if I somehow convinced you to leave everything behind, part of you would always be worrying about Aurelia."

Her laughter faded. "Yes."

"Then I have competition."

"No."

Lux raised an eyebrow.

Celestine hesitated. "You misunderstand."

"Explain it."

"Aurelia isn’t competition." Her voice softened. "She needs me."

Again.

Lux heard it.

’Aurelia needs me.’

Lux’s gaze sharpened. "And what happens when she doesn’t?"

Celestine froze.

The music continued.

Around them, couples danced.

But the temperature seemed to drop.

Lux kept his expression playful. "One day she might become stronger."

Celestine said nothing.

"She might find friends."

Her fingers tightened.

"A husband."

The nearest candle went out.

Lux continued. "A home of her own."

Another candle died.

"She might become happy enough that she doesn’t need anyone protecting her."

Celestine’s smile had disappeared completely.

Lux tilted his head. "Wouldn’t that make you happy?"

Silence.

There it was again.

That tiny fracture.

For the first time tonight, the Lucky Star didn’t have a perfect answer.

Her eyes drifted toward Aurelia.

And Lux saw something there.

Fear. Deep, ugly, possessive fear.

Then Celestine smiled again. "She’ll always need me."

Lux’s pitiful expression vanished. His charming one returned. "Will she?"

The chandeliers flickered.

Across the ballroom, Lullaby slowly sat straighter.

Yue’s eyes narrowed.

Lux felt it now.

The dream wasn’t reacting when Aurelia suffered.

It reacted whenever Celestine imagined Aurelia becoming independent. And suddenly the shape of this nightmare became much clearer. Celestine hadn’t merely made herself Aurelia’s protector. She needed Aurelia to remain someone worth protecting.