ECLIPSE
Astra Zenith did a good job pretending to hang onto every word Eclipse offered about the events that had unfolded so far.
Or perhaps she wasn't pretending at all.
There was something about Astra—something composed, deliberate—that set her apart from the other brides. Confidence did not simply sit on her shoulders; it lived there. It breathed through her posture, lingered in the way she held her chin, and sharpened the quiet gleam in her eyes.
She was not hoping to become Luna Queen.
She expected it.
Eclipse noticed that kind of woman immediately. The dangerous kind—the ones who didn't claw or scheme in obvious ways, but instead positioned themselves like inevitabilities.
Their conversation stretched longer than necessary, winding through half-truths and carefully curated lies, each word weighed and measured. Astra asked questions, not like a curious girl, but like someone assembling a map. And Eclipse… Eclipse answered just enough to keep the illusion intact.
