Thunder boomed in the distance, rattling the onward moving carriage. Lara practically jumped out of her seat, her arms wrapped tightly around the infant strapped to her chest.
"It's going to be alright Lara," Wilton murmured, his arm wrapped around her, but she could hardly hear him over the howling wind and the frantic beat of her heart.
"What if we're wrong, Will?" She swallowed hard. "The Valentyne's will be furious, and the Court already verified Princess Coralynn's identity. What if they call us criminals? Liars?"
The carriage came to a sudden halt, a sudden gust of wind shaking the carriage violently. Wilton placed his hand on Lara's.
"The true crime, my love, would be to deny our country its true leader. You know just as well as anyone that a Ruby Princess could mean an era of War." His eyes pleaded with his wife. "But a Sapphire Princess could mean long years of peace. This isn't just for a better life for our daughter. This is our duty to our country."
Lara stared back into her husband's bright pools of blue, tears welling in her own eyes. As they gazed back at the other, they nodded in understanding and descended the carriage, braving the elements.
Lara crushed her child into her chest to shield her from the frigid bite of the wind. She wanted to look upon the Star Court building. To see where her child may very well spend the rest of her days, but the winds were too strong. Her husband held the hood of her cloak in place with his hand and led her up the many steps that led to the front entrance.
"Who goes there!?" A male voice demanded over the howling winds.
"Wilton and Lara Windsor!" Wilton yelled. "We are here by request of the Star Court!"
After a few moments, Lara was ushered inside, her head still lowered, and the infant still in her arms. Suddenly, the hood was yanked off her head, her bounds of blonde curls bounced around her. She raised her eyes but could hardly see her surroundings. The building was dark, and the only light that seeped in was that of the outside and dim gas lamps along the corridor walls.
She blinked, trying to take in her surroundings, but before she could, a massive figure swallowed her line of sight. His cloak blended in with the darkness encasing them, and his elongated mask stretched to three times the length of a normal human face. At the top of the mask were three horns that intertwined with each other in a spiral that curved to the back of the figured head, and stretching down the front of the mask was a single dark red line that split between the dark brown on either side.
Lara gazed up at the figure, clutching her baby to her chest.
"The child," he demanded, his arms outstretched for the baby.
Lara jerked away, horrified that this creature thought she would hand her child to him. She glanced between the monster before her and her husband. Without missing a beat, Wilton stood between them.
"You must hand me the child." He spoke again, his tenor reverberating in Lara's chest.
"We were not told splitting from our child was a requirement," Wilton spoke loudly, though his voice wavered.
There was a moment of silence when a disembodied female voice spoke up from somewhere in the shadows.
"Let them come, Three," she spoke, though they could not see the figure. It was feminine and younger than Lara had expected, but she was grateful for the interjection.
The beast before her grunted, then turned and began walking.
"Follow," he commanded.
Lara and Wilton complied with his demand, and followed behind him, their short legs trying to keep up with his massive strides.
They stopped before a grand door that stretched almost as tall as the walls that surrounded them. The monster of a man that she now knew as Three pushed open the door with ease, but Lara could tell just opening the door would take some strength.
As the door opened, dim light spilled out from the opening and Lara instantly knew she was in over her head. In the center of the room, a single light seemed to hover on its own, just a few feet above a flat stone, etched with carvings. Though shadows clung to every corner, she could tell this room was massive. Every inch of its walls were made of a rare hardwood with rows upon rows that were meant to seat royals and the lords and ladies of Carbouran. Those skyscraper walls reached incredible heights, meeting a glass dome ceiling. Beyond that thick glass, the sky boomed with fury, and Lara couldn't help but feel like the Gods were indeed angry with her.
Across the room were thirteen pedestals, scattered abstractly among each other. All seats except two were filled with cloaked and masked figures. Their masks had different amounts of spires atop the peaks, and as Lara stared at the masked figure who sat at the very front, counting the thirteen tentacle-like spires on their mask, she realized that they were each named after the count of spires atop their mask.
And the masked figure that sat at the front of them like the general of an army, Lara knew was surely the leader.
From somewhere behind them, a smaller, cloaked figure approached the thirteen pews and sat in an empty pew, just beside Thirteen. Lara knew that this must be the one that spoke up for her previously. Her eyes wandered to the top of the figure's mask where a single spire was carved atop her head.
"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Windsor." Thirteen spoke, her voice echoed deep and sultry throughout the room. "Welcome to the Court of Stars. We appreciate you bringing us a Princess Candidate. Shall we get started?" Her mask tilted to the side, her arm outstretched to Three, as if to gesture that Lara hand her child over to him.
Lara and her husband exchanged a glance, and Lara clutched her sleeping baby harder. She felt that if she allowed him to take her, she may never hold her again.
"We will give her right back, Mrs. Windsor." Thirteen assured, sensing her hesitance. "You have my word."
Lara swallowed hard, her heart beating frantically in her chest. She did not want to hand Maren over to them. She did not want her daughter to be Starblessed, but after carrying the child for nine blessed months, she knew baby Maren was special. Wilton nodded through the grimace that was plastered to his face and though every fiber of her being screamed to not them have her, Lara did as duty called.
Three gently took the sleeping baby, and Lara practically crumbled in her husband's arms in fright. Three then walked the child to the stone in the center of the room where the single light hovered above it. He undid the baby's wrappings and laid her down atop the stone. Baby Maren instantly woke up, her soft cries began as she was forced from her sleep by the cold stone.
"She'll freeze!" Lara cried, instinctually.
"It will only be for a moment," Thirteen snapped, as if telling her to shut her mouth. "Three, what of the babe?"
"She has the marking on her arms and palms," he spoke, his deep tenor resounding in the darkness as he inspected the child's body for markings. "Her eyes gleam the Sapphire hue, but only her blood will bear the truth."
"Her blood?!" Lara cried out, her voice shrill, and frantic. "No! Stop this! Stop this right now!"
But the Court did not listen.
"We need only a small sample." Thirteen said, her voice calm and level.
Three began his work, taking the sample from the baby's heel. Baby Maren cried out, and Wilton had to hold his wife back, pulling her into him as she fought. Three let the drops of blood fall into the small carved hole in the stone, and Lara swore she saw each of the members of the Star Court lean forward in anticipation.
Neither Lara nor her husband knew what would happen or why they needed their child's blood to confirm her Blessing, but they held each other and waited for something — for anything — to happen.
Then, the light above their daughter dimmed, revealing a clear crystal. The room was silent as the dead, save for the baby's anguished cries. It was as if each of them were holding their breaths, not daring to even breathe over the low hum of the crystal. Lara gripped her husband's shirt. She felt her heart was about to burst from the anticipation. She didn't know whether she wanted her daughter to be Starblessed or not. She just knew she wanted to hold Maren in her arms and keep her safe.
Then, the crystal burned a saturated shade of Sapphire blue, and each candle that burned, was suddenly alight with the color blue. Gasps resounded from both the thirteen pillars, and from several shadowed rows on the walls where Lara knew royal officials sat, most likely from the Garyn Kingdom.
Thirteen took a step back, placing her hand over her heart as she muttered. "Impossible."
Three turned to Thirteen and said over the baby's cries, "It seems the rumors were true."
Lara's heart pounded hard in her chest like a rabid, caged animal. She could hardly hear the words uttered from behind Three's mask over the sound of the blood coursing through her body.
"This is indeed a second Starblessed Princess."