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She cried because she could feel the gossip rustling through the court, her barrenness a regular topic of closed-door conversations Thaues and faa their moves should the throne ever be left without a suitable heir

She cried because there would be bloodshed and uprisings should she fail In the end, so head and a new royal bloodline would begin Levana hadn’t the faintest idea ould fall and ould rise to take her place

She refused to give weight to those fears

The throne needed an heir and she would be the one to produce it The stars would smile on her eventually They had to, for Luna’s sake

But fate would be on her side only if she could prove that she was the only ruler this country needed

Luna was thriving The city of Artemisia was more a paradise now than it had ever been All of the outer sectors were producing goods at rates never before seen, and whenever there were ruh the domes to visit her people and remind them that they were happy That they loved her, and they would work for her without co her people was as close to a farew, the more Levana wanted

She cried now because she wanted so very, veryfor her people

She wanted Earth

She needed Earth

All of it Every lacier and sandy shore Every city and every far control over the blue planet would solve all of her political probleer labor force She did not want to go down in history as the fairest queen this little h history as the fairest queen of the galaxy As the ruler who united Luna and Earth under onethe place in her belly where a child should have been It thrived somewhere so deep inside her she hadn’t even known it existed until one day she looked up at the planet hanging,her, just out of reach, and she alth of her want

Theits talons into her

She deserved Earth

Luna deserved Earth

But despite all her plotting, all her long ues, she still wasn’t sure how to take it

"Why is it always a prince?" asked Winter "Why isn’t she ever saved by a top-secret spy? Or a soldier? Or a … a poor farm boy, even?"

"I don’t know That’s just how the story ritten" Evret brushed back a curl of Winter’s hair "If you don’t like it, we’ll ht You can have whoever you want rescue the princess"

"Like a doctor?"

"A doctor? Well--sure Why not?"

"Jacin said he wants to grow up to be a doctor"