Narrator's POV

After breakfast, Lizzy followed Sieglinde to a sitting room where the twins joined them, smiling politely.

The blonde knew none of them would be able to break the ice until the elephant in the room was discussed.

"W-Why did you two not come home?" Lizzy asked, staring at her cousins

"As I previously said, the great star Sirius rescued us." The shorter twin answered

The taller one continued, "And in return for that rescue, Sirius wants us to remain here and be worshipped in its stead."

"They are Sirius' chosen like how I am Canopus' chosen." Sieglinde added, trying to help her lover understand

Lizzy nodded, not fully understanding that answer but having more to say in the meantime, "If you could not leave, why did you not at least tell us that you two were still alive?"

Her emerald eyes welled with tears, "We all mourned for you, it took me a year to gather the strength to even leave my bedroom because I missed you two so much."

"I am sorry, Lizzy, but Sirius had put Astre and I under a lot of stress." The twin Lizzy now knew fo be Ciel apologized, "While being Sirius' chosen is the highest honor, it comes with a price: we need frequent radiance supplements."

"Remember how I got last night? It happens to all three of us because of how strong Sirius and Canopus is compared to our weak human bodies." Sieglinde explained

"So you three are basically trapped here by Sirius and Canopus?" Lizzy softly asked

"I would not word it like that." Astre replied, "It does make it hard to go out for very long. But it is a worthy price to pay for such majesty."

The blonde girl just nodded, keeping her face neutral as she internally panicked.

***

As soon as she and Sieglinde were alone, Lizzy took her lover's hands in hers, "We need to get out of here."

"Why would we do that?" Sieglinde asked

"T-This is insanity. I do not know who, but I am suspecting Blavat, has brainwashed you and the twins into thinking you are stars incarnate. I do not know how blood plays into this but something is wrong here." Lizzy frantically said

Sieglinde just stared at her, "My sweet knight, you are overthinking this. There is no brainwashing, we all know what is going on: we were chosen by stars. I know this is all a shock snd you are just trying to process it all."

"N-No, I know something is wrong. We need to leave here and take the twins with us." Lizzy denied, running her perfectly manicured fingers through her blonde bangs, "We leave tonight after dinner."

***

Blavat frowned as Lady Canopus told him of Elizabeth's plot to smuggle her and the Lords Sirius out of the Music Hall.

It seemed the compelling concoction he dusted on all the bracelets was not enough for a mind as strong as Elizabeth's.

Oh well, no one was stronger than a second dose.

Opening the chest in his office that held the Star Lord's veils and diadems they wore to the Servants of the Stars meetings, he picked up Canopus' spare veil.

Laying the emerald green lace on a table, he opened a bottle of the powdered 'potion' and dusted the veil with it.

Wiping the excess powder off the lace so it was not so obvious, he handed the veil to Lady Canopus, "Get Elizabeth to wear this whilst explaining to her that she is your consort, Canopus' consort. It will help her see the light."

Sieglinde nodded, staring at the lace veil in her hands.

***

Back in Sieglinde's bedroom, Lizzy had found a suitcase and was putting the bare essentials into it: a set of undergarments, a dress, all of Sieglinde's jewelry and everything else of value.

She was so busy getting things ready to escape, she barely noticed the door to the bedroom opening.

Luckily, it was just her German lover.

"Hello." Lizzy greeted, "Everything is almost ready for tonight."

"Oh. Okay." Sieglinde replied, "Can you sit down, I wnat to talk to you."

The taller girl raised an eyebrow but obeyed, sitting on the bed, "What is the matter?"

Sieglinde pulled an emerald green lace veil from her dress pocket, "I think I have not explained everything to you properly. Try this on."

Lizzy took the veil she was given, "What is this?"

"Please, just put it on, I will explain." The black haired girl asked

The blonde hesitatingly did so, putting the veil on.

"Green is Canopus' holy color, both the Star Lord and their consort wear it." Sieglinde began, "The veil makes sure the devoted worship our star instead of us, let's us be visible but not the focus."

The more Sieglinde spoke about Canopus and it's holiness, the more it began to make sense to Elizabeth.

Canopus —and the other three main stars— were absolutely real and their power over humanity had some legitimacy.

Unlike the Christian faith she had been raised in that was questionable in its truthfulness, all she had to do to see the stars was look into the night sky.

***

Two days later, on Monday, the Servants of the Stars met in Sphere Music Hall like they did every week.

Though, this time, things were slightly different.

The Star Lords were dressed in their usual black outfits that had silver detailing and their associated colored veil and diadem.

But, sitting at Lady Canopus' feet was another veiled woman.

Unlike the worshippers who were clad in white and the Star Lords clad in black, the new woman wore charcoal grey —marking her as another worshipper instead of a Star Lord, but holier than the crowd due to her clones with Lady Canopus.

It seemed Lady Canopus had taken a consort.

No one paid the fact of the couple's same sex nature any mind, Lady Canopus represented a genderless celestial being, the mortal body containing that etherealness meant little to them...