As a child, Luna’s joy of star gazing had been always yoked to the story of her birth: of her father’s dedication to his daughter and her mother’s love, which in death she passed to the Moon, to Luna’s protector. When her father explained how to track the red eye of Taurus from the three stars on Orion’s belt, it felt like he’d given Luna a precious secret no one else would ever hear. Now that was all gone. But the Moon would still rise tonight and send the Sun to sleep. The stars in their fixed flickering spots would tell the same stories of Greek gods they’d told every night when the dark awakened them. The planets would circle in their perfect spheres, rolling ever closer and ever farther from the pull of their centre, and there would always be astronomers standing below, observing and hoping to understand this grandeur. There was to be a lunar eclipse that night, and if she hurried, Luna might still be able to join Nicolaus and the professor.

Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Luna found Nicolaus in the entrance hall, removing his cloak after another expedition across the hills. The winter sun had left warm spots on his cheeks and his hair was skewed to one side. He was breathing heavily. Here you are, she thought. He saw her then and smiled as she walked towards him.

‘The weather is in our favour,’ he said excitedly. ‘Tonight will be perfect conditions for viewing the eclipse.’

‘Would you still afford me the opportunity to watch it? For if so, then I would like to accompany you.’ She spoke loudly to cover the tremor in her voice. It had been a very long time since she’d felt confident enough to speak so boldly.

He nodded. ‘The professor will be glad of another set of eyes.’ Nicolaus spoke quickly and Luna saw how he tried to hide his delight.

She laughed. ‘I wonder if he will be glad when he knows it is me.’

‘You could dress as a man if that would make you feel more comfortable.’ She heard the humour in his voice and a flush of colour warmed her neck.

‘You joke at my expense.’

‘I was the only fool that day.’ He turned and hung his cloak on a hook on the wall.

‘Why do you say that?’

‘You heard what I said about the veracity of Monte Regio’s contention that Ptolemy miscalculated. You saw the reaction of the room.’

‘I remember,’ she said simply. ‘You were passionate and honest.’

‘My peers did not think so.’

Luna had no desire to shame him further; she knew what that felt like. But she’d learnt that there was power in having the courage to speak your mind.