Wandering Star: A Zodiac Novel by Romina Russell

cylindrical ship, and I look through the windows across from us as the spaceport grows smaller. Tierre has the widest range of topography and animal species of any planet. It’s so vast that the higher we go, the more land I see—forests, mountain ranges, grassy fields, swamps, beaches—until, with a jolt, we escape Tierre’s gravity, and I can make out the edges of the colorful globe. The tapestry of textures is undeniably impressive . . . but I miss the blending blues of home.
    Once the ship jumps to hyperspeed, Aryll takes an eighteen-hour sleeping powder from the seat’s side pouch and promptly passes out. But sleep doesn’t appeal to me—I’m in a thinking mood.
    I open my Wave and pull up the file from Ferez. It’s a report dated almost eighty years back, which he wrote when he was a university student. Blue holographic text unfolds before me.
    It’s been almost a millennium since the Trinary Axis, and yet we have never forgotten the greatest love story in Zodiac history: the forbidden romance of Cancrian Holy Mother Brianella Amarise and Leonine Holy Leader Blazon Logax. Their story is the basis for the universally popular nursery rhyme “Ballad of Bria and Blaze” as well as the inspiration for the two most famously star-crossed lovers in Zodiac fiction, Nella and Lazon. The legend of these two ancient Guardians has even crept into modern-day idioms: When someone says his relationship or marriage “blazes on,” he is alluding to the eternal flame between Blazon and Brianella.
    I stop to consider the legendary love story about the Cancrian and Leonine Guardians. Even today, the galaxy’s most popular holographic series—
holoshow
—is shot on House Leo, and it follows the love triangle of three Zodai—the last human survivors after the Zodiac’s been wiped out—who adventure to unknown reaches of Space searching for a newhome. The characters are named Amara, Logax, and Velia, after the three Guardians of the Trinary Axis.
    The thought brings Hysan and the Taboo to my mind. I can’t even consider how people would react if they found out we broke that law, especially given how much closer the Zodiac is coming to war . . . and the worst war we ever had was triggered by the same breach. I refocus on Ferez’s report.
    However, the person about whom the least is known is the Axis’s mysterious third member, Vecily Matador of House Taurus. Vecily never told her people why she joined the Axis, and she rarely spoke at any rallies. Yet, after reviewing the details of her early life, I believe that I have stumbled upon three crucial moments that point to her state of mind and reveal her reasons for taking on this fight.
    The first moment occurred when Vecily was a seventeen-year-old Acolyte at the Taurian Academy. She had a best friend, Datsby, from whom she was inseparable. They were top of their class, the best star-readers at the school, and their instructors and classmates were certain both girls would make it into the Royal Guard. Until one day, a few months shy of graduating, the stars diverted their paths.
    Vecily and Datsby were sun-soaking in a corner of the Academy’s grazing grounds between classes when a couple of male friends dumped water on them from a fifth-story window. Vecily’s initial shock gave way to laughter as soon as the young men ran over with towels, but Datsby’s shrieks would not be soothed. When Vecily and the boys tried to help, they discovered something strange about Datsby’s appearance. Her makeup had washed off, unmasking a deep, tawny tone far darker than the caramel color of her face paint.
    Datsby was changing Houses. The young men’s playful, flirting words changed to outbursts of disgust, and they shouted ugly names at her:
Riser ! Deviant ! Freak !
Soon a crowd formed around them. All Vecily could do was shield her crying friend from the gawking glares and vicious voices.
    At last, a Promisary intervened. Vecily was taken to the dean’s office, where her