There was one piece missing. One piece, and then she could move Earth into the perfect checkmate situation. A fools checkmate, honestly. But there was one piece missing. A way to get them from C to D. Something that should be obvious.

Selene was surprised and disappointed at how little progress she'd made in three years. She'd underestimated the duties placed on the queen of Luna, and she'd gotten hardly any time to herself. There were more placed on her every day. The people of Luna had been skeptical about someone so young becoming queen in the first place. For the first couple of years, they watched carefully, waiting for any mistakes that she might make in her new position. But Selene performed flawlessly. It was the one thing every moment in her life had been leading up to. It felt so right.

She'd finally gained moderate trust from her people. They stopped sending hate comms and criticizing her in public, at least. Her thaumaturges had suggested she take action against it several times, but Selene refused to take action just yet. They were key parts in her plan to take Earth. She needed the trust and respect of every one of them before she could start taking action.

A knock sounded at the door to Selene's quarters. "Come in." Selene called, tucking away her complicated, scribbled notes.

Winter stepped inside the room, the sleeves of her white Thaumaturge cloak sweeping across the floor. Training Winter for the position of Head Thaumaturge was one of the first official acts that Selene had engaged in as queen. She'd risen up from the bottom of the hierarchy to Head Thaumaturge quickly. Some people were outraged at Selene's "blatant display of favoritism" but no one could argue that Winter wasn't more than qualified for the job with her exceptional skill with her gift. Selene treated her no differently than how she would have treated someone else of Winter's equal skill.

Selene grinned. "Winter!"

Winter bowed her head, tucking her hands in her sleeves. "Your Majesty."

"It's okay, Winter. We're alone."

Winter sighed, shutting the door behind her. "I had an idea, Selene. About your plan involving Earth."

"Yeah?"

Winter paused, biting the skin around her thumbnail. Selene glanced at the scar on her cheek, a single line, stretching from below her eye all the way down to her jaw. For the thousandth time in her life, Selene felt a surge of unadulterated hatred for her aunt Levana, the one who gave Winter that scar. Luckily, Winter had manipulated Levana at the last moment and given her a matching scar. Of course, Levana covered it up with a glamour soon afterward. It was still comforting to know that Winter had fought back, though.

"I know you're probably not going to be too keen on this idea, Selene, but what if- what if you started with a marriage alliance?"