Oath of Moon and Stars

Episode 1

The gods demand a price for forbidden love. Io, a handmaiden, has loved Ares, King of the Gods, and now he lies wounded for defying the divine council on her behalf. A bargain is offered: Ares will be healed completely, but only if Io vanishes from his life forever. Io agrees, whispering a goodbye to the man she loves.

Ares wakes to a lie. He is told Io is dead, that she fell from a cliff and did not survive. He refuses to believe it—she is carrying their baby. Then a guard arrives with the necklace found at the cliff's edge.

Seven years later, in Athens, two children scrape together coins for their mother's medicine.

Episode 2

Ares cannot let the ghost go. In Athens, certain he glimpsed Io, he orders a quiet search for a mother and two children—no one is to know.

Meanwhile, the twins Nero and Saya beg for bread and are turned away. Their mother, Io, is blind and frail, and a doctor warns that proper treatment costs at least twenty gold coins, money they simply do not have. Io begs her children not to leave her side, but they insist on performing at the market to earn the fee.

At the market, Nero plays a melody on a bay leaf—the Star-Moon Song. Somewhere nearby, Ares freezes. That tune was hers.

Episode 3

Ares approaches the boy and asks who taught him that tune. Nero says his mother did, calling it a lullaby from her village. Something in the king stirs, and he orders three gold coins given to the children.

Elated, Nero and Saya believe their mother's medicine is finally within reach. But it still isn't enough. Desperate, they bring out Io's necklace and offer it as payment instead. The apothecary recoils—the gem holds divine power, something no mortal should possess. He demands to know where they got it.

Nero swears it belongs to his mother. The boy has no idea whose hands once touched that stone.

Episode 4

Ares tracks the necklace to the boy. When he confronts Nero, the child refuses to hand it over unless he receives twenty gold coins for his mother's medicine. His guards are outraged—the king showed kindness, and now this beggar dares to bargain.

Accusations fly: lying, stealing, blackmail. The guards seize Nero to beat an apology out of him. Saya throws herself forward, insisting her brother took nothing, that she found the brooch herself. It does no good—they are called liars and threatened further.

Then Ares sees the brooch. It is the one Io gave him, the one she took with her. He cannot breathe.

Episode 5

The brooch is proof, and Ares knows it. But before he can act, a stranger claims the brooch was stolen from his stall—a lie, since Saya says her mother gave it to her. The man argues that moon-and-star trinkets are sold everywhere in Athens, that anyone could own one.

The guards hand the children over to him. Saya screams that the brooch is hers, begging for it back, while the man drags them away to be punished.

Watching, Ares is shaken. The girl's face, her eyes—she looks so much like Io. If Io were alive, their child would be exactly this age.

Episode 6

Ares intervenes and lets the children go, keeping only the necklace. He orders his guard Casta to watch over them. Later, the twins return home bruised, telling Io they simply fell on slippery ground—but Io sees the mark on her son's forehead and knows better.

A mortal doctor panics. The children offended someone from the divine realm, and he cannot risk his own safety. He tells them to gather their things and leave that night. Io accepts it quietly; they have each other, and that is enough.

Then a creditor arrives demanding three months of owed payment, threatening to sell Saya.

Episode 7

The creditor makes his threat plain: pay up, or Saya's pretty face will earn good money in a brothel. Io, blind and helpless, offers herself instead—she will go with him, if only he leaves her daughter alone.

Nero refuses to let his mother sacrifice herself. He attacks the man, screaming that he will kill anyone who touches her. The man sneers at Io—useless, can't even spread her legs for coin—but her daughter has two good legs, so why let her rot here?

Then a divine guard appears and offers a token. It will get them a doctor. Nero runs off to fetch help, telling Saya to stay with their mother.

Episode 8

Nero races to find a doctor, begging for help—his mother is coughing up blood. But no physician in Athens will touch them, not after what they did to a man from the divine realm.

The boy protests that they were forgiven, that the guard gave him a token. The doctor examines it. The gold leaf is real money—but it is also the very thing that will doom them. A passerby recognizes it and accuses Nero of stealing it.

The child insists a guard gave it to him, but no one believes a beggar could be gifted gold by a divine being.

Episode 9

The accusation hardens into a trap. The man refuses to return the gold leaf, calling Nero a thief and a liar, and declares he will take the boy to the magistrate. Nero swears he did not steal it—a guard truly gave it to him—but the doctor will not treat Io without payment, and the man will not release what he claims is his.

Back home, Io grows uneasy. Nero has been gone too long, and something feels terribly wrong.

Meanwhile, Ares arrives at the magistrate's estate. As he is welcomed, he catches a voice—one that stops him cold.

Episode 10

At the magistrate's court, the man accuses Nero of theft, and the magistrate rules swiftly: a beggar who offended a divine lord deserves a beating. When Nero keeps insisting the gold was a gift, the punishment escalates—cut out the boy's tongue, and the girl's too.

Io arrives and throws herself over her son, declaring his innocence. But her blindness only damns them further. A blind beggar woman with two brats could never own something so valuable—the magistrate declares them all thieves and orders Io arrested and punished alongside her children.

Saya screams as the guards close in. Nero cries out for his mother.