Page 2 of Blood of the Stars

Accidentally growing daisies was one thing. Her blood was fairly harmless when contained in her body. But once the blood was removed? She shuddered. Her guardians had used it for unspeakable things. And when she’d tried running, she’d unwittingly done far worse.

“What are you doing?”

Aeliana started at the sharp voice, the familiar tone filling her with hatred. She tucked her injured hand behind her back as she turned to face Vera, who stood several feet away, arms crossed over her ample chest.

“We’ve been waiting all morning. It shouldn’t take that long to check one measly Stargazer.” The older woman grunted as she turned her stout frame back toward their camp.

Aeliana bit back her retort. They’d slept within two miles of each of the Stargazers her guardians had checked, but Aeliana’s had been twice that distance. She slowed her pace to match Vera’s shorter legs.

“Well, did you find anything?” Vera asked.

“Nothing,” Aeliana said, hiding her smile. If Vera had to ask, that meant they hadn’t found it either. “I was hoping to try Gahldric Valley next.”

Vera squinted up at her. “Why’s that?”

They topped a small hill, and Arvid came into view, sprawled out on a blanket in the middle of a clearing. His eyes remained closed, a half-eaten loaf leaving a trail of crumbs from his hand, across his belly, and up to his beard.

“It’s not too far. Seems logical,” Aeliana lied, then mentally begged the Stars for forgiveness.

They crossed the clearing until Vera could kick at Arvid’s girth. “Get up.”

The old man jolted awake, pawing at the crumbs. “What is it?”

“Aeliana wants to go to Gahldric Valley.” The way Vera said it made Aeliana tense. “Said it ‘seems logical.’”

“She did?” He stood, towering over both women, his eyes narrowed.

Her guardians were opposites when it came to height and girth, but they shared enough other features—a rounded nose, pale blue eyes, and black hair lined with grey—that Aeliana suspected they were siblings. After being stuck with them for fourteen years, she knew better than to ask.

“No other reason?” he asked.

Aeliana shook her head, even though she knew it was the wrong answer. It was too late to back out now.

“Don’t lie.” Arvid slapped her across the face, jolting her head back.

Her eyes stung with tears, and her cheek was like fire when she touched it. Before she could respond, he grabbed her hand, holding it out palm up to reveal her torn hem and hastily tied bandage.

“What’s this?”

“A cut,” she whispered.

“You used your blood?” His face took on a red hue, and he squeezed her hand tighter.

Aeliana winced. “No. You know I don’t know how.”

He yanked off the fabric, stretched at the edges of the wound until it reopened, then pressed his thumb over it, drawing energy from her blood and into himself. He stood straighter and rolled his neck, bouncing from one foot to the other like a young man ready to enter a street fight.

That same sense of relief flooded through Aeliana as the pressure inside her lessened, and she hated herself for it.

Arvid dropped her hand and sucked in a long breath through his nose, closing his eyes. “We leave for Gahldric Valley now. Seems we found similar leads.”

Night fell as they approached the valley. Buildings fanned out as far as the eye could see. Light flickered to life like fireflies as home after home lit their torches. The path they traveled split, one way heading east and winding down into the valley toward the city. The other forked west, extending around the far side of the city’s Stargazer to eventually meet up with the main traveling road.

They took the path to the west, heading toward the Stargazer, which stood on the edge of the hill overlooking the city in the valley. The path that led through its gates was already occupied by worshipers trickling in. Aeliana drank in the sight of the simple stone buildings. Several small chambers held what was likely the quarters of the current priests and priestesses and their few servants. Moss and ivy climbed up the walls, filling the dead nooks and crannies with life.

The holy quarters surrounded the grandest building of all—the Stargazer itself, its roof left open to provide worshipers a constant view of the heavens. It towered over the grounds, higher than four of the buildings stacked together. Windows the height of a man broke up the stone exterior all the way to its apex, and Aeliana craned her neck to take in their stained glass. Candlelight from within lit up the displays depicting dancing Stars, a mix of their lithe human forms and their distant sparkling existence in the sky.

Small clusters of people crowded the garden, which met up with groves of trees extending far beyond the land directly surrounding the buildings. Somewhere past the trees, out of sight, the walls of the property stretched out to encompass and protect the Stargazer.

---