Page 101 of Fallen Stars

She wiped the last of her tears, worrying at her lip. “This darkness you speak of… It’s not the first time I’ve heard of it.”

Enzo frowned, still rubbing her back as she nuzzled into his chest. “What do you mean?”

“You’re right that it’s been following me. I already knew, I…” She took a deep breath. “When I was dreamwalking, I met it. Only once. Eli witnessed the whole thing, and he was so unnerved, so scared,that we worked to protect me from it. But I didn’t know that it had found me through my shadow.”

“And what exactly did Eli say about it?” Enzo growled, his temper on a tight leash. He was not pleased that Eli had put her in danger.

“He told me a story,” Elara whispered. “About how the Dark was an entity long before the Stars, beforeus. How she was the night between us both and did everything to try to keep us apart.”

Enzo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “And why wasEliscared of her.”

“Because she created the Stars,” Elara replied, looking up to him with a solemn expression.

Enzo’s stomach fell. “What?”

Elara nodded. “She collected their hearts. He told me that they’d worked to bind and bury her…but that now… Now he thinks she’s awake again.”

Enzo swore. “And he has no inkling on how to stop her?”

Elara shrugged. “I haven’t felt her since. Maybe after you killed my shadow, she left? Or maybe, the only way she can reach me is through dreams? Which, if that’s the case, I can handle.”

Enzo loosened a deep breath. He did not like the sound of it at all.

“Stars on our heels and a primordial darkness that can’t be killed. Sounds about right,” he muttered.

Elara raised her head. “Like you said, we can plan what to do once we’re on a ship and safely off land. The darkness, the Stars… They can all wait. We have powers we’ve only just began to explore, immortal bodies… Whatever we decide to do can wait. But right now, we need to find the others and get off this continent.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

The Capricious Goat had tobe one of the most uninviting looking taverns Elara had ever seen. And between the ones she had frequented in Asteria and Castor, that said something.

“Says a lot about the man that he’d haunt this place frequently,” Isra said, grimacing as she sidestepped a vomiting sailor on the steps. “Like perhaps he’s crawling with venereal diseases?”

“Good job we’re not making love to him then,” Elara replied.

Leo snorted behind her. “You all stay away from pirates now. They know how to charm your hearts and get into your knickers before disappearing the next morning.”

“That’s not just an anomaly for pirates,” Merissa said tightly. Elara raised an eyebrow, hitching her skirts as she pushed open the door.

If she had thought the Castorian pubs rowdy, the Capricious Goat was a sheer madhouse. Sea shanties were being roared from the piano. Drunken sailors, pirates, and everyone in various stages of inebriation. And to Isra’s utter delight and Elara’s disdain, half-naked women sat on nearly every surface and lap. Elara slowly raised her hand to cover Enzo’s eyes, earning a cackle from Isra.

“Don’t worry, El. Think it’s physically impossible for Enzo to get his cock hard for anyone else now.”

“One-hundred percent true for the record,” Enzo murmured into Elara’s ear, squeezing her hand.

She tried not to wince. She had meant what she said—with Enzo, there was nothing to forgive. He had done what he had to and saved her life in the process. But she was still trying to come to terms with the fact that he had killed her shadows. That the Dark was something real—not just a story told to scare children. ‘Never accept a gift from the Dark,’ was the moral to any story told in Asteria. She remembered her maid whispering it to her at the end of her gruesome tale on every Hallow’s Eve. Elara would always scream, Sofia rolling her eyes beside her as she told her not to listen to such poppycock.

As the clamour of the tavern roared back to her, she broke out of her thoughts. There was a task at hand, and until they were aboard Adrian’s ship, with miles of ocean between them and the Eastern continent, she would not stop to mourn the loss of the shadows she loved so much.

So she plastered a smile onto her face as they manoeuvred through the crowd.

“Let’s find this famous pirate and get the hell out of here,” Merissa murmured. “Why you insist on dragging me to these beer-reeking, depraved places all over the continent is beyond me.”

“Come on, Mer,” Leo said, grinning as he slung an arm around her neck. Elara watched closely, noticing that her friend’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Youdon’tenjoy being surrounded by sweating, drunken pirates? Get in the spirit!” He raised a tankard of beer.

Elara did a double take. “Where did you get that from?”

Leo shrugged, downing the contents.

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