Page 120 of Fallen Stars

“As though I would ever give you that kind of information.” Eli scoffed.

Lias sipped his wine, his lilac eyes calculating. “Well, the world my mother and I fell from was filled with witches. This language, I recognise it. The symbols too.” He twirled his rings, a fearful look suddenly in his eyes.

“Out with it then,” Eli growled, scanning the ink himself.

“This symbol is one of protection,” he said, pointing to an eye. “It’s a ward of sorts. And this one here is a warning.” Lias made his way around the circle of symbols, rattling each one off and only making Eli more confused.

“This is deep spell work,” Lias muttered, more to himself, and Eli’s eyes narrowed.

“How do you know so much about witchcraft?”

Lias smirked then. “I’m the god of love. You don’t think love is its own witchcraft? That mortals in my world didn’t attempt to cast spells each day to make another fall in love?” He continued to scan the text, muttering words in a different language, until Eli wanted to throttle him all over again. Finally, the Star went quiet.

“What?” Eli snapped.

“It’s a poem.”

“I don’t have time for this nonsense,” Eli said, even as his mind worked. “Read it.”

Lias cleared his throat, squinting again at the symbols before beginning.

‘Beware the Dark, beware your shadow,

find me on the eve of All Hallow’s,

even now she watches and waits,

come find me ‘fore it is too late.

In the land of chaos, on this date,

seek me there to stop Lady Fate.’

Unease washed over Eli, sickly and suffocating.

“But what does it mean?” Lias pondered.

Eli snatched the sheet back from him, already having memorised the verse.

It was a warning, Eli knew that well enough. But an invitation too. The witch did not want to hide from Eli, if the poem was anything to go by. She needed him to find her.

He thought to the shadows that he had felt watching him in his dreams, of the way they had torn from Elara so she could conjure them no longer. The cogs in his head began their turning as he went over and over the obscure message.

All Hallow’s Eve in the land of chaos, well that was easy enough. Kaos, Sagitton’s domain, was infamous for holding the greatest bacchanal in the realm on the day of the dead—when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest. So the witch was heading there and wanted him to follow.

The last two words of the poem niggled at him as he strode out of Lias’s chambers with a muttered thanks, ignoring the bemused Star’s demand to know what the words meant.

He checked his pocket watch, looking at the date on it. It would be another week before Elara arrived in Concordia, and now he was agitated. They’d have but a few days to get to Kaos from there in time for All Hallow’s, and there was much to discuss with her before that happened.

He felt a breath at his neck and jumped, turning to curse Lias. But the beautiful Star’s olive complexion was paled.

“Do you not feel her?” Lias whispered, eyes haunted.

“Feel who?” Eli asked.

“Beware the Dark. Beware your own shadow.Lady Fate. Now who was it who went by that misnomer?”

Eli shook his head, raking a hand through his hair. “You’re delusional. We chained and buried her, centuries ago.” The lie tasted as sour as it had when he’d said the same to Ariete. But as he’d also told the King of Stars, it was impossible.

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