Page 56 of Fallen Stars

“When I walk through Ariete’s dreams, is there a chance this ‘Dark’ will appear again? What if it does the same to me while I’m trying to retrieve Enzo’s tether?”

Eli was so shaken that he wasn’t able to form a succinct answer to her question. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I honestly don’t. I have never in my years experienced that.”

“Fantastic. So now I have to worry about not only a vengeful god of war, but some ambiguous entity that may or may not be following me through dreams?”

She wasn’t that ambiguous, though Eli didn’t dare reveal that just yet.

“You need to go to your friend,” he said instead. “What’s her name? Isra. Ask her about protection spells, charms, things to block you from other dreamwalkers. A seer is your best bet at ensuring that never happens again.”

“You think some charms and crystals are going to stop whateverthatwas?”

“As terrifying as it was, it was just a dream, Elara. Though it was a terrible distraction, your body was utterly unharmed—I was watching it. Even if it were to happen again in Ariete’s dreams, you need to be mentally strong enough to overcome it even without me to guide you.”

Elara let out a long stream of breath, and Eli wished for a moment that he could give her more comfort than he had. But there was no comfort where the Dark was concerned.

“I need to rest,” she murmured. “As long as this Dark is nowhere near Enzo, I can handle it.”

She stood, Eli standing with her.

“I’ll set extra wards around The Ruby in preparation for your night with Ariete. We’ll keep them in here too and dreamwalk as much as we can this week to prepare for any eventuality that this may happen again.”

Elara nodded, a gleam of fear still in her eyes that Eli didn’t miss.

“Here,” he said, a touch softer. “Let me at least set your mind at ease a little so you can rest.”

Elara’s expression was guarded, but she turned fully to face him. He pressed the pad of his middle finger to the centre of her forehead, envisioning cool rainwater caressing her. His charm danced out to meet Elara as he willed her mind to calm, her worries to ease—even just for a night. She would need all the rest she could get, and he didn’t want her dreamwalking without him, which she likely would without any control if she was still in distress.

Elara sighed as his charm worked, finally calming her.

“Thank you,” she said quietly once he’d finished.

He nodded, unable to meet her gaze. “Don’t mention it. Come back here tomorrow at nine, sharp. We’ll try again. But Elara, despite all this, you did well, far better than I expected. You killed someone through their dreams and escaped whatever else was left within them.”

She nodded. “Let’s hope I can do the same when Ariete is involved.”

Eli didn’t sit back down once Elara had left, the full weight of what he’d felt slamming down on him without her as a distraction. Eyes. He had felt them in the dream, in the room, in hismind. Watching.

A stranger had interrupted them, its energy so insidious that Eli had nearly vomited afterwards.A Star. Vomiting. This was bad, so terribly bad.

He paced his room, now already on his second cigarette, inhaling the damn thing in desperate drags as he ran through his foes, unable to accept that it was the Dark he feared so greatly.

It wasn’t Ariete. He would bet his immortal existence on it. As he had told Elara, the energy hadn’t felt like him. It had been sly and lurking, had coated his mind in oily blackness so he couldn’t reach Elara, couldn’t see her.

There was only one entity that had ever given him that feeling before, only one being powerful enough to enterhisdreams undetected.

But it was impossible. She was bound. Unspoken of. Ariete had forced a pact with the other Stars to never speak of what he’d done to her.

He shrugged his jacket on, the feeling of being watched not leaving him as he stormed out of his office. He never thought he’d say the next words willingly.

“I need to find Ariete.”

The Ruby in broad daylight was not a tempting place. Gone was the allure, the desire and lust of liaisons under nightfall. In the light, everything was…lacklustre. Even the dancers on the afternoon shift weren’t as forthcoming, twining listlessly around the poles.

Nonetheless, it was Eli’s best guess to find Ariete. The King of Stars quite literally had not moved from the place, and Eli’s spies had confirmed the Star was still running from something, drugging and fucking his way into unconsciousness every single night without fail.

“Ariete,” he called, slamming the door open to one of the many special chambers that lined the back—saved for important clientele.

A body slammed into him, and he looked down, shocked, as Ariete pinned him to the wall, a forearm crushing his windpipe.

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