Page 6 of Fallen Stars

Two weeks trying to hunt down Eli, the only Star, save for Torra, who wouldn’t kill her and her friends on sight. And if anyone knew how to wake Enzo, or find Ariete, it would be a god of knowledge. Yet no luck, not a whisper of him residing in the kingdom that worshipped him.

She dodged a carriage, the driver cursing at her as hooves thundered past, before she crossed into The Remains.

The Remains was an area of Castor that someone like Elara should have stayed well away from. It was the poorest, most dangerous part of the city. She had come to realise a few days ago that she needed her wits about her and her nightmares to hand in a place like this.

And yet she needed hypnom. Could feel her blood begging for it, for the first stitch of hope she’d had in two weeks. Her head was truly pounding now as she squinted, turning down an alley to Remus Lane.

And there. Sweet relief. She breathed out a sigh as ‘Morpheus’s Opiates’ came into view, the building quieter now than it had been last night.

With less than a thought, she weaved an illusion around herself, passing through the doorway like a phantom, invisible to the madam of the place.

She glided into the back, the cot furthest away from the addicts sprawled along the walls.

And with a shaky breath, she sank into it, lying on her back.

Yes. Two long weeks it had been, the last spent stumbling into hypnom dens during the day whenever she could, the hazy smoke forcing her to sleep and gifting her sweet escape, while her nights were filled with matches and shadows.

She kept the guilt locked in a box deep within. Elara knew what she should be doing, what was expected of her, and how urgently they needed to find a cure to wake Enzo. That every moment should be spent tearing Castor apart to find Eli and seek the answers they needed.

But every waking moment was a flash of nightmares. She would blink and see Ariete’s sword gouge open Enzo’s stomach, hear his cry as he fell, feel his desperation as he gave her his power. She would glimpse grey eyes as she walked down the street, and see Sofia, her stare defiant as her throat was slit from ear to ear.

Other times she saw her parents utter the words ‘run’ on their last breath as they were massacred, and when none of these memories plagued her, it was the image of a blade thrust into her own heart and the look of determination in Merissa’s green eyes as she had done it.

Elara had no choice but to run from it all.

Her hand wrapped around the pipe next to her, the sweet lavender scent of Hypnom already sinking into her skin. She brought the pipe to her lips, taking a deep drag as her eyes rolled back.

Gods.

It felt so good. The way her body began to feel heavy, how her heart started to numb. Warmth—she could feel warmth in her ice-cold body, travelling from the tips of her toes all the way to her crown.

There is no other option, she reminded herself.No other way to cope. Her only solace was her dreams, now harbouring Enzo in them. She may be in a living nightmare during her days, but her dreams were where she could be at peace with him.

Elara’s eyelids began to feel heavy as the weight on her shoulders dragged her down, and she breathed a soft sigh of relief, allowing it to pull her into her dreams.

Her dreams were like a world of their own. There, ahead of her as her soul drifted in darkness, was an ornate door, dusky blue and shimmering with something more beautiful than starlight. Engraved in the centre was a crescent moon, a beaming sun entwined with it, silver and gold.

She reached, as she had in every dream that week, to the symbol, tracing her finger over the beautiful etching.

And at her touch, the door swung open, revealing a paradise beyond.

Elara had created the door the moment she had been able to sleep again, using that curious dream magick of hers to change the architecture of her space. A safe place that no one could walk into and steal her love’s soul away.

As she stepped into the quiet, she looked down at the small path she had created, winding out before her.

She had mirrored it after one of her favourite places, a secluded forest that backed onto her palace in Asteria. This forest had been Elara’s solace, a place she often snuck out of her window and escaped to when she needed freedom.

The path was lit with glitterbugs—imaginary ones anyway— and the sky was a deep periwinkle hue.

She sighed as she turned the corner, delving into a thick spruce of trees. Their violet trunks twisted up, lanterns hung amongst the branches, and finally there, within a clearing, was a small cottage. Her eyes were bleak as she looked out across her dreamscape. She’d tried to make it as accommodating as possible since she now had a guest in it. Originally, she’d mirrored it after Enzo’s studio, the place where they had finally declared their love and then made love amongst his art.

But it seemed a cruel reminder, especially after they had tried to re-enact those moments of passion on the first night that Elara dreamt again. A dream was just a dream, the touch intangible, and frustratingly, Elara had only ever woken up gasping and wanting. She had no idea how Enzo was coping, and so she had changed it to a place they had never visited together.

When she saw who was sprawled on the grass in front of it, already smiling at her, her heart ached.

“Hello, beautiful.”

Enzo looked the same as when Elara had left him in Helios, every one of his features carved to perfection like a Star, which she supposed he was.

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