Page 60 of Fallen Stars

The shadow shook her head. “Not unarmed. She has another power, one that is wholly hers. Her moonlight.”

Enzo frowned. “Her what?”

“Oh, I forgot.” The shadow gave a sad chuckle. “You aren’t aware of what’s going on up there. The Moon… She has a power. A silver one, the same one—”

“That saved me in the lake,” Enzo whispered.

The shadow nodded. “And the one that sank its teeth into you and pulled you from the brink of death in the throne room. It’s the reason you’re not completely lost to the deadlands yet.”

“So why can’t she use that? Her moonlight?”

The shadow sighed. “Because it has no room to shine with me here, with her shadows surrounding her. Shadows that were never really hers to begin with.”

Enzo’s head was spinning. “So what needs to happen to keep her safe as she dreamwalks?” he asked softly though he already knew the answer, his heart cracking in two.

“Enzo, if her light can’t shine with the shadows, and her shadows will get her killed…”

“No,” he whispered.

“Then,” the shadow finished, “you’re going to have to kill me.”

Chapter Nineteen

Elara trudged up the ricketystaircase of the Hermes Inn, hauling herself up the last few steps. Her eyes flicked warily to every shadow upon the wall, every blur out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t sure if Isra or Merissa were in. They’d mentioned that morning that they were going to the raven’s post to send a letter to Leo with updates from the last few days.

She pushed the door open to her room, Astra lying asleep on her bed.

But the moment Elara entered, the wolf leapt up, hackles risen as she growled.

Elara stilled. “Astra,” she said. “It’s okay. It’s me.”

She took a step closer, and the wolf’s mouth peeled back off her teeth as she snarled, her full, mammoth body vibrating as she looked at Elara. Elara’s heart began to pound. This was no coincidence—the wolf earlier had been as docile as the first time they’d met. And now, after what had happened in those dreams…

She raised a hand out, though it trembled, and Astra’s growling began to grow softer as she jumped off the bed and padded to Elara. She sniffed Elara’s hand, her hackles lowering.

Elara breathed a sigh of relief, ever so carefully stroking Astra’s nose. The wolf bowed her head, allowing Elara to stroke her fully. But then she began to whimper, those growls being replaced by cries as the wolf set off a low, keening wail. She fussed at Elara’s hand, nudging it and pushing it.

“What, Astra? What!?” Elara said as the wolf continued to whimper. The wolf was shaking, as though something was absolutely terrifying her. She took a few steps away from Elara, shivering from head to toe as she cowered. “Astra, what is it!?” Elara asked, chest pounding. She glanced around the room, but nothing was there.

She gave Astra her space, cooing soft words to her as she walked to the other side of the bed and sat down upon it. She patted the space beside her, and Astra leapt up, still whining. Elara hushed her, stroking her fur again as she pulled out a lamb chop that she’d bought from a butcher shop on the way back from Eli’s. Astra sniffed it before tentatively biting into it, and Elara relaxed a little. She wasn’t sure what had spooked Astra, but she had every belief that it had something to do with the shadows in that dream.

She lay back as Astra munched, looking at the moon out of her window as she tried to sleep. Eli’s charm had worked, keeping her panicked thoughts at bay, her fear. She knew she needed to rest. She had only a few days before she’d be faced with Ariete.

Astra finally finished her meal, snuggling up next to Elara as she burrowed under the blanket beside her. Elara breathed in her comforting scent, hands buried in her soft fur, the animal providing more comfort than Elara had felt in weeks.

She cast her mind away from the events of the day. Whatever came, she would handle it—overcome it. And the Dark, if it really was awake, couldn’t hurt her. Not if it was trapped in dreams. As her eyes began to close, a shadow on the wall flickered, but she blamed it on the candle still lit by her bed. She forced herself to believe that, that it was only a trick of the mind. She forced sense into herself before she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The following week was one of the most gruelling that Elara had ever experienced. Even more so than her training with Enzo or when she had prepared with Leo for Ariete’s arrival. Working within the confines of the mind, dreamwalking two to three times a day, had worn Elara to the bone. The Dark hadn’t made another appearance, no shadows reaching out to her in Eli’s dreams, no eyes watching her.

Perhaps she had Isra’s charms to thank. Svetan magick was a powerful thing, and Isra knew better than anyone how to ward off spirits and malevolent energy.

The moment after Elara had told her friends what had happened, Isra had set out to the beldam’s shop in Castor, returning with all manner of crystals and herbs, which she’d tied in charms as she muttered incantations. Elara wore one in her hair, a silver cuff studded with tiny chips of tourmaline, a small crescent moon dangling from it. It secured a small plait that Isra had knotted herself, muttering the same incantations as she had to lock out evil energy.

The other charms that Isra had made, Merissa had stitched into Elara’s clothing so she would never be without them, and the faint scent of rosemary and lavender permeated her space now as the charms worked their magick.

The following days, when Elara wasn’t dreamwalking with Eli, she was staggering back to the inn, going over every minute detail of the plan she’d laid with the Star and Merissa and Isra, Astra always curled around her as though trying to protect her from whatever had spooked her.

And when Elara slept, she faded into oblivion, unable to dreamwalk due to sheer tiredness.

---