Page 9 of Fallen Stars

Elara woke violently, jerking uprightin the sagging cot as her heart pounded. She looked around blearily, panic coating her before she realised she was perfectly alone. She frowned, squinting at the clock. Three hours had gone by, the hypnom worn off.

Not wanting to stay for longer than necessary in the den, she sighed, pushing down the empty feeling that consumed her the moment she was away from Enzo.

The cold began to crawl over her skin, those brief moments of warmth dissipating in seconds, ice crawling up her chest. She waved a hand languidly, illusions stitching around her until she was near invisible, passing back through the opium den like a ghost. The only tell that she had ever been there was the small form dented into the mattress. She walked out and didn’t look back.

But this time, along with the usual screaming anguish that battered at her heart, there was a kernel of fire. One that she had desperately sought with matches, but that Enzo had gifted her freely within her dreams. And as she began to regard her surroundings, and the serrated edges of the market before her, the kernel took flame.

“Eels! Get your fresh eels!” a fishmonger shouted as Elara grimaced, dodging his stall. Why in Celestia someone would wanteelswas beyond her. She suppressed a shudder, dodging through the crowded marketplace.

“Viper venom! Finest viper venom on this side of Celestia!” another roared, clinking bottles filled with jet black liquid together.

An idea had begun to form in Elara’s head the moment Enzo had uttered those last words—her first real idea since he had been taken from her. Bringing Eli to her…Now how in the world did one catch the attention of a Star?

She had been illusioning herself and her friends the moment they’d entered Castor. Elara was no idiot. She could feel the Stars watching from above, searching Celestia for her. And with her now boundless power, weaving illusions constantly didn’t drain her at all. Yet Enzo had suggested revealing herself in plain sight. Sending another message to the Stars—or to Eli at least. A risk it may be, but one that, if it paid off, would mean aid to wake Enzo, so they could face the Stars together.

She couldn’t set another temple on fire. Enzo had only been able to give her a drop of fire the first time. And without the location of where Eli was, she couldn’t simply show up at his door. No… This would require something big. Something that the whole of Castor would talk about.

The fury in the pit of her stomach was cold, bitingly so, as she thought of what the Stars had taken from her, how her Enzo was in unimaginable pain within her dreams because of them.

Yes, she would give the Stars something to hunt her for. Would lure Eli out of his den like the snake that he was.

It feltgoodto allow her anger to take over, to take all her grief and give it to the darkness.

She slowed as she reached the end of the small market. A stall there was manned by a silent woman, and Elara pulled her hood further over her face. The stall was full of weapons. Knives in all sizes and sharpness, some curving wickedly like the kind she’d heard about in the Sinner’s Sands, some flat and small—the kind of dagger for a betraying death.

She ran a hand along them as that seed that Enzo planted began to grow, her rage with it. She flicked her eyes to the hanging racks behind the woman.

Suits of all kinds graced them—some leather, some made from a form-fitting material. She inclined her head.

“Have any of those with a skirt?” she asked, gesturing nonchalantly to the suits.

The woman made an amused sound, eyes glinting. “These not pretty enough for you?” she mocked.

Elara’s responding smile was terrifying. “Not by a mile. Women can wear dresses and maim at the same time, you know?”

The woman blanched. “We have one,” she stuttered, rising as she pushed the hangers aside. And there it was. Elara’s inspiration.

The suit was spectacular, a beautiful nightmare. The bodice was stiff, neckline square. The sleeves were long and tight to the wrists, and the skirt…well… Thick tights made of supple leather formed from leg to ankle, and the skirt split right down the middle, drifting off as sheer gauze. It fluttered in the Castorian air like an extension of one of her shadows.

“I’ll take it,” Elara breathed, fingers already itching to claw off the simple gown she currently wore. She scanned the rest of the stand, the various weapons and equipment.

“I’ll take two of those,” she said, pointing to twin cutlasses, their blades gleaming a wicked silver. “The holsters too.”

Elara had only tried wielding a sword once, when she would train with Sofia, failing miserably with how heavy and clunky the thing was. Daggers were her usual choice, but a cutlass—broader and longer, yet not as heavy or large as a sword—would be more apt for what she had in mind.

“And those boots.” She nodded behind the woman. Her gaze snagged on a knife holster, the kind one could strap to their thigh. It was silver and formed to look like a serpent, twisting around the leg, an onyx jewel where its eye should be. Elara grinned. “Oh yes. That holster too.”

The woman hurriedly collected the items, placing them in a large black leather bag.

“The total comes to fifty midans.”

Elara narrowed her eyes. She knew that there was no way her wares cost that much, but she was in no mood to haggle. And so, she dumped a pouch filled with the golden coins onto the vendor’s table.

“Be careful playing with those knives, girly,” the woman said.

Elara had to stop herself from lunging shadows at the woman. Instead, she turned slowly, beckoning a nightmare to gleam through her eyes. The woman staggered back.

“I think it’s the person on the end of them who’ll need to be careful,” she replied, hoisting the bag over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Lord Star Eli resides, would you?”

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