Page 99 of Fallen Stars

When they reached the other side of the in-between, Enzo realised thatadventurewas a euphemism for nearly have your bags stolen, get into a fist-fight, and have Elara exercise her nightmares on a woman who had tried to take him by the hand and lead him to her rooms—all within half an hour.

“Dear gods,” Leo said, adjusting his sword in its holster as he and Enzo flanked the three women between them. “I guess helldoesexist.”

Elara dusted her hands. “Well, it does for that woman.”

Enzo couldn’t keep himself from grinning. “Jealousy suits you,” he murmured into her hair. “Seeing you a little bit violent over me is making my cock painfully hard.”

Elara blushed, planting a kiss on his cheek. “I promise we’ll get our time alone,” she said.

Enzo flexed his knuckles, a little sore from having to scrap with the idiotic thief who had tried to rob them in broad daylight.

“If only they knew who we were,” he replied. The group wound through the sunken city, red sand coating every surface, with miserable looks on all their faces.

Well, almost all of the group. Isra seemed to be having the time of her life. She swaggered through the streets, grinning and winking at any pretty woman that walked past.

“I don’t know what you’re all moaning about. This place seems to have very loose morals. And luckily, so do I.” She cackled, pulling along an ashen-faced Merissa. Enzo almost laughed. If there was one person out of place in the sands, it was the demi-Star.

“So you think Adrian received your letter?” Enzo asked.

“I hope so,” Elara replied. “When I spoke to Eli through the ring he gave me, he said we could use one of his crows to find Adrian. I just told him what to write in the letter.”

“And he’s docked in Midas’s Bay?” Enzo asked.

Elara nodded. “That’s what Eli said. Just outside of port.” She pulled the hood of her cloak further over her face. “We need to get out of here as soon as possible. If there’s anyone willing to take the bounty on our heads, it’s these people.”

Enzo nodded, dodging a man trying to push lapis jewellery into his hands. Enzo knew the Sinner’s Sands, had visited once or twice in his less…civil days. And had nearly gotten killed both times. So he knew that accepting the gifts from the stranger would likely result in a knife held to his throat down a dingy back-alley later.

The Sinner’s Sands would have been beautiful if they weren’t filled with, well…the civilians of the Sinner’s Sands. The realm was its own red-hewn haven, nestled in the desert, the buildings carved into the red rocks and sands that made it infamous. The sand was said to be coloured with blood spilt by lions and angels.

Perhaps the myth explained the violence that layered the air here or the patron Star who chose this domain as his—Capri.

Enzo’s eyes snagged on a statue of the god hewn into the red sand. Thankfully, the Lion hadn’t ever had the displeasure of meeting the god, but he had heard stories. Capri was a god of greed, one who fed off others desperation—whether it be for money or miracles. There was a rumour that the god could turn anything he touched to gold, and it was this rumour that had the citizens of the place clamouring for favour from the god.

Even without ever having met him, Enzo couldn’t stand Capri. Not the slimy demeanour he’d heard about, nor his slick hair, or the green of his eyes. He was the reason gambling dens existed, the reason everyone in Celestia was so infatuated with gold, or the lack of it. It was he who had created midans, the currency traded in Celestia. Enzo was sure that before the Stars fell, people had likely been more content trading what they had for payment—livestock, cloth, spices—not gold.

He was brushed out of his thoughts by Elara, who was stroking his hand with her thumb absent-mindedly. He wanted to completely relish in her touch, drown in the fact that right before him, wasElara. The woman of his dreams—the one who had saved him, loved him. But a cloud was over him, the impending knowledge that at some point he was going to have to pull the woman he loved aside and explain to her why she no longer had use of her shadows.

She hadn’t mentioned it to him—not that they’d had time between Enzo waking from the land of dreams and becoming official fugitives of the realm—and he wanted to tell her as soon as possible. He could no longer keep it on his conscience.

“El,” he began, but Leo beat him to it.

“El, any chance you can whip up some of those shadows and just fly us out of here?”

Elara’s face fell, and Enzo nearly dropped to his knees to see it, the pure anguish on it.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Isra muttered as Merissa shot Elara a look of sympathy.

“What?” Leo asked, looking around at the sombre faces.

“I-I haven’t been able to conjure them since being in Ariete’s dreams,” she said quietly. “I don’t know if they’ve left me or if they’re just dormant, but…I can’t feel them.” Her lip trembled. “I can’t even feel my shadow self.”

“El,” Enzo whispered, his voice shaking. “We need to talk.”

Elara turned slowly. “Why?”

The rest of the group was looking at him, and he shooed them off, Isra rolling her eyes before pushing the other two towards the harbour not far off.

“I think you should sit down.”

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