Page 47 of Midnight Star

I feel so small standing here, on a high balcony of one of the buildings, gazing out at the overwhelming magnificence spread out before me.

“You made it,” someone says from behind me, and when I spin around, I seeherwalking through the doorway.

In my dreams, she was always hazy. I could see an outline of her, but never the details.

Now, I see a woman who embodies the cosmos itself.

Her silvery hair cascades down her back like liquid starlight, tiny gems woven through it like captured fragments of constellations. And she moves with a grace that’s both otherworldly and soothingly commanding, watching me with eyes like distant galaxies, deep and endless, as though they hold the secrets of the universe inside them.

But the most startling part? I’ve seen her before. In the woods, when she placed her hand on my forehead and put me through the most pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.

“You’rethe ancient woman?” I ask, and a soft, melodic laugh escapes her lips.

“I prefer to go by my given name—Celeste,” she says with a smile that holds lifetimes of wisdom, pain, and hope. “The star goddess. And I chose you, Sapphire Hayes, to be one of the star touched.”

“One of the what?” I ask, internally chiding myself a second later for sounding so ineloquent in front of agoddess.

“I came to you when you were lost in the woods,” she continues, and I nod, since I’ve already pieced that together. “Or, rather, I astrally projected myself to you. When I touched your forehead, I gifted you with a piece of my magic. And, by doing so, I also freed your air and water magic. Because you will play a pivotal role in defending the mortal and mystical realms from the coming darkness, and you’ll need to draw on as much of your magic as you can to do so.”

Her words settle over me like a storm, too heavy to process all at once.

“The coming darkness?” I finally repeat, even though it’s only one of the many questions I have right now. “What does that mean?”

Celeste’s expression softens. “There are ancient forces at work that seek to upset the balance of the world,” she says. “It all started when a mortal named Ambrogio was cursed by the gods. He was in love with a goddess—my mother, Selene—and she loved him, too. But she also feared him for what the curse made him become. So, she had him banished to one of the deepest layers of the Underworld, where he remained trapped for centuries.”

Wow.

Lesson learned: never fall in love with a god.

“Ambrogio was the first vampire,” I say, recalling what the night fae, Zythara, shared in the cave.

“You know your history.” Celeste smiles proudly.

“Not much of it,” I admit. “Just that Ambrogio’s son turned the queen of the night fae into a vampire, and that the Night Court wants to join his Blood Coven so they can be turned into something called Revenants.”

She nods, her expression grim. “The Revenants will be like nothing the world has ever faced before,” she says. “They won’t only be vampires stronger than all others of their kind—they’ll also retain the powers they held in life. They’ll then be capable of overturning the existing order, to destroy those who have hunted and oppressed vampires for centuries. If they succeed, they’ll shatter the balance of power between the realms, leaving everyone at their mercy and no one to stand against them.”

Well, when you put it like that…

“You expect me to stop Ambrogio from being raised from the Underworld?” I ask, since it sounds like a tall order for someone who only got their magic a few weeks ago.

“Unfortunately, the Blood Coven has already succeeded in raising Ambrogio,” she says. “He was weakened in the process—the resurrection didn’t go as planned—but if the Blood Coven restores him to his full power, he’ll be able to turn them into Revenants.”

“And you expectmeto stop them,” I say flatly.

“You and three others,” she clarifies, as if that makes it easier to digest. “The four of you were chosen by me and my sisters—the moon, sun, and storm goddesses—at the time of your births. We each subtly influenced your names as well. Our precious gems, destined to shine in times of darkness.”

My heart pounds as I grapple with the hugeness of what she’s telling me.

Riven’s going to be mind blown when he finds out.

Speaking of Riven…

“We’re trying to stop the Night Court from joining the Blood Coven,” I tell Celeste. “Me and my…” I trail off, unsure how to refer to Riven, since calling him my boyfriend feels too casual. “Me and the prince of the Winter Court.”

“Oh?” Celeste raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

I shift uncomfortably, glance out at the gleaming city, then return my focus to the goddess. “Anyway,” I tell her, moving on. “We need to restore Riven’s father’s sanity first. The Winter King. Because before we knew the Night Court existed, we made this deal that I would help him create a potion to help his father, in exchange for him helping me make a potion to save my best friend’s life.” A lump rises in my throat when I try to imagine what Zoey’s going through right now, tears welling in my eyes when I realize that whenever I picture her in my mind now, all I see is the terror on her face when that night fae flew away with her. “She was kidnapped to the Night Court. She needs my help.”

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