Page 10 of The Stars are Dying

“There’s a ledge covered in snow, but your grip will hold.”

I saw it, listening to the guidance in my mind. My body turned taut. All that kept me from the fatal drop was my toes straining along a window ledge and my fingers curled painfully above me. I shuffled along without letting myself rethink this decision.

“Stop.”

I did, awaiting his next instruction as I glanced down the wall.

“There are four sunken holes, very small, but you can do it.”

The words of confidence didn’t correlate with my body’s response to lock tight. I took a deep breath and slipped one foot off then crouched, wedging it into the gap. My lack of flexibility added to my weak muscle made the lunge down painful. I didn’t overthink until I was down another floor of the manor, my cheek near grazing the frosty stone wall I clung to awkwardly.

“Very good.”

“I don’t need your praise.”

A low chuckle vibrated through me, so real I had to pause, if only to enjoy the last notes of it. I shook my head, looking around for my next move down since the jump was still too high.

My head pounded, and I thought if I tried to look for my next aid I’d lose my grip. I lunged down and shuffled across another window, praying no one would see me before I could clear it. Panting, I thought I was low enough to attempt a jump, but I couldn’t check with the strain it took to hold my position. I began to succumb to panic.

“I can’t do it,” I breathed.

“You don’t really have another choice.”

I wanted to curse at that deep voice of faint amusement. Frustration pricked my eyes as I thought of Hektor and how desperate he’d made me to resort to this.

“Along to your right there’s another ledge. It’s wider.”

The next direction came with a calming caress on my senses I absorbed gratefully, finally finding the will to focus and eyeing the next point. I yanked my foot out of the hole, reaching over…

I didn’t know what slipped first, only that my hold to the wall gave completely, and I was falling too fast to do anything but brace and hope the snow had gathered thickly enough to ease the impact. My eyes squeezed shut.

My fall was broken faster than I anticipated. Not by the cold embrace of snow, but something that infused the air with notes of mint. Arms that held tight, and I wanted to keep floating in them.

The ground firmed under my feet as my eyes snapped open. A gust of wind blew loose strands of silver hair across my vision. Dizziness swept in, and my hand reached out to the wall while my head whirled around.

I was alone.

“Where are you?” I dared to ask, feeling silly when silence answered. I couldn’t be certain the haze of my sickness wasn’t conjuring it all. I huffed a laugh in remembrance. “It’s daytime. I suppose you belong to the night.”

“I never would have told you my name if you were going to get witty with it.”

“It’s not your real name,” I accused. “But I like it.” Too much. Which only added to my growing wonder if he’d been my own delirium all along. Even last night, when all I’d wanted was for someone toseeme. Had I really become so pitiful in my loneliness?

My chest contracted with the minor exertion of getting down. The voice was right: I should be inside and was in no state to endure the day. I didn’t care. Shaking off the ripples of company that didn’t exist, I lifted my skirts to begin the trudge through inches of snow.

I smiled. I grinned. And though my body ached and protested, I skipped into the woodland with my eyes watery from the cold or my thrill at running free.

Leaning against a tree, I paused to gather breath. I hated these woods for the eerie darkness that was cast over them even in the brightest of summers. They felt like another realm where nothing cheerful lived and creatures of sin could thrive.

Being surrounded by clusters of thick timber bodies flashed horrors as far back as my living memory went. Had I been running from the soulless, the shadowless, or some other dark creature? Fear creeped over me that one could emerge at any moment. Until Nyte’s voice reminded me of the fool I was. Already caught in the sights of one—him—I chose to be content.

“You have to keep moving.”

I knew this, yet my lungs protested for just a few breaths longer to fill steadily.

A crack triggered a burst of wings, followed by an awful caw from a bird. My muscles turned taut, but I began to stumble toward the town.

“Keep silent.”

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