Page 106 of The Stars are Dying

“No.”

The shift on his face at my quick dismissal skipped my pulse. It was something like ire, yet it blinked into nothing but understanding.

“My handmaiden will be here soon,” I added quickly. “We might stir speculation if you were to be seen leaving my rooms. They’d think I have an advantage in the Libertatem.”

Drystan scoffed, an unusual bitterness entering his tone. “The damn Libertatem is nothing more than a hollow distraction. I thought you would have figured that out by now. No one really wins.”

“A distraction from what?”

Drystan leaned in close. “There is a sixth key,” he all but whispered though we were alone in the hall. I took a single step back, but my palm flattened against the door. “That’s the one he truly wants. No one has ever found it.” His eyes bore into mine, a slight curl disturbing his mouth as if we shared a secret. “I have a feeling this Libertatem will be a marker for history.”

Before I suffocated trying not to share breath, Drystan leaned away.

“Why this time?”

He reached for me, and while I would usually balk, I blamed the cold for keeping me stiff and shivering. Drystan twisted the handle of my door, pushing it open.

“Let’s just say, it’s been a very interesting beginning.”

32

Icursed the sad, cold firepit that mocked me. Stripped of my extra layers, I tried to no avail to spark flames. It was hopeless when I hadn’t a clue how to do it, and I was too damn cold to keep trying.

My eyes lit up as I remembered the castle had running water. Hot water. It had to be magick, or perhaps a marker of wealth Hektor hadn’t reached yet. A pain clenched in my stomach to wonder if that was what he sought:more.The life of power and luxury he had would never have been enough for him while there was always more to gain.

I cast away the thoughts of him as I watched the tub start to fill. I dipped my hand in the warmth. My teeth clenched against the pain, but as my skin adjusted to the drastic change in temperature I moaned contentedly.

“This isn’t how I imagined I’d be hearing those sounds from you.” Nyte’s voice interrupted my peace.

On my knees, I barely had the energy to cast him a scowl. All I cared about was the tub filling with water so I could throw myself in. Though I had to have been thinking of him. More specifically, recalling one crucial fact.

“You saved me,” I said, staring into the water’s rippling reflection just as I did on the icy lake. I turned my head then, needing his reaction in case he evaded an answer. “You pulled me from the water. I wouldn’t have been able to do that myself. I didn’t want to—”

“I know,” he said sharply.

To detract from the tension he made ripple through me, I stood, searching through the cabinets for some soaps. I poured various delicious scents into the bath, attracted to the honey and lavender hitting my nostrils. The water turned a milky white while the flow created bubbles. I smothered the noises in my throat so as not to give him the satisfaction.

“I was alone on that ice,” I went on, “and even if your chase wasn’t real…you pulled me out of the water.”

“Are you sure?” His voice echoed in a taunt, rattling the confidence I’d mustered.

“Yes.”

Everything I reflected on I could now see in a new light. The things that gave him away. How his touch was always featherlight even when I was sure his body would feel firmer the times he pressed himself to me. The variations in tone missing from his voice even when I believed him to be speaking aloud. I was now aware of the echo that put distance in it when it was only his illusion standing right before me.

“Before then…” I struggled to go back. While I was certain he had been there at the lake, everything else was cold and blurry. “In Hektor’s cell?” I couldn’t believe that every memory I had now required reassessment. “There or not there?” I asked.

“That is for you to decide.”

I scrunched my eyes, hoping he wasn’t hell-bent on driving me to madness. “Were you physically there?” I amended. I already knew his answer, but my heart squeezed tightly, wanting to be wrong.

“No.”

I turned to him, studying his finely made black jacket, this time with no color but beautiful black embroidery. Not a mark scuffing the boots over his fitted pants. An illusion. My face pinched as I looked him over from head to toe, admiring his clean face and tamed midnight hair. A lie.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I whispered.

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