Page 115 of The Stars are Dying

“We should take a walk through many worlds,” he said.

In the library, it felt jarring to walk side by side with Nyte now devastation had been added to his impeccable appearance as I knew therealhim was still chained below our feet.

He turned to me halfway down a row of bookcases. “If you keep staring, I’m going to assume this bargain is unnecessary as we already find our desires aligning as one.”

My breath hitched when he closed in some distance. I backed up until my fingers skimmed along the spines, and he leaned in close enough I should feel his warmth. He was cold and still, yet his energy hummed through me, and I closed my eyes to banish him before he could stroke his knuckles along my cheek.

I breathed then clenched my teeth in frustration at his sly attempts at distraction. Storming through several rows of books, my irritation ground that I needed him.

“You’re getting better at knowing how to shut me out. It’s good.” He crept back up to walk side by side with me. I didn’t give him any attention, but I relaxed with the assurance I wasn’t completely at his mercy.

“What are we looking for?”

“Up here.”

I whipped around, blinking with disorientation when his voice suddenly called from so far away. Skipping over to the railing, I looked up to find him three levels higher and cursed the factIwasn’t an illusion who could appear up there with a thought. Instead my legs were protesting by the time I reached that floor, and I made a note to myself to get back into some regular exercise.

“The Book of Bindings,” he said as I found him gazing at the top of the case. “I would pull over the ladder for you, but…”

My eyes rolled as I gripped the wood, driving it toward where he indicated. I paused with one foot ready to ascend, trying to bite back my wonder when I felt like giving over to my petty side and being silent. I mentally scolded myself. I had poor resistance.

“There were times you did things, passed me things, or—” I couldn’t recall everything, but each time I lingered on a memory I struggled to believe he’d never truly been there.

Stepping down, I turned to him. The flickers of emotion he showed often pinched me within, enlightening me to the fact even dangerous things could feel.

“Everything you thought I did was because youwantedit to be real.” He took a step toward me, always like he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

My fingers curled around the ladder again as my spine curved to the slant of it.

“You have no idea the agony it was. To watch as you did it all craving for someone to help, to be there for you. So no, I didn’t remove your face covering at the manor. I didn’t hand you the glass of water. I didn’t pull your dress ribbon, but,fuck, as enthralling as you are when you stretch, I wantedto unravel every ribbon from you that night so badly it torments me still.”

Stars above.The eruption in my stomach wasn’t a welcome one. Theneedclenching in places I had to breathe hard to ignore. Nyte was a wicked sin.

“Nor did I do anything else when you believed me to be interacting with physical things. I am limited still. What if I said in all my time locked here, being unable to have your true touch is the one thing fueling my rage to be free beyond sanity?”

My eyes pricked as Nyte leaned over, gripping the step above my head. My heart was slamming in its cage. I didn’t breathe too hard, aware he might feel it against his lips from this perfect angle if I did.

“The lake…” I didn’t yet know how it was possible, but one thing I refused to believe wasn’t real was his warmth then. His real skin against mine. “There or not there?”

Nyte’s jaw flexed. His hand slipped across my neck, his thumb on my chin parted my lips, and for a second I wondered if he would kiss me. “There.”

Even though I’d been sure of it, hearing him confirm it flared something warm and beautiful within me.

“How?”

Nyte shook his head. “I told you that part might comeafteryou free me.”

I didn’t like the unsettling thought he could dangle that explanation over me. But right now, my care for it slipped away.

My fingers loosened on the ladder, unable to stop the impulse to reach for his face. The scar that never failed to draw my attention—not for its beautiful imperfection, but for the unexpected surfacing of my anger to know what had caused it.

Nyte remained utterly still, watching me while I memorized every jagged line. My skin touched his, tracing the raised scar with a faint vibration of energy, but not the real warmth I was growing a frustrating, careless craving for. It spiked my awareness to realize how much I wanted him to be whole and physical. To know what he would feel like since the only recollection I had was hazy with a frozen death.

“How did you get this?”

His phantom hand curled around my wrist, guiding my hand away to snap my wandering thoughts. “Doesn’t matter.”

I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true, that he mattered, but it felt like a dangerous confession that I cared. Needing a moment to collect myself from my reckless thoughts, I banished Nyte from them. He disappeared in my next blink, and the air to my lungs came easier.

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