Page 122 of The Stars are Dying

We stood simultaneously. I didn’t think I would feel this yearning to stay. I knew I could see him the second I stepped out of this cave, but it would never compare to thisrealness.

“I need one more thing from you,” he said as I backed away to leave. “A vial of your blood.”

I opened my mouth, but the refusal wouldn’t form. It was right there, but I couldn’t spill it from my tongue. I tried again and again, my hand rising to my throat until it dawned on me.

My gaze snapped to him in horror. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothing but what we agreed.”

“Why can’t I say no?”

“A precautionary measure.”

“Youtrickedme!”

“No,” he growled.

“I can’t refuse you for anything…”

“Are you afraid now?”

I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. At least not in a confession, but perhaps he’d stolen that from my mind already. Any inkling of sympathy I had for him was now snuffed out completely.

“Now I see why you deserve the chains you’re in,” I hissed, trying to rein in my composure so as not to let him win a damn thing from me again.

Nyte’s irises flickered, displaying maybe a flash ofhurtbefore the burning amber subdued it. I tore mine away from him to storm for the exit, casting my sharp final words behind me as I went.

“And this place seems exactly where you belong.”

36

Istood outside The Poison Garden with an eerie reluctance to step past the tall, ornate iron gates. They were open, but there was nothing of invitation in the outdoor scene entirely shrouded in black. Not the kind of decay; this was one of beautiful death.

With a deep breath, I strolled in with the hairs all over my body rising at the sense of something sinister. It was so silent, no other bodies to be found. All that disturbed the quiet was the faint crunch of the frost under my boots. I was somewhat expecting a creature like the Crocotta to greet me. Nyte had yet to show at all despite our deal, and I wondered if I was succeeding in blocking him out, reluctant to face him after the cunning trick he’d pulled.

A garden was a fitting term for the decoration around the stone maze path, only this garden was like nothing I had seen before. I thought I recognized some of the flowers, but they bloomed a stark, unnatural black.

My gaze trailed up the dark timber of a tree, finding gleaming black apples that made me want to itch the impulse to reach for one. A butterfly that almost glowed with a trail of gold against the gloomy background flew close to a low-hanging apple. I watched its beauty as it landed, but my awe was smothered when it tensed and shuddered until the blackness from the apple seeped over it and it turned to dark dust that caught on the winter wind.

My face fell in sorrow at what should have been an insignificant death. But I couldn’t help but to think the insect was part of a far bigger story.

“I was looking for you yesterday,” Drystan said, encroaching on my silence.

I hadn’t expected his intrusion out here. With everything I’d learned, I couldn’t help my new coating of unease around him. He could turn on me as the notorious name he carried the moment he discovered I knew of it.

“Oh? I was training, then I took a walk, then I joined Zath in his rooms for supper, then—”

Drystan cut off my rambling. “He’s very protective of you.”

I swallowed, reading his hint of a question. “He’s like the older brother I never had.”

“Hmm.” Drystan reached up.

“Wait—!”

He plucked the apple carelessly, and I gaped at the black fruit in his gloved hand. Was that enough protection from the poison? Drystan revealed two pointed teeth with wicked delight at my reaction, then he brought the apple to his mouth.

I jerked to stop him on instinct, my hand just shy of brazenly grabbing him when his teeth sank into the ripe flesh. My breaths came hard as I watched him tear out a large bite, waiting on a razor’s edge for him to choke and splutter to the ground.

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