Page 164 of The Stars are Dying

“What’s wrong?” I asked, wanting to smooth out the furrow of his brow.

He shook his head. “It’s howrightthings feel that is most frighting.”

His words inspired trepidation. Invited in a trickle of the cruel outside world I wasn’t yet ready to face.

I hooked my leg over his waist, coaxing him to lie down fully. Desire sparked anew in his amber irises, and beneath me I was thrilled to feel him wanting again.

“What did you say about overlooking the city?”

48

“It pains me deeply to say this,” Nyte mumbled against my bare shoulder, “but you have to get dressed.”

I stood watching the sunrise wrapped in nothing but a black bedsheet. Turning, I found him impeccably clothed. His black jacket was embroidered with gold, and his pants were crisp and tucked into expensive knee-high boots.

My eyes fell to the bed, where he’d laid out a beautiful purple gown. I was in too great a mood to wonder who it belonged to.

We’d only slept for a couple of hours, but it was all I’d needed. Nyte had taken me again and again, fulfilling his other desire as the city turned to starlight and he took me overlooking the empire. Moments from last night kept replaying in my mind, and I cursed the rise of the sun and how the orange glow split the horizon with reality.

I dressed, expecting the gown not to fit in places, but it hugged me perfectly. I stood and looked in the tall mirror, reaching for the corset ribbons, but Nyte crept up and brushed his fingers over mine as he took over. With the first tug I arched into him, tipping my head against his chest.

“Can you promise me something?” I asked.

His lips pressed to my temple, and we met eyes in the mirror. He continued to fasten my dress without looking.

“Anything.”

“No more secrets. You can’t scare me away now. And I’m afraid…you won’t see me the same after mine when I’m not even sureIsee me the same.”

His lips thinned, contemplative. “I suppose you mean we have a lot to talk about.”

I nodded, and when he finished his tie, his large hands on my waist twisted me around.

“You are the same. Now and always,” he said. His palm cupped my nape, and he kissed my forehead. “I’m so sorry, Astraea. I didn’t mean for it to turn out this way.”

The change in his tone threatened to crack the globe we’d crafted around ourselves.

“Sorry for what?”

Nyte pulled back, and I watched his face as he seemed to travel elsewhere. His jaw twitched, anger flashed his irises a dark amber, and I tried to search for the cause.

Footsteps sounded, growing louder, and only then did Nyte turn toward the opening of the room. No doors. He used his body as a shield against whatever was coming, but he didn’t transport us away.

A single person, I thought, from the pattern of steps.

But I never could have imagined the person who walked into our safe space…

“Drystan,” I whispered incredulously.

Though he’d planned to use me, I couldn’t deny the lift of relief he wasn’t dead from being struck by the power of the key. It had retracted to a smaller version of itself, which I reached behind me to take from the dresser.

“You’re bold to seek me out,” Nyte said with a threat I’d never heard before.

The prince didn’t even appear wary, but as a bystander a chill crept over my skin. His caramel eyes slid to me, scanning me from head to toe as though he’d arrived as my savior.

“Astraea, come with me,” he said.

“Quit the act,” Nyte snarled.

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