Page 178 of The Stars are Dying

Like giving over to a slow lap of sleep only to be pulled under all at once, the key grew to a staff, twisting between my hands, and I headed for the raging battle. Not to join them, but to end it.

Clutching the staff between both hands, I cried out, slamming it to the ground, unsure of how it knew of my wishes but pouring all I had into making sure it kept our side safe from the blast. What exploded was time and space itself. Otherworldly beauty that could kill, birth, and transcend. My body rippled with the gales of light coursing through me. My teeth clenched and my stance firmed, and I wondered if this was how I would die.

The energy was sucked back to the key all at once, and as I held it with little knowledge of how to wield it, I was slammed into by a force so powerful I thought I could travel through realms this way. I panted on the ground, trying to disperse the light that stole my vision so I could be sure I hadn’t harmed Zath or Rose or Davina. Even…

The first thing to break through my void was an alluring mist of gold from the irises that targeted me.

“Nyte,” I breathed, shuffling back on my hands as he stalked to me.

The expression he wore was nothing of kindness or recognition.

The throne room was gone. All that surrounded us was my light fighting the darkness that hissed and primed against it.

“It’s me, Nyte,” I tried again, my panic rising.

What have I done?

In my next blink he was in front of me, and I gasped, holding the key staff in both hands as a block when I fell to my back. Nyte gripped it too, straddling me, bearing down with a weight I began to tremble against.

“Nightsdeath,” I whispered.

He canted his head.

Not just a name; it was a part of him.

And this being had only one goal to achieve with me: to end the light.

“Such a fool,” he said, so low and cold. “I told you to leave. I warned you—” His teeth clenched, eyes scrunching shut, and I grappled with the hope that he wasfightinghimself. “Gahhh. Everything would be soeasyif you just died. Died and didn’t comeback.”

“This isn’t you,” I choked out when he pushed down further, sure to crush my chest if I let go. Tears pooled in my eyes. “I think…I think I came back for you. And you…you waited.”

Confusion drew his brows together. The gold of his irises diffused every time he looked to be trying to find himself. “Lies.” He shook his head. “So many lies. And so much fuckinglight.”

Too much light.

I closed my eyes with a whimper when he pushed again, and my arms trembled with the pain to hold him off. My elbows gave in, but instead of allowing the key to crush me, I listened to it clamor away right before hands clamped around my neck.

I grappled with his hands.

“You once told me something,” I wheezed, not opening my eyes to focus. “You said the brightest star needs the darkest night. And I…I understand now.”

The pressure eased, but not his threat that could strangle me in a second.

“People fear the dark because they think it’s where monsters thrive. They’re wrong. The dark belongs to the stars who can’t shine without it. It’s where passion burns brightest. It’s peace and it’s company. The darkness is you.”

I dared to open my eyes, braced to find the loathing stare that would slice me again.

“The brightest star needs the darkest night,” I repeated, finding him through words that bound us like a promise. “I need you. And I’m not afraid of you.”

Nyte blinked and the gold mist expelling from his irises dissipated. The glow died out. The black vines against his skin reversed, fading until the paleness returned.

My sob of relief escaped when his warm palm released my throat to cup my cheek, and Nyte leaned his forehead down to mine.

“I’m sorry,” he said. The pain in his voice cleaved me. “I’m so sorry, Starlight.”

I opened my eyes but couldn’t see him. Because the light was gone—but we were content.

“It’s okay,” I said, reaching out to touch his face. “I’m okay, and you’re going to be too.”

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