Page 18 of The Stars are Dying

“Just a bit of fever. I don’t think it’s contagious though.”

I was sure it wasn’t, but Cassia knew nothing of my illness, and I wanted to keep it that way. She was strong and brave and incredibly skilled, and I guess a part of me longed to prove myself to be even a fraction of those things.

“I hope not. I won’t be off to a great start if we arrive at the Central unwell,” she mused.

I tried to match her smile, but my stomach hollowed out with every mention of the games. And my looming escape to watch her in them.

“We?” Calix interrupted, looking between us.

“Astraea is coming with us, and you only have this one chance to complain. Use it wisely,” Cassia said, firm but with a playful smirk Calix rolled his eyes at.

“That isnota good idea.”

Cassia huffed. “That’s all you have to say? You’re coming with me—what’s one more mentor?”

“A mentor of what?”

“Delightful company.”

“You’re saying mine isn’t?”

“Exactly.”

I sipped at my tea as I watched their exchange, unsure if the flush of my cheeks was from that or the tension humming electric between them.

“They release the profiles of the Selected tomorrow.” Cassia sighed, taking up a seat on the bench. I joined her. “The kingdoms will be unsettled. Thirty days—only thirty days in the next one hundred years—they open the borders for all to choose if they want to move. Then, when they’re locked again, thirty more days will decide if they put their faith in the right victor to earn their safety from the vampires.”

“It’s not right,” I said. Pitiful words to describe our barbaric reality.

“No, it’s not,” Cassia agreed. Her sights were fixed on the targets, distant as though she were thinking deeply on the matter and it wasn’t nearly the first time it had consumed her thoughts.

“I did not know we were expecting company.” The deep voice of Lord Reihan, Reigning Lord of Alisus and Cassia’s father, traveled over to us.

“Neither did I,” Cassia chirped, always so bright in his company.

My heart yearned to see it. I adored their relationship. It reminded me this was something I’d never had, or at least couldn’t remember having—but that sometimes felt worse to believe.

“It’s good to see you, Astraea.”

When Reihan spoke to me it was like being touched with the warmth of a father. His presence I had come to treasure over the years.

“You know, when my girl leaves, you are welcome here anytime. To stay, should you wish.”

The offer burst in my chest. I set my teacup down on the bench. “Thank you, but I—”

“Astraea is coming with me.”

I whipped my head to Cassia, not surprised she would blurt it out so eagerly, but I hadn’t had the chance to warn her against it. The more people who knew, the higher the chance of Hektor finding out before I was long gone.

Surprise lifted the reigning lord’s dark brows. Then he broke a wide, fatherly smile. “I am glad. My Cass hasn’t stopped whining about your decline for months.” He pulled his daughter into him with one large fur-clad arm. She giggled when he went to tousle her hair, trying to shove him away.

Every time I witnessed their carefree relationship, it flared a new drive to dredge the memories of my own father that were lost to me.

His palm encased her cheek, his mouth still smiling as a mask, but the real emotion spoke through his eyes. He was mournful. They were mere days from being parted and had to prepare for the possibility it could be forever.

“Councilman Tarran awaits you, my lord,” a messenger called across the courtyard.

The reigning lord’s brows drew together in reluctance, but his duty was something he never took lightly. Reihan turned to me, and the moment his arms opened I stepped into them. It was more than just an embrace; it was a thank-you and a farewell. Both squeezed so tightly in my throat I didn’t think I could speak. His warmth I savored, stored in the most precious parts of my mind. It was the closest thing to a father’s love I might ever remember.

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