Page 187 of The Stars are Dying

Nyte went on, “Your blood is very powerful. There’s no fae or vampire alive who wouldn’t crave it if given the opportunity. And none of them would stop until it killed you if given a taste.”

I shivered to the slip of protection that wrapped like something tangible from him to me.

“What did he do with my blood?” I dreaded to ask. My arm pricked and I rubbed the phantom pain.

“He traded it to vampires as a treaty to keep his establishment clear of them. They obeyed because it would have become a lifelong addiction and he was good at keeping you very hidden.”

“He was taking it himself… it’s how he survived my attack.” From Hektor’s taunts to me in the maze, I knew it was true.

Nyte nodded. “He wouldn’t have survived a stormstone blade in his heart, but you were a few fractions off. I won’t forget we need to work on that.” His mouth quirked but it was short-lived. Between us his palm extended to me. “This will help the deficiency in the meantime while your body is adjusting from the Matter. Though it should be manageable with the right balance of diet and care.”

I stared at the pill with cutting memories of Hektor. How long I’d let him place a similar capsule in my mouth unknowing it was a slow poison of control.

I shook my head. When I met his stare, I braced for his insistence. Nyte’s brow only flinched. He understood. So his fist enclosed around it and when his fingers relaxed again the pill was gone.

“Do you trust me?”

I huffed a laugh, but it turned to a violent cough that ended in a pitiful sob. My ribs felt bruised and my throat like some beast had clawed free from it.

Nyte’s hand was on my back as soon as I pushed myself up to curl over the bed in case I threw up. I didn’t have the energy to protest what he was doing when he took the opportunity to slip in behind me. I craved his warmth as soon as I knew how close it was, and I didn’t fight it when he gently took my shoulders; I lay back against his front.

“I trust you won’t kill me,” I answered, so tired I could barely stay awake.

Nyte’s fingers brushed slicked strands of hair from my forehead before he pressed the cool cloth there again.

“Like everyone else, you want to use me for something.”

I couldn’t care anymore. I was no more than a chipped game piece for the highest bidder. Or the most cunning winner.

“After we won the war, I spent two centuries under the control of my father. I killed for him. Terrorized for him. I didn’t want the praise of a crown for it, but everyone knew I wore the face of their fears—as Nightsdeath. It was only supposed to be for one century, then he would let me go. Until he demanded another, and when the next arrived I refused. He had pushed me so far past any morals that I threatened to kill him instead. I didn’t want the crown. Maybe I simply would have rather watched this world burn itself to the ground. Yet he finally agreed to give me what I needed.” Nyte’s fingers combed through my hair. “A way home.”

“You said you’ve never been where you’re supposed to be.”

“No.”

“Then where?”

“Somewhere far, and there was no guarantee I would make it back. But I had nothing to lose anymore. I didn’t kill my father sooner because he brought me here, and he was the only one who knew the place where I could attempt the leap back. He held that over me, and I exhausted every lead and resource I could to figure it out myself, but it was hopeless. Until now.”

My brow pinched and my slick cheek met his chest as I rolled stiffly. Nyte kept the damp cloth from falling. His tender care was agony.

“This isn’t because I’ve forgiven you,” I mumbled, settling on my side. “You just have an annoying…certain type of warmth.”

I could practically feel him smiling.

“Your fever is breaking. It’ll be over soon.”

I tried to nod, but my head felt like stone. “If you figured out how to get home, why not leave sooner?”

“My father trapped me before then. Led me to the library, beneath it, and told me it was down a passage. I knew what I’d fallen into the moment I stepped past the veil. He’d used that to trick me too, because from it, I felt you.”

“Because I’m the star-maiden.” I finally said it aloud, still not truly believing the weight of what that implied, but it burst with what I had been searching for my whole short life. Something that wasmine.It would be a long road to figuring out what it meant, and the past that was attached to the name frightened me even in the small fragments I was gathering. But I wanted to know.

“That’s not what you are to me.”

I hadn’t felt much of my heart at all these past few days. In my sickness, there were times I’d hoped it would die to spare me the misery. Now it fluttered, something light and warm echoing from within.

“How did you save me on the lake?” I tuned in to the hard beat in Nyte’s chest, moving with his deep inhalation.

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