Page 195 of The Stars are Dying

“I’ll kill you myself.” Rose stood, and Zathrian mirrored her.

I couldn’t decipher what the fuck was going on.

“What is he talking about?” I asked her, needing to start with that.

“You’ve already decided you’re taking his side?”

“I have no side,” I snapped, stunned by my own assertiveness, but I wasdonebeing considered a mindless pawn.

Rose yielded a fraction of her volatile anger.

“You’re not the only one who was never supposed to be in the Libertatem,” Nyte said to me, picking a grape and tossing it into his mouth as he leaned back. He said nothing more, leaving it open for Rose to elaborate, and her jaw worked, her fist shifted, and only then did I see the knife she clutched.

His words registered, and I shook my head in confusion, trying to read the answer Rose guarded.

“It seems there is no one among us without a secret to tell.” Nyte filled the weighted silence.

I looked to my other side, where Davina met me with a sheepish look. Then to Zath, who stood braced, shifting his focus between Rose and Nyte as though he would lunge between them. Then down at the devil himself, who was enjoying prodding at Rose’s anger.

“Except me,” I said. “You all have secrets and games, and I have nothing but fragments of a twisted existence.” I wanted to believe I was safe and surrounded byfriends. More than that for how deeply I’d felt for each of them…beforeI found myself wondering if I truly knew any of them.

“We’ll talk ofthatsituation later,” Nyte said to Rose, then he shifted his command to Zath. “Leave us.”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Rose snapped before Zath could guide her. Her pink hair bounced as she stormed angrily from the room. Zath cast us one last look, something of a plea for mercy, before following after her.

The scraping of wood against stone made me turn to Davina. She gave a warm, encouraging smile. “You can come to me for anything,” she said quietly, flicking a gaze behind me, and I appreciated she was tryingto offer the comfort of being able to speak freely with her.

It would take time for me to believe my words could be trusted with anyone. I said nothing, unable to break the hopeful brightness on her face. I simply nodded and matched her smile.

“I would say to keep giving him hell, but lord knows the bastard enjoys it.”

I didn’t expect the casual tease from Davina, nor the easy smile she cast him that was both warming and confusing to see.

Nyte only smirked at it.

It left Nyte and me in silence. I didn’t know what to do or say.

“Will you sit with me?” he asked gently. The tone was a stark contrast to the one he’d arrived here with and had used to provoke Rose. It drew my gaze down to him, and I found it was reflected in his entire demeanor. There were no guards in the room, no other eyes; it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted to reveal someone just as vulnerable as any other person.

But he wasn’t.

He was Nightsdeath.

“What do you want from me?” I asked quietly. Now I was physically well I didn’t know what would come next. I looked over my own skin, at the silver markings that hadn’t changed. Nothing felt different except for my unstable emotions, and something within me hummed like it did when I was close to the veil. “I can’t do what you think I can. I have no power even without the Starlight Matter.”

His hand grazed mine, and I watched him carefully take it. I sat down, not having anything to lose, whether he used me by force or not.

“The things I want from you are entirely selfish and nothing to do with your power,” he said. To my bewilderment, Nyte eased off his chair to kneel before me, not letting go of my hand. “Everything from now on is your choice. Your magick—I think it will take time to resurface, and careful learning so it doesn’t overwhelm you. It’s not going to be easy. In fact, it’s going to be damn hard, but I know you have it in you to embrace it all when you’re ready.”

“Can I ask you something?”

That seemed to lift something from him. “Anything. Anytime you need me. I would stop the rage of a battlefield just to hear you.”

My brow furrowed as I watched our hands, every slight movement of our fingers shy of intertwining. “Did I know you as Rainyte?”

I wanted to take it back with the faint tightening of his hand.

“That’s the name I was born with,” he said. “But it didn’t feel right as it was my mother who named me, and she was not here. You knew of it, but it is not what you called me.”

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