Page 199 of The Stars are Dying

“You’re not a vampire,” I said.

Nyte frowned, contemplative. “I am many things—that wasn’t a lie or diversion. I was born fae, but because of my mother’s bloodline I was also something more powerful than one should be. When my father passed through the mirror with me, he was guided to this realm, but nothing is ever coincidence. There are always meddling fates, and this one happened to be the God of Death, who made a bargain with my father to enter here. He said he would not give the gift to my father because his ambitions were set. I had none. As just a child, that god bestowed more upon me than any being should ever harbor to give my father the unparalleled advantage he needed. It was never a gift; it has always been a curse.”

I wanted to touch him, offer something of consolation. Nyte stood, and I was drawn to follow. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he began a slow walk to the edge of the wall with no balcony while I stayed back.

“I didn’t know what had changed in me at first, only that I had too much of everything. My emotions were always at war, my cravings and desires amplified. I think the cost of becoming everything was never knowing what I am and always fighting to keep myself from reckless impulses. I gain strength from blood, and I enjoy it. I can feel souls, take them. And I have these.”

Nyte stepped right up to the edge. My breath hitched when he turned to me, and horror seized me when he leaned back…

And fell from the fatally high ledge.

“NO!”

I lunged forward, my heart threatening to leap after him. Then a beat of air stilled me, and what shot up from the place he’d vanished made me stumble back instead.

My gaze fixed itself to him, unblinking, as my back met the wall, and I clutched the dragon egg tightly.

What in the…?

He was absolutely breathtaking.

Nyte hovered in the air, cloaked by magnificent midnight-blue feathered wings—so dark they would be black without the highlight of the moon. I tracked him as he came closer, my pulse racing with exhilaration when his feet touched the ground in front of me gracefully.

“All this time…” I breathed, fighting every blink in case it could awaken me from a dream.

Those beautiful towering wings tucked together behind him.

“I couldn’t reach them behind the veil,” he explained. “It’s still taking some time for my abilities to come back to me after so much time out of use. It wasn’t a lie either when I said the past century has also been the most peaceful. Only because my mind had never been so silent. My emotions weren’t vulnerable to the power. Nightsdeath didn’t exist.”

No—he hadn’t lied. Never. And all at once I was ashamed for ever thinking so, realizing the difference between keeping secrets and withholding full truths that could do more harm than good if spilled at the wrong moment.

Now he was showing me everything.

“May I?”

He held out his hands, and I didn’t question him as I passed him the dragon egg. He made it disappear with shadowy starlight, but I trusted he’d sent it somewhere safe.

“You enjoy heights,” he said softly. “Until you figure out how to reach your own wings, do you want to fly with me?”

I blinked at the palm he extended. “My— What?”

His smile twinkled with delight. “Surely you understand what you are by now. Not the title.”

My breathing came hard. I swallowed, disbelieving, but it settled like an answer I’d searched endlessly for. “A celestial?”

Nyte’s grin erupted in my chest. I slipped my palm against his and walked vacantly with his backward steps.

“The most exquisite, beautiful celestial to have ever lived,” he said between each stride toward the edge.

My adrenaline pumped fast and my smile broke, though my body protested with nerves that this was absolutely insane.

He paused. “Do you trust me?”

My eyes locked onto his. “What are you—?”

It had barely left my lips when he leaned back, the arm around my waist making me tumble with him. I gasped at the flip of my stomach, circling my arms around his neck and holding onto those golden irises as tresses of midnight whipped around them.

For a beat of time, we were two falling stars.

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