Page 200 of The Stars are Dying

Nothing more. Nothing less.

I kissed him in our free fall. Once, until his arm hooked under my knees, cradling me to him, and the air whooshed from me when a strong pulse stopped our fall gently.

Then it carried us high.

If there were words to describe this, I didn’t know them. Soaring higher than I ever thought possible altered my reality, and I didn’t want to ever come down. The air was so much sharper up here, pricking my nose and cheeks, but I gave a breathy, euphoric laugh. Buildings stretched out to no end and stars spilled across them. It became a kaleidoscope of scattered color against a maze of silhouettes.

Nothing could compare to this.

“How high do you want to go, Starlight?” he said across my ear, making my body shiver with the warmth that contrasted the nip of cold.

My hand reached up as though I could touch the moon. “Endlessly.”

We flew for not nearly enough time before Nyte lowered us to a high cliff topped with snow. When he set me down, I couldn’t break away from him. My eyes trailed over the curve of his wing and my hand was compelled to reach up over his shoulder. Nyte tensed at my palm on his chest as I traced the feathers, so much softer than I’d imagined them to be.

“What does it feel like?” I asked.

“Like any other touch of yours—and I don’t think I have the words to tell you how burdens lift with it. Even when you’re driving a blade through my chest.”

I winced, not regretful when it had served as the cause of this moment, but I hoped not to have another.

“I shouldn’t have found it as arousing as I did,” he murmured.

I met his eyes, incredulous, but all he gave was a light chuckle when I pushed away. The sound was beautiful. Rare, I realized.

Until it was stolen by a serious firming of his face as I anticipated a question.

“You’ve been holding onto something, Astraea. I’ve been wondering how to explain it to you.”

Trepidation settled in.

He went on. “You feel it in your chest. Like a second heartbeat not in the right place. It warms when you need it.”

Memories of that exact feeling echoed through me, then that same heat pulsed under my ribs, and I gasped, raising my hand to it.

“You should be able to do this yourself, but it might be best if I help you.”

“What is it?”

His brow pinched with careful sorrow as he stepped up to me, as though the answer was better explained with a demonstration. “Do you still trust me?”

At the same time as he asked his hand slipped under my cloak, around my back, before trailing along my spine and bringing our bodies flush with a firm press between my shoulder blades. This position flashed something familiar, and my breathing grew labored.

“Yes,” I answered, my back curving to his guide as his palm slipped over mine at my chest.

We locked eyes, and I held his desperately with the tingling that grew over my shoulders, vibrating every rib. Then a glow broke between us, and my lips parted. Nyte guided our hands to hover, and I felt like my soul was being pulled from my body.

Fear struck me as I remembered the time Nyte had done this before. The day we met. Or at least, he had shown me he was capable of it. With that recollection came the horror he’d warned me of death should it stray too far from my body.

I strained against his hold, letting the thought pass that this had been a trick.

“Relax, Astraea,” he soothed.

I tried, but it was difficult to fight against my basic survival instinct.

My palm heated underneath with a promising warmth I became transfixed by. An orb of white and blue pulsed above it. My eyes pricked, blurring the edges of the magnificent life I held, so pulsing and familiar my tears spilled, and I didn’t know how this was possible, only that I didn’t ever want to let it go. It echoed with a laugh that perhaps was only in my mind. I sobbed with a smile. It filled me with love and joy and all such carefree wonders.

“How?” I whispered.

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