Page 51 of The Stars are Dying

I blinked at that, turning the word over in my mind, but I wasn’t so confused in my grief as to be mistaken. “I never told you my name,” I whispered. “You’ve been following me all this time. Did you kill her? Send him to kill her…?” My next breath came like a spear in my gut. “Was it supposed to be me?”

“I had nothing to do with your friend’s death.”

Death.

That word would never fail to slam into me with the force of the world caving in. My mind reeled. I couldn’t believe him. I didn’twantto believe him, but my thoughts waged war. I wanted to try to let rage consume me enough to fight him, but my heart was achingso badly it was already a lost battle.

Nyte took another step, and I did the only thing I knew I could.

I ran.

My hands gripped my skirts as I pushed my legs faster than I’d ever run before. Tears streamed past my temples and adrenaline pulsed hot with the chase, though my mind taunted it would be over in a heartbeat. I was a lamb caught in a lion’s game, a fool for even existing in this world I could not survive in. And no longer did I want to when Cassia was my only fight, and she was gone.

I flew through the woods as the light rain turned to snowfall, hoping my lungs that caught fire could end my suffering before anothercreaturehad the satisfaction of taking my life. Ahead the woods opened, and I spied the icy sheet. A frozen lake. But while the bitter temperature stung my cheeks, I couldn’t be certain it was so cold to have frozen the water thick enough to withstand my weight.

“Astraea, stop.”

I shook my head as if it would expel his voice. I didn’t slow, focusing instead on blocking him from being able to reach into my mind. Breaking past the trees, I threw all sense away, pushing on against the basic survival instinct that screamed the ice was too thin.

“STOP!”

Nyte’s tone spiked a rattling fear that almost made me falter. My first step onto the lake confirmed the probability it would break before I reached the other side. The splintering of ice rang in my senses, the same sound I’d match to a thin arrow cutting the air. It played over and over, and there was a certain melody to it, picking up speed as a crescendo before the ice broke.

In the exact moment I knew I was awaiting the end I found peace. I stopped running. Looking down to watch the ice fragment, I found myself staring at the reflection of all I was within. Splintered.

The slow echo of the cracking ice became a countdown only the lake could measure.

“Don’t move.” Nyte’s breath sounded labored. Not with exertion butworry.“I can’t save you here.”

I’m not hoping to be saved.

I didn’t tell him that. Something in his tone made me believe it would hurt to hear. My shoulder blades locked, not expecting him to be so close behind me, and the thought of the ice breaking to take him too… His reckless chase to condemn himself shouldn’t be my concern, yet it was the only thing that stung me with regret.

I shifted my foot back, only wanting to see one last face…

The ice split beneath me before I got that chance, and black water swallowed me in an instant.

Never before had I been gripped so wholly and suddenly. Clutched tightly in the arms of a frozen death, the pain that shot over every inch of me was quickly numbed by shock. As I drifted, the current pulled so strong that even if I tried to swim I wouldn’t break through the ice above me. I had no will to try as I gave up. My eyes fluttered open to glimpse their last view. All was dark with blurred streaks of light, and there was a wondrous beauty to it.

I blinked around hazy flecks of color until a shadow grew. Then a flare of gold illuminated, reaching for a bright silver, and I wondered if any of it was me while my arms drifted above the rest of my body.

Something hit me, slamming into me before holding me tight, and if I weren’t so weak I would’ve wrapped my arms around it. But my body was pulled by a greater force as I began to shut down.

Gravity claimed me mercilessly. I wished to be floating, but instead I was weighted and heavy, crushed by the force of nature but still drowning when the breezy air didn’t fill my lungs. Pressure beat in agonizing pulses on my chest. Then the first sensation of something warm on my lips jolted me awake like lightning, making my eyes fly open.

I coughed, spluttering water, and the punishing grip of ice shook me violently. I was held tight against it, panting heavily, and droplets of water fell to my skin.

I couldn’t grasp full consciousness, but I could vaguely make out my body being pulled. Some weight fell away. My cloak. Then my arms were peeled from their sleeves. When laces were pulled over my breasts I felt my protest rise, but I was too weak to voice it.

“You won’t get to hate me for this if you’re dead.”

Nyte was here. In my agony I was glad not to be alone. Thought this was the second time I thought I’d heard the wavering of his composure. There was a new clarity to his voice, as though anything I’d heard from him before was only an echo of reality compared to now.

My teeth bashed together, and when my under corset came off, leaving me in only my sleeveless chemise, I was pulled into a hard form. He was sowarm.It was as if it was the first time I’d felt it, the heat from him so inviting I turned into it far too eagerly. My cheek met skin and I breathed in faint notes of mint.

“Nyte,” I whispered, finding those eyes of dawn that came in and out of focus.

His palm cupped my cheek, returning the warmth to it, and I shuddered. “I’ve got you.”

---