Page 74 of The Stars are Dying

An Immortal Heart of Vengeance.

“Do you assume women are only interested in hopeless romance?”

He could hardly feign innocence with his shrug. “That one doesn’t sound hopeless.”

He was right, and admittedly a part of me was thrilled by the title. Maybe I even related to it.

I began the climb down with it hooked under my arm. Planting my feet firmly on the ground, I surveyed the bookcases, remembering this was where he’d brought Elena—yet that only confused me more.

I found Drystan watching me with curiosity, looking so ordinary it was easy to forget what he was.Whohe was. I had to remember he would watch me die in this game. He was the son of the man responsible for the slaughtering of the human kingdoms he’d forced to compete for safety. I blinked at the daunting realization I wasn’t certain how many Libertatems he had watched. All of them? That would make him over three hundred years old, and that fact paled me.

He took a step forward and reached out a hand while my thoughts were distracted. I drew a sharp breath at the faint sting of his touch. Drystan studied his fingers when he pulled away, and my pulse lurched up my throat at the crimson over his skin.

The prince said nothing for a painfully slow few seconds, and my adrenaline spiked wondering if my blood could trigger his impulse of thirst.

“How did this happen?” he asked with a new low darkness to his tone. I couldn’t decipher if it was restraint.

“I fell,” I said through my drying mouth.

When Drystan finally tore his gaze from his hand, his pupils were so large I swallowed hard. Until he fitted his gloves back on and took a long breath as if pushing back his dark instincts. My pulse thrummed, unable to find relief thinking he could snap at any moment.

“I’m growing tired,” I choked. It was a lie. I never felt more awake than when the stars came out.

I wondered if I’d conjured his skeptic look that blinked to impassiveness in my mind, but I needed away from him before I risked falling for more of the kindness that wouldn’t do me any favors.

“I’ll escort you back,” he said, leading the way.

“Is there a way I can come out here again?” I asked.

“The doors are warded. You will need me with you.”

Requesting the prince’s company wasn’t something I was keen to do. But somehow, I had a feeling I wouldn’t need to.

23

By nightfall on the sixth day, I wanted nothing more than to map the stars after a week of expending energy. Physical against Zathrian, and mental against Draven.

Throwing a thick cloak over my shoulders, I eased out onto the balcony. My breaths blew out around me in frosted clouds, but I savored the icy air that coated my throat. Glancing sideward, I stifled my fright at the body I saw. They could have been mistaken for dead, because why else would someone willingly lie upon the narrow flat of their balcony stone railing? But then I saw their leg swinging purposefully over the edge, carefree and very much alive.

I didn’t know if I should speak to make my presence known, too afraid it could spook them enough to tumble off the edge. At this height the fall would be fatal.

“You’ve made quick work of becoming the prince’s favorite.”

My mind painted her face before she propped herself up. Rosalind’s skin was breathtaking in the moonlight, unlike my fair tone, which had turned even more ghostly. The pink of her hair was highlighted so stunningly it had me yearning for my silver tresses.

“I wouldn’t say that,” I replied.

Rosalind propped herself up on a knee, and when her arm draped over it the glint of her blade snapped my awareness. “None of us have had private time with him. He is beautiful, I suppose,” she drawled, beginning to weave the hilt expertly through her fingers. I tried not to let her intimidation tactic get a rise out of me.

“He’s…fine.”

Fine? Really?I could have slapped a palm to my face. It wasn’t really what came to mind when I thought of Drystan, but I tried not to let him linger there for long at all.

“The tour wasn’t much. A bland show-around of an elaborate home, nothing more than a poor attempt to make us feelhonored.” Rosalind’s resentment wasn’t subtle. “Perhaps the prince has been the king’s spy all along and knows more about us than we’ve been led to believe.”

My heart froze still. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“Possible, yes. Maybe knowing the competitors helps him to set us up for the game. A cheat none of us are aware of.”

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