Page 84 of The Stars are Dying

“You tell me.”

His presence grated on my nerves, but I wouldn’t admit his company was mildly soothing. I turned my focus back to the riddle, scanning it and my map.

“If you knew the city, you’d have a good idea of where that’s telling you to go.”

I wondered if the other Selected had been taught the layout of Vesitire. It was massive, so big that I worried about straying too far and being unable to make it back to the castle by twilight. I had no money for lodgings, and beyond needing somewhere comfortable to rest, I feared becoming a meal if I didn’t make it somewhere safe.

“The most important thing is that you stay hidden. You don’t want to attract any vampires.” Nyte blocked out the sun peeking over the city as he stepped in front of me. His light fingers grazing my chin forced me to look up at him. “This is your biggest advantage over the others. You’re agile, incredibly stealthy, and quiet…” Nyte paused. His throat shifted with his swallow as he scanned my face with a disturbed brow. “Though I’m sorry you had to learn to be.”

His apology wasn’t needed, wasn’t owed, but it was so genuine I thought this was what I’d always yearned for. To be seen. More than just on the surface. Captured by his golden irises, which could steal me far more wholly than the dawn.

“Where did you come from?” I asked. Most of the time I couldn’t be certain he was real.

His expression turned guarded seconds before he stepped out of my path. “Don’t trust anyone, Starlight. No one except the man you arrived with.”

I drew a sharp breath. “Zathrian.”

“He’ll find you soon.”

I didn’t want to ask how he could be so certain of that, and I couldn’t wait for him either. The countdown was on to be back at the castle, and I didn’t want either of us to be trapped out here for the night. Nor did I plan to waste my days finding the first piece of the key if I could help it.

“I’ll have to ask around the city on where this place ofsilencecould be.”

“What if I said I could help you?”

“I’d ask what’s the catch?”

“This time, only that you remember what I can do for you.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “No, thank you.”

His chuckle was a hollow vibration of the wind across my nape. “You could have the first key before twilight.”

I ground my teeth, spinning to him. “I don’t want to owe you anything.”

“You already owe me. Consider this a generous extension of your side of the bargain.”

I shivered at the faint note of something that wrapped promise with threat. “Fine. Where is the first location?”

“There’s a temple called the Sanctuary of the Soundless.”

“The Sanctuary of the Soundless,” I repeated, glancing at my map to squint at any small script that would reveal it, but the words were faded with age.

I didn’t have to look when seconds later the lines were crossed out and redrew themselves in their magical, hypnotizing way. Then a tiny scroll unraveled over the page, directing me over to a tall building surrounded by rocks. From the humble, aged dwellings around it, I knew it had to be on this level. I was glad to maneuver around mostly humans for the day.

“Who gave you that?” Nyte asked, but his hard stare at the parchment told me he already knew the answer.

“The prince,” I said as casually as I could, as though it meant nothing. In truth, the idea of the prince giving me such an enchanted item had shaken me with the same feeling Nyte’s help was giving me.

Given, but with a lingering promise to claim, and I was so desperate and willing that I’d accepted.

“You can’t trust him.”

“You keep talking about trust, yet you expect me to give it to you.”

“Do you forget everything I have been there for so easily?” Nyte towered over me. I thought shadows crept around him to dull the morning light. “I have so far asked for nothing.”

“So far,” I repeated.

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