Page 88 of The Stars are Dying

My mind strained with the mental tug-of-war, convinced I could do both and incredulous I even thought that was an option.I can do it, I repeated internally, more as a motivation to myself.

“Don’t let your pride cloud your rightful judgment.”

The countdown began, and I blocked him out, my palm pressed to my forehead, which had begun to throb with adrenaline.

I have to solve it.

Fifteen seconds.

I shook my head as though it would fix the damn lines into place.

Eight seconds.

“Astraea.”

My teeth clenched, fingers flexing with eyes fixed on the ground.

Four seconds.

A snarl sounded across the room, and I made my choice.

Abandoning the game, I drew a dagger from my belt, shifted my stance, and sent it soaring for the wolf as it lunged for the child. The beast turned to beautiful silver dust when my blade pierced it, and the thump of metal lodging into wood stunned me. When it dissipated…

The girl was gone too.

An eerie feminine chuckle stroked my skin. “I feared for a moment you would let your pride win. I never should have doubted you would prevail. After all, what an ironic failure it would be.”

I didn’t know what it meant by that, still rooted in my stupor. With the fall of my eyes, I found the lines scattered in no order like when I’d first walked in.

A light touch trailed over my arm and Nyte turned my palm upward. From above, the gray piece of metal floated down, tingling when it hovered over my skin. Until the enchantment left it completely and it rested coolly in my possession.

“Not all forfeited trials are lost,” the spirit said. Then, for the first time, the Crocotta spoke only to my mind.“Only when the crown shifts will your heart and loyalty be tested. Not all written pasts are true, and not all futures told are certain.”

Each word carved a space within me, determined not to be forgotten, though right now I couldn’t untangle the meaning.

When the crown shifts.

I glanced back at Nyte, who stared at me with guarded concern. He’d warned me against trusting Drystan.

“Take this,” the Crocotta said.

A blonde woman approached me. Her light blue eyes smiled as warmly as her mouth as she extended something to me. It was then I understood their treasured silence. When speech was taken away it opened a person up tofeelmore intensely and see far deeper past the surface to read someone. It was both beautiful and vulnerable.

I took her offering, knowing my gratitude was received from the motion of her sparkling eyes and the dip of her head before she turned away.

Nyte stood behind me and gave a gentle jerk of his head for us to leave.

Before I stepped out into the winter air, the Crocotta’s final word chilled me first.

“Good luck to you, Astraea.”

27

“It knew who I was the whole time,” I ranted in a panic, walking the streets with Nyte. I fidgeted with the key piece, skimming every grove and dent. It was nothing more than a sad piece of metal. The beginning of a pattern had been engraved into it, but it broke off before it could be fully admired.

“Of course it did. It had to find out what to test your pride with.”

I shot him an incredulous look. “What if it tells the king?”

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