Page 114 of The Stars are Dying

Surprise lifted his brow, but I also watched a dark flare of recognition, which I took as confirmation he had the information I needed.

“Where did you hear that name?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“That’s not how bargains work, Starlight. It’s give-and-take.”

“Fine. Cassia and Rose figured it out, and you’re going to protect her too.”

Nyte gave a single mocking chuckle. I was so fucking far from being able to tolerate his jesting.

“Are you sure you want to keep stacking conditions on your end? How much are you willing to owe me in return?”

“What else do you want?” I didn’t care anymore—whatever it took for him to give us the advantage.

“Careful,” he said, the word teasing down my neck like a caress of shadow. His head tilted as he observed me through molten eyes. “There are many things I could want, and you are too vulnerable right now to agree to something you might regret.”

His prod at myvulnerabilityonly blazed the fire growing inside me. I didn’t want to beweakor thought of as naïve and foolish. Not anymore.

“What. Do. You. Want?” I repeated. I wasn’t in that cage. And when the time came to unleash him, I wouldn’t care for what he could do to me as I would have achieved what I wanted. Cassia’s legacy would be fulfilled if I killed Nightsdeath for her.

For that, I didn’t care if my selfishness damned the world.

“To be freed, of course.”

I waited, watching his contemplation.

“My other request will come after that.”

“That’s not a fair bargain.”

“No one said I played fair.”

“You think I’m desperate enough to agree tooweyou?”

“Seems like you are.”

For a second the thought of crossing him passed my mind. I could use him, gain what I needed, and never free him at all.

“Do you think me such a fool as to allow that? No. I’ve gone too long aiding you with no sure return.” He answered my thoughts, and I shook my head, taking a long step back.

“I want to know how to block you completely from my mind,” I snarled.

His mouth curled cruelly. “Your thoughts are frantic right now. You’re practically screaming them at me, and it’s bringing on a headache.”

I glared at him, but he was right. My mind was blaring, but I couldn’t get it to stop.

Pacing away, I tried to calm myself, taking deep, steady breaths to be sure I knew what I was doing. What I wanted. But I could see no other way to ensure both Rose and I survived this. Nyte knew things. He could know how to end the prince, perhaps the king too, and guide me through the remaining trials to see the end.

“Do we have a deal?” he called, a note of song taunting me from the darkness. My spine curved with it. Maybe I even enjoyed the thrill it awoke in me.

“What do I need to do?”

Nyte’s smile showed teeth, revealing two longer pointed ones I’d never noticed before. It made me recall the moment they’d come so close to my throat. What awoke in me at the thought of his bite wasn’t terror, but an unexplainable sinful desire.

Which was even more frightening.

He cast his gaze up and I followed, knowing now what surrounded the circle through which we could see only the sky. He looked through the gap in the cave as if he could see the stars from here, and I watched his eyes map a set pattern like it were a habit the moment his dawn irises touched the sky.

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