Page 13 of The Stars are Dying

“The Keep,” I answered, glancing skyward to estimate the time as I’d been taught by my friend. But time was becoming a mystery of its own with the nights growing longer each year.

I pulled up my hood as I edged toward the town. The clamor always jostled me, and I stilled. Sounds like wheels and hooves clamoring over stone, the bustling traffic of bodies I could wedge myself between. Every time I came here, months apart, I remembered all over again another reason I resented Hektor’s tight leash and why I’d always asked to accompany him on his trips away. I didn’t want my heart to race at the mere thought of being here. I hated the cowardice that rose in me, overwhelmed by the confrontation of civilization. Crowds I feared being trampled by, getting lost in, or which would prevent me from breathing.

I almost eased back a step until I gasped at the force that formed to stop me. “You’re not real,” I muttered.

I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to be right.

Hands trailed up my arms over my cloak, fingers squeezed lightly, and I wanted to melt in the assurance no matter who it came from.

“I am whatever you want me to be.” Nyte spoke aloud, his gravelly tone racing over my skin. “And right now, you do not want to turn back.”

I nodded. More than anything I wanted to pushforward. His cloak of safety allowed a surge of defiance to break over me. The darkness, the night. It followed me even now, and I grasped confidence from the stars.

Sheathing my blade back at my thigh, I forced myself onto the streets that had become a dangerous mix of slush and ice with the footfall. I trod carefully, but I didn’t anticipate how busy the town would be at this hour. Blurs of color, flashes of fabric and coin and faces, made my head spin. I bumped into people twice my height then half of me, apologizing but receiving nothing except disgruntled looks in return. I breathed through the growing hysteria of being smothered by bodies, touched by strangers.

“Take the next left.”

I curved into the quieter alley, not slowing, but breathing the air no longer tainted with odor and heat greedily. At the end of the alley, I could see the large building crafted of the most pristine white stone and glass.

Alisus Keep.

This was where the reigning lord lived with his wife, five children, and many noble houses of the kingdom. The eldest of the ruler’s daughters, like me, harbored a soul for wandering. Sometime four years ago began the warm notion we were bonded somehow. How else would we have crossed unlikely paths the first time curiosity made me leave the manor?

I tentatively stepped back onto the open streets, glad I was out of the bustling chaos of the trading port. My skin was slick though I shivered with the cold. The contrasting temperatures advanced my exhaustion. Each step added a new phantom pebble to the weight in my boots, and I didn’t know if I would make it.

When I saw the large black iron gates, I stopped in an underpass to plan, pressing my back to the stone and slipping my eyes shut in an attempt to subdue the fainting spell that peppered my vision. Not here. Not where I was completely vulnerable and alone.

“What is your plan now?”

I couldn’t open my eyes to see if Nyte would be there in real form. Instead those piercing golden irises found me in the confines of my mind.

“I could think if you would leave,” I muttered breathily.

“You can hardly stand.”

My body turned rigid with alarm, lids snapping open when his voice echoed down the tunnel rather than in my thoughts. I couldn’t see him—not fully. He kept to a shadowy dip and blended in seamlessly as if he hadn’t spoken.

“Is any of this real?” I asked, though I became afraid of the answer.

“What would make this real? A sound?” He spoke so slowly, smooth like icy smoke. “A touch?” Then a lick of wind blew behind my ear and down my spine, its caress heading in a deliberate direction. “A scent?” Notes of mint filled my nostrils in my next deep breath. “A taste?” I thought I felt a tingling pressure on my lips, and I gasped.

I stepped away with the flush of my body.

“You made your point,” I said, breathless as I didn’t truly believe it, but I needed a distraction from him. “I’m going to ask to see the reigning lord.”

“I’m sure they’ll send out a carriage for you to save the long walk on foot.”

“If you’re not going to be helpful, you can damn well leave me alone.”

“I can’t,” he answered with a soft gravel. His deep inhale devoured my scent, his mouth so close to my ear I should have been fearful. Logic screamed I shouldn’t be this comfortable with his closeness, but I was so confused and caved to being a lamb in the clutches of a predator if that was what this was. Something about him was additive, though not in the way of the soulless who’d tried to trap me as his willing victim. I couldn’t explain the difference. I only knew my will right now remained mine, and falling for Nyte’s allurement was entirely my own cloud of foolishness.

My breath whooshed from me when, contrary to his words, his faint impression drifted away completely on the next gust of winter wind. I turned and the cage of my chest rattled when a man and woman with linked arms stepped into the underpass. I blinked my surprise away to study the people’s wears. Fine furs and impeccably groomed hair on both heads. Paired with their poise, I concluded our destinations to be the same.

“Are you heading into the Keep?” I blurted before they stepped into the daylight.

They startled, eyes roaming over me as though trying to determine if I was worth a response at all. Their scrutiny made me shift my weight, and I refrained from examining myself through their eyes. Hektor had a taste for the finest things; I had nothing to be concerned about there.

“Indeed we are,” the man said at last.

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