Page 129 of The Stars are Dying

And I’d killed him.

“Astraea.”

I pushed myself up when I knew it was dangerous to stay here. The cold would kill me if I gave in to the tiredness weighing me heavy, and as soon as I was sitting, I realized…

“I need my medicine.” I barely got the words out, but I was doused with dread when I looked out the small box window and spied the fleeting waves of the sun’s rapid descent. I had been too caught up in the trials to remember how much time had passed since I last took a dose, and now my body was punishing me. I hadn’t been this long without it, and I feared I wouldn’t make it through the night if I was locked out of the castle, unable to get to the pills my mouth had dried out for.

“Shit,” Nyte cursed, so close I tried to blink him into focus. I hadn’t seen such worry on his face since the lake. “Come on—you can make it if we go now, but we have to be fast.”

As my hand shifted, a chime of metal rang. My fingers curled over the item with a breath of relief in my dire situation. Then I noticed the other broken shard.

“Two key pieces,” I said, holding them up then patting my side to confirm I still had the first in my pocket.

“Greed and envy. You passed them both,” Nyte confirmed.

I pocketed the pieces, and it gave me the surge of triumph and hope I needed to push myself to stand.

Nyte’s expression became desolate as he watched me. He moved, trying to help me, but maybe my mind was too weak to allow it to be as believable as I wanted. I knew I was alone and there was nothing he could do.

Then I feared more than anything my condition would cast him away completely if I couldn’t reach back.

“I’m right here,” he soothed, so close I bit back my whimper, wanting it to be real. To lean into him.

“Please don’t leave,” I said pitifully.

“Never.”

I stumbled out of the hut and clung to every illusion that Nyte was right beside me. Helping me. Using walls and tripping over discarded crates and debris, I made my way through the streets. I couldn’t pull out my map for the way back, but I didn’t need to as Nyte was showing me the way.

Looking up, I shook my head at the growing twilight. “I’m not going to make it,” I breathed.

“Keep moving,” he commanded firmly.

I couldn’t disobey as he used the bond that tied us. I cried out, forcing my body forward against the need to collapse. “You’re a bastard,” I said.

“If it gets you past those damn gates in time, I can live with that.”

“I wish you were real so I could slap you.”

“I shouldn’t find your violence so attractive.”

If I had even a shred of energy to spare, I would have attempted a glare. It didn’t help that the temperature was dropping and the paths were becoming more dangerous, freezing over. Then a white flurry filtered into my vision, and I was sad I couldn’t enjoy the snowfall.

I saw the gates and could have fallen in relief, but the sun was gone, and I realized then I was too late.

They were closed.

I walked up to the guards anyway, hoping in my desperation I could plead with them.

“I need inside—please,” I panted as though I had run without pause to be here, but that was just the exertion my body felt.

The guards remained as still as stone, not even voicing a denial.

“I’m not well. I just need my handmaiden to fetch something for me,” I tried.

Still no response.

The throb of my head became too much. I didn’t want to fall in front of the emotionless vampires. I shuffled away in defeat, until I found an alley I could rest in just for a moment. I slumped onto a crate.

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