Page 166 of The Stars are Dying

But Nyte wasn’t the male I thought I knew anymore. He was someone unforgiving, and now he was perhaps giving in to the vengeance he’d spent a century building.

“My first drop of honesty for you, Starlight. He is only my half-brother.”

That blazed something in the prince, who tried to attack. He barely got to move before Nyte hit him again, forcing him to his knees, and he gasped.

“Please stop,” I whispered.

It was as if I no longer existed while this dormant battle was reforged between the brothers.

“He killed my mother,” Drystan rasped.

Nyte kneeled, grabbing Drystan by the collar.

My mother.It confirmed what I feared. Shifted the world.

The king was Nyte’s father.

The thought was dizzying. I wanted to escape, but they were blocking the only exit. Except for the open archways for windows that led a very,verylong way down.

“Did he even tell you what you are?”

Nyte’s fist connected with Drystan’s jaw again, his fury rising with every test.

Drystan didn’t stop. “Did he even tell you whatheis?”

“I know what you are,” I blurted, my pulse thrumming in my ears as I confronted it.

Drystan had the audacity to look confused.

“You were there that night, right before Hektor found me.”

The slight widening of his eyes was all the confirmation I needed.

I shuddered to say, “You’re Nightsdeath.”

That fell all shock from his face. His mouth began to pull upward in amusement, and he got in one single laugh before Nyte grabbed his jacket to haul him back up. He was so furious shadows leaked through the room, circling and priming.

“I see your power is coming back,” Drystan mused. As though he had no regard for his life when Nyte was so dangerously sharp right now.

“You werethere?” Nyte seethed.

“Yes.”

One word, and it was enough to snap something in Nyte.

He reached behind himself, and I was frantic, unsure of what to watch as it all happened so fast. The shadows answered him, swirling like a starlit void. Familiar. When he pulled back, I swayed at the dagger he now held.

My stormstone dagger.

“Are you going to tell her, or shall I?” Drystan taunted.

Nyte aimed the blade for the prince’s chest, and it didn’t look like he would hesitate to drive it through—

“Nyte!” I called his name, the cold air breezing behind me as I stepped up onto the ledge.

That seized his attention.

I was still trying to process what I’d seen, because I was sure I’d done that before. Been so desperate for my weapon that I’d somehow conjured it.

---