Page 202 of The Stars are Dying

“But first we have to stop the king,” I said.

A low rumble resounded. I cast my sight up but found nothing as the source. It grew, vibrating under my feet, until the crack of thunder made me wince, the ground shook, and Nyte held me before my footing could trip me.

I went to cover my ears, but it stopped, easing away like a distant quake.

“We don’t have much time,” Nyte said, glancing at the stars.

“What was that?”

“It happens every now and again. It will become more frequent, the realm refusing the cosmic power growing on it. I think having your power suppressed has kept the damage low, but as you begin to find it again, it will clash with my energy. The celestials have had three hundred years to regain their strength after the two centuries we existed together that were detrimental for them. The impact this time can be stopped far sooner now I can leave.”

I couldn’t believe it. “Why did I come back?” I whispered in horror. “They could have taken back what was stolen from them without me. I’m not their savior—I’m their curse.”

Nyte’s eyes closed as if he couldn’t bear to hear it. “I’m the curse, not you.” His knuckles brushed my cheek. “Destiny is cruel to bring us together. Because you are the most precious gift I can never have.”

“How do I know…? How doyouknow that what you feel for me isn’t for a person of the past?”

Instead of matching my drop of uncertainty, Nyte’s face brightened like he enjoyed the question. “Your soul is magnetic. There won’t exist a time or place where I won’t be drawn to it. And, love, you might look the same, you might remember everything we almost had one day, but here and now I’m falling foryou. I found you with a steel heart in my chest, and for the first time in three centuries it doesn’t feel so cold. Not because of what you were, but for everything you are. Do you believe that?”

How could I not when inside I erupted with such an unfamiliar feeling?

This… Was it possible to belong not to any place, but with a person? To find home not on land, but in another soul?

I didn’t know how to respond. He seemed to know it, pulling me into him, and I rested a cheek to his chest, trying not to let the ache overcome this moment.

The agony that had begun to tear open with the cruel countdown of time we had left together.

57

Nyte landed us on a wide-open flat of the castle roof. I couldn’t stop lingering my admiration on his tall, beautiful midnight wings. He set me down and almost eased a small smile before his hand stiffened on my waist.

“What’s—?”

“You are safe, Astraea.”

His switch of tone coiled my gut, racing my blood with alarm as I tried to find what had caused such a lethal, firm guard on his face.

“There’s something I need to do before things get too far out of my hands than they already are. Please trust me.”

Boots shuffling against stone shivered my skin. Nyte pushed me subtly—not enough to shield me entirely, but ready to intercept anything that might reach for me.

The first person I saw emerging from the open stone steps…

“Drystan.”

He gave no warm reception to my voice, but the tilt of his head to observe me as though I were someone different made Nyte shift.

“You’re in over your head, brother,” Nyte said with a deadly calm. More bodies emerged, and I almost shrank further behind Nyte at seeing the many sets of red eyes and leathery wings. “Have you brought them here to witness me take over what you pitifully believed you could lead?”

“We thought you were dead.” The new voice that eased out from the parting vampires stilled me cold.

Arwan.

“That’s not his real name,” Nyte muttered at my loose thought. He addressed him. “Tarran.”

The redheaded vampire cut a wicked smirk.

“How did you elude the king?” I asked.

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