Page 53 of The Stars are Dying

I slipped away to nothing.

15

Imoved to a command that wasn’t mine. Whenever my lids opened a crack, blurs of color passed by. The ice in my bones raged as if it were fire, and I wished for any means to take the agony away.

Every now and then, distant voices tried to pull me from a place I wanted to stay. I didn’t deserve the warmth that seeped not nearly as close to me as I’d like, but I nestled further into it and allowed oblivion to claim me again.

The time that had passed eluded me when I found consciousness. My fingers flexed, finding soft fur, and I was enveloped by a heat that blazed at my back. I didn’t want to be awake, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t drift off again, and I feared the silence of my own mind.

My eyes snapped open as I remembered why I savored the heat, the memory of the freezing lake biting my skin. My bones ached, and I hissed as I rolled onto my back. Lolling my head, I tried to grasp my surroundings. Fear shot through me when I couldn’t recognize the room, but the finery it was decorated with forced me upright. I knew of only two places where I’d slept in such luxury. For a second, I thought I was back in the manor, but as I started to take in the details, nothing seemed similar to my elaborate former home.

“We all have fears.”Nyte’s silvery voice slipped into my mind, and I whirled with a gasp.“But I don’t enjoy being forced into mine.”

I was alone in this room. My hand touched my flushed cheek, remembering how it had felt to be pressed to his chest, and that caused me to look down at myself. I was in a new sleep gown of lilac silk, and around me were the soft furnishings of the bed, which had been stripped to be placed on the floor by the fire where I’d awoken.

“Where are you?” I asked, glancing out through the tall glass window to see nightfall.

A timid knock made my head jerk toward the door, and I clutched the blanket to myself as it opened tentatively.

“Oh, good. You’re awake!” a feminine voice chirped.

I could only watch her with bewilderment as she eased herself in carrying a tray. Nothing about her was recognizable, yet she seemed so bright and at ease with me.

“You need to eat. Get your insides warming too.”

“Where am I?”

“My home. We’re on the edge of Alisus.” She crouched to my level, and it was only then I noticed the two small, rounded horns on her head. Her hair wasn’t dark brown like I’d thought from afar; it was a deep green, and when she met my eye, the honey-brown of hers and the scattered freckles on her cheeks made her the semblance of a beautiful forest.

I must have been staring, because her movements slowed, and she tucked a nervous strand of hair behind her ear. Her delicatelypointedear. I lurched back with terror, yet the nature-infused beauty of her and the complete drop of her expression at my reaction quelled my fear just as fast.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I’ve never met a fae before. Or are you—?”

“Yes, I’m fae,” she confirmed with a soft giggle.

I relaxed knowing my ignorant assumption wasn’t wrong. “You’re not…part of the king’s army, are you?”

She fixed the items on the tray as if to distract me from her wince. Mentally I was transported back to the wagon of fae being forced against their will, and the memory surfaced a true fear on this stranger’s behalf.

“No. I’ve been able to remain hidden. I was born just after the last Libertatem that Arania triumphed in.”

Over a hundred years ago.

I studied her a little more, not sure how I felt to know she appeared a little younger than me but was truly far older. “I’m sorry,” I said, even though it was a pitiful offering with the threat she lived under.

“As am I,” she said, tying our circumstances, which were somewhat similar with how the humans had also become the property of the king.

“My name is Lilith,” she said, lifting the bowl to me.

I took the steaming broth though I had no appetite. “Astraea,” I offered. “Thank you.” I forced a few mouthfuls while she watched me expectantly, the delicious vegetable soup like a warm hug. “Do you have magick?” I asked.

“Of course. I feel nature. What it needs, how it fares. I can grow things faster than the Mother—a gift from her to keep our land thriving.”

I smiled, fascinated by her.

“Some humans are born with magick, you know.”

My brow lifted while my lips paused around my spoon.

---