Page 59 of The Stars are Dying

“Focus,” Lilith said.

I blinked at her assertiveness, which shed light on how flustered and sheltered Iwas being.

“She also had a finely tuned skill for throwing daggers.”

That was something I knew I could match her on. It had begun during my nights of boredom on Hektor’s rooftop terrace, lodging my own dagger into a wall he’d never found torn up.I can do this.The voice of confidence was small, but I had to tune out the taunts of weakness to see this through.

Lilith handed me an armguard. I’d barely fixed the strap around my forearm when a small throwing dagger was thrust at me, then another, and another, and I fumbled with them. She didn’t look back as she crossed by me, and I took a moment to slide the blades into the small holsters around my waist, then the bow onto my back.

After grabbing a quiver of arrows and stuffing a pack full of supplies, we stood in the grand reception hall of the manor. Only when I looked at the door did it hit me all at once what I was about to venture out to do.

“I wish I had a horse for you, but there’s a town only an hour on foot from here.” Lilith took my hand and pressed something into my palm. I opened my mouth to protest the coin pouch when I’d already taken so much. “This is not just for you—none of it. You’ll accept it because what you are doing is selfless. It is for you and me and everyone in this kingdom.”

My eyes burned at her hopeful passion. This stranger who longed for so much out of life that belief was all she had. It made my choice easy. For them all, Ihadto try.

“Thank you for everything,” I said.

We embraced, and that comfort I savored.

“I hope we get to see each other again.”

“We will,” she promised.

With that final vote of confidence, no further words were needed.

I took my first steps out. The winter air nipped my cheeks, but I breathed in deeply. There was no sure end to the path I took, and maybe all I would have was the darkness to guide me, but onward I went to seal the fate of my kingdom. In Cassia’s honor.

18

As I trudged through the crisp forest layered with snow, it became a subconscious habit to touch my stormstone dagger at my thigh in reaction to any noise. Including my own footsteps. I chanted nonsense to myself in an attempt to tame my skittish mood, trying to pull myself together. Occasionally my chest would pulse with a warmth and I’d power on with confidence, but when it dwindled I remembered all over again how out of my depth I was. Alone and wandering through a world I did not know.

It was already exploding with more than I imagined.

Fae. Celestials. The tales of a star-maiden. All so exhilarating it pushed me to go on and discover what else made up the lands. How our society’s hierarchy worked, which fears were true, and what could be fought.

My pulse was racing, my mind reeling. It kept me distracted from the burst of wings, the caw of birds, the crack of branches—everything that powered my legs on with jumpy anxiety to be back in civilization.

I exhaled in relief when I finally spied the town, and I jogged the last stretch to be away from the clusters of timber that had begun to panic me with their endless directions.

Time was not my luxury.

I headed straight onto the town path, my only mission here to acquire a horse. My pace quickened through the streets, and I glided through bodies, the task giving me the focus not to be overwhelmed in a foreign place.

Around the next bend, my eyes lit up at the two horses I found tied outside an inn. I was hopeful the coin Lilith had given me would be more than a generous sum as I knew which horse I desired. Approaching slowly, I gawked at the brilliant white beast with a long mane and hair around its hooves. The care toward it was evident from the way its mane and tail had been beautifully combed and given a few braids.

The thought of trying to climb atop a horse, however, had me mentally flipping through options for how else I could get to the Central just as fast.

“You have never ridden a horse?”

I sucked in a breath at Nyte’s silvery voice, turning my head to find him close by. I was becoming accustomed to the abruptness of his presence. It never failed to stroke my spine, and regardless of all reservation, I never felt alone. Why he followed me, I didn’t want to break the small comfort to find out.

I took a deep breath and reached out a hand, my rigid poise loosening off when the horse seemed to bow its head, receptive to my touch. “I asked Hektor once, but he said they were dangerous and unpredictable.”

“Danger is not in the act nor the being; it arises when one does not know how to handle a difficult situation.” Nyte’s hand ran over the horse’s neck close to mine, and his proximity didn’t go unnoticed, raising the hairs all over my skin. “Unpredictability comes from a lack of preparation or observation.”

In his tone I felt the warning. I had so much to learn, and with where I was heading, my only hope for survival would be to trust in whatever help I could get. Even from him.

I eyed the metal hoop dangling from the saddle. I’d watched people mount horses plenty, though it didn’t translate to confidence now I was confronted with it. “The owner must be inside,” I said.

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