Page 75 of The Stars are Dying

My heart thawed and was now intent on racing to a speed that could kill me. I stared at the colossal silhouette of the round library building across the courtyard, trying to reel in my calm before Rosalind could detect my absolute fear at what she suspected.

Drystan had shown no suspicion…or so I thought.

Rosalind smiled, getting to her feet with feline stealth. I eyed her light footing, thinking it madness she was testing her balance now when the temperature could freeze any imperceptible drop of water. She continued right around the curve until we stood parallel, and then my neck craned to her.

Rosalind took up a side-lean against the wall. “They say Alisus is brilliant in the summer. That your father hosts the grandest celebration.”

The cold began to drift away from me under her interrogation. No—this was just idle chatter.

“He does. It’s his favorite season.”

Rosalind dropped to a catlike crouch. “We didn’t get a chance to properly meet,” she said, but I couldn’t shake the hint of a test in her words.

“You’re Rosalind.”

She huffed a dry laugh. “People tend to introduce themselves to each other, not the other way around.”

“It’s obvious we know each other’s names.”

“Cassia,” she said, drawing out the three syllables as if she were tasting each one.

I didn’t know what reaction she was waiting for as her head tilted. I couldn’t figure out what it was about her that made me want to seek some distance. She was stunning, with a delicate beauty that could easily disguise the lethal combatant I had no doubt she was.

“People call me Rose.”

I found the name wonderful and fitting with the color of her hair.

“Rose it is.”

Her eyes flexed, yet before I could try to sway the topic she straightened. “Cool trick the other day,” she said nonchalantly. “Has me wondering why you’d bother to pick up a sword at all when you clearly have no skill set there.” Hopping onto her balcony, Rose sheathed her blade.

I floundered for a response.

She kept her back to me as she said, “I thought I heard summer was celebrated so passionately in Alisus because it was your mother’s favorite season.”

My skin flushed further as she glided back inside her rooms and the lock clicked.

My mind reeled at her last words. It was a taunt intended to shake me. The kingdoms couldn’t cross over to each other. She never would have met Cassia or her family.

“So far, you’ve successfully made yourself everyone’s target.”

I whirled around in fright, choking when I found Nyte perched casually upon the stone railing.

“I can’t say I’m surprised; you do have a natural attraction to all things bad for you.”

He sat with one knee tucked up, an arm extended casually over it while his other leg dangled inside the balcony. I longed to see his amber irises, but it was likely for the best he kept them pinned to the courtyard below.

“Like you?” I said quietly.

“I wouldn’t say you have worse monsters circling, but certainly more imminent ones. You must be wary around the prince.”

“Why?”

When I blinked, Nyte was gone. Before I could scan around, I felt him behind me like the echo of a presence, never fully there.

“When he sees something he wants, he can be…persistent.”

I wanted to turn around, but instead I wandered over to the railing and braced my bare hands on it to feel the biting cold, needing something solid to reassure me whenever Nyte was around. I wanted to sway the conversation until I could judge Drystan for myself.

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