Page 80 of The Stars are Dying

My vision peppered. I watched Draven wipe his brow and Rosalind give a few tired blinks. Then the empty glass before me turned to three. They’d made us drink something, and the thought of falling unconscious at their mercy slicked my skin with dread.

Something warm and reassuring pulsed in my chest. My hand rose there, and I calmed a little, feeling like someone was holding me back.

“I have a feeling this Libertatem will be one to remember,” the king said, but his voice became distant. “Good luck. I look forward to greeting one of you at the very end.”

My head felt weighted under water, but then several chairs were scraped back as the others began to leave. I wondered how they had the strength. I planted my hand on the table and stood but fought the urge to fall right back down.

“You’re just fine,” a low voice rumbled like vibrations over surface water. I focused on it for just long enough to confirm my humiliation at who it was. I didn’t want the prince’s help, knowing his favor could come at a far higher price than anything else in this wretched game.

“I can take her.”

Yes.I wanted to be in Zath’s safe embrace more than anything. But Drystan didn’t let me go.

“No need.” He brushed Zath off.

I cast Zath a sorry look, barely making out his full features, only his unmistakably broad silhouette. Then I caught a flicker of pink as it swayed. “Zath,” I rasped. Tiredness clawed at me, but I was determined to stay awake for as long as I could. “Rose doesn’t have anyone.”

About the strategy of the game I shouldn’t care. Yet I couldn’t stomach the thought of her being alone and vulnerable right now.

Zath gave a firm nod of understanding. I’d always admired his protective nature no matter who was in trouble.

I leaned on the prince, not having much other choice.

“When you wake up, you won’t have the faintest idea where you are. You can’t panic. You’ll be somewhere in the city,” Drystan said, his breath blowing across my ear as he spoke so quietly. “You need to make it back here every twilight. It is the only place truly safe for you. Trust no one, as everyone can be bought for the right price.”

“You-you’re not supposed to be hel-helping me,” I said, barely a slur of words. I tried to cling onto his voice, the scents of wood and vanilla, anything to stay present, but I was drifting fast.

“I’ve never really cared for my father’s rules.”

I decided I wanted to discover how many layers the prince had.

He helped me inside, where I quickly recognized the layout of my rooms. I wanted to stay seated, but Drystan helped me lie back. “This one will help you far better,” he said. Taking the map from my lazy grip, he slid something flat and folded into my leathers, skimming my chest—which in my right mind might have made me blush.

Drystan leaned away, and out of instinct I reached for him. My grip around his wrist was weak, and I didn’t really know what I intended with it.

“You’re going to get through this just fine,” he said.

My lids fluttered, and as I was drifting, my hold slipped from Drystan, and so did his presence from me. Because another took his place. I wasn’t sure why, but I needed to know—

“The prince is right about one thing. Don’t trust anyone, especially him,”Nyte said to my mind. There was a certain strain of irritation in his tone.“I’m not leaving you. You still owe me your bargain, Starlight.”

I thought I nodded, letting my head fall and my eyelids with it.

25

Agirl was running through the woods. Sharp bites stung her with every step over the rocks and fallen branches. The icy air coated her bare arms and touched her skin through the holes in her thin white gown.

Waiting for her when she awoke had been the Reaper of her previous life, and he had come to claim again. The betrayal clawed at her within, more searing than the fire of her lungs as she fled from them. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she couldn’t stop running. She couldn’t lose before she'd had the chance to find the one she’d come back for and to right the wrongs of the world.

A figure emerged onto her path, and she stumbled to a halt. A new threat. One who might have tracked her from the scent of her blood, which had been drawn out by the woodland’s spindly limbs reaching to grapple with her.

In the dark she couldn’t find a shadow to confirm whether he was soulless or shadowless. It didn’t matter. They would both feel the raging desire for her blood, especially when it was all but offered to them like this.

“What a gift the gods have sent my way this night,” he sang. His demeanor exuded the arrogance of a predator who knew his prey had no means of escape.

Her heart pounded furiously. While the person she ran from was another threat to her life, it would be better than having time or blood drained from her.

In her next blink, the vampire’s body was pressed to hers.

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