Page 496 of Kingdoms of Night

“Something like that.” I laughed softly, remembering diagrams in the book. “I was wondering, if the sun burned you, do stars do the same?”

“Starlight isn’t as intense as sunlight, but I’ve never been in a proximity that made up for the difference between them. Why?”

“Could you ride Iltani that far?”

“I could try.” He mirrored my touch, cupping my head. “Would you like to join me?”

“Yes!” My excitement earned me a pleased chuckle, making me flush.

“That eager to fly once more?”

“I wouldn’t call plummeting like a rock in a pond ‘flying’, but, no, not just that.”

“What else is it?” he asked, genuinely interested.

“I’ve always loved the night, how much it held in its depths. What I missed the most when the endless eclipse came wasn’t the Moon, but the stars that were lost with it.” I sighed wistfully, edging closer to him. “If I could have chosen how my life would have gone, I would have pursued the study of the skies. Joined the astronomers in their towers. Perhaps even become a priestess of Ashtara…not that I would, knowing what I do now.”

“It’s settled then. Once the sun sets, you join me for our starlit experiment.” Tamuz brought me into his arms, holding me as he did in my sleep. “Until then, tell me more about yourself.”

I rested my head against his shoulder and draped an arm across his chest. “What do you want to know?”

“You said you wanted nothing brought from home, and the story of my father seemed to resonate with you. What caused that?”

Conflicted feelings came to a head within me like bulls locking horns, emerging in a hiccup. A few false starts later, with a failed variety of combinations on how to express my lingering hurt, I managed to blurt, “My father killed my mother.”

He said nothing, but I knew he awaited what I had to say next.

“His status fractured when he couldn’t do the one thing he was prized for: Talk to Mahala and end the accursed nights.” I tried to keep my mouth steady, hurt pulling at its sides. “He was always volatile and prone to rage. But it magnified when he fell from grace and couldn’t take it out on the higher-ups that angered him.”

“Leading him to take it out on his family,” he finished for me.

I nodded, feeling choked up. “He would hit us. My mother bore the brunt of it for our sake, until one night it wasn’t a bruise or a twisted arm, but his hands around her neck—”

I couldn’t continue. Flashes of that world-ending moment were seared into my brain, and remembering was like rubbing the fresh burns with salt.

Tamuz stroked my hair and back as I sobbed against his shoulder. “When we defeat my mother, we can give your father what he deserves.”

Nodding, I wiped at my eyes and sniffled til I could speak. “If I could get away with it, I’d use the dagger Nabonassar gave me. He promised me any wish in exchange for your demise, and I was going to ask for his disgrace and death.”

“That dagger has me wondering,” he mused. “If it is the same one Ashtara used on Mahala, then she must have given it to Nabonassar once she knew I’d be choosing my last bride from my birthplace.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” I snorted then continued. “Conniving bitch.”

His chest rumbled beneath me as he burst out laughing, making me smile.

Lying in his arms, trading tidbits of our lives, all I could think of was,“Why hadn’t the love potion worked?”

CHAPTERTWELVE

Sunset came on the fifteenth day, and I couldn’t wait to take to the skies.

In the days leading up to our second effort at curse-breaking, Tamuz and I shared nights like our first, hoping it could take one of those times. Nevertheless, I wasn’t going to stop reaping the benefits of our marriage just because it didn’t prove to be the solution.

While he steadily emerged from his prison, his feet now matching the pale-shade pallor of his hands, and his hair obtaining a firm outline, it wasn’t fast enough. Complaints about the love potion’s inefficiency just had me trying the second bottle Suzianna had bought and nothing changing.

Impatience led me to surpassing Suzianna as she escorted me to one of the topless towers in the palace.

“This isn’t a race!” she yelled after me. “Sundown isn’t going anywhere yet!”

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