Page 138 of Stars in Aura

‘He is fallen.’

Issa’s fingers tightened where they hung at her sides.

Zavei said nothing more.

He swiveled, his obsidian cloak billowing as he strode from the chamber, his silence a door closing.

Ki’Remi sliced eyes at Issa, noting the subtle shift in her shoulders and the exhale of breath she released.

‘This is worse than I imagined,’ she murmured.

The Rider folded his arms across his chest. ‘What exactly are we walking into, Issa?’

She locked her gaze with his, her own dark and unreadable.

‘A reckoning.’

The Sableman stalked toward the terrace, scouting and mapping for any risk.

The patio was open, a vast, endless balcony overlooking Sivania’s divine sprawl.

Ki’Remi gripped the stone railing, staring at the impossible beauty of the Seventh Heaven’s ruling realm.

This was no ordinary city.

It was a world sculpted by cosmic hands.

Bridges of pure light arched over floating canals of liquid stardust, where astral creatures glided, their forms luminous, their robes shifting like woven nebulae.

Towering golden obelisks stretched into infinity, each carved with ancient glyphs that told stories of war, creation, and sacrifice.

Sky markets bustled in midair, where merchants bartered in celestial tongues, exchanging ethereal trinkets, bottled dreams, and melodies sung by beings with a thousand voices.

A melody, an evensong of aetheric harmony, flowed over the citadel as though the core of the Seventh Heaven was alive and thrumming with the breath of the divine.

Ki’Remi exhaled.

It was magnificent.

It was also a place brimming with danger and the peril of the unknown on deification levels.

A threat he needed to unravel fast.

His tummy chose this moment to growl, and he turned away from the view of a city untouched by time.

He prowled to Issa. ‘Let’s eat and drink and perhaps forget for a short time thefokkin’ shit show I sense is to come.’

So they did.

Hours later, they lay together on the massive bedstead in the expansive sleeping space as Issa’s fingers traced absent patterns over his chest, her touch soft.

‘You ever think about running?’ she murmured.

His digits tangled in her curls, his grip gentle but sure.

‘I don’t run,’ he rasped. ‘Not from a fight.’

She lifted her head, eyes catching the celestial glow outside their window.

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