Page 170 of Stars in Aura

The impasse was unbreakable.

Neither side was able to move forward.

The balance was tipping toward bloodshed with no victor.

So he made a choice.

One that went against every rational fiber of his being.

One that only an idiot or a man in love would make.

One he’d discussed with his woman, and she’d dismissed him for the risk it took.

Twas the only solution,he deduced.

Ki’Remi sliced his eyes to the reigning monarch. ‘There is another way to traverse this impasse.’

Sulfiqar’s eyes snapped in his direction, as did Issa’s, but the Sableman kept his attention on the god, his voice blade-edged with a darkness beyond defiance.

‘Your body is rotting, your divinity is failing. Your soul is consuming itself like a dying star. You seek stolen souls to heal you, but you forget—’ he lifted his chin, the ghost of a smirk tracing his lips.

‘Mortals transcended into spirits have been curing the perishing before you existed.’

Sulfiqar’s eyes narrowed, his fury twisting and churning.

‘Nada,’ Issa breathed.

He turned to his woman. ‘Tis the only way,kidaya. We spoke about it, and you know what to do.’

He canted his eyes away not to see her stricken face, focusing on Sulfiqar instead.

Ki’Remi’s Witchmen loomed behind him, their voices whispering in the fabric of time, and then, together, they spoke.

‘We will forge the ancient cure of the Ameru.’

Sulfiqar stilled.

Even Zavei, still frozen in the Witchmen’s grasp, ceased his struggling.

The Celestial Keepers also paused, staring at the Rider in shock.

Ki’Remi wrestled inside him, his methodical, calculated approach to science wrestling with the archaic, mystical force he had so long denied.

A surgeon. A healer. A man of logic.

Now, also a wizard, a shaman, a mortal conjurer standing before an ailing god.

Fokk.

It was freakin’ ludicrous.

Yet, when he turned his head, his gaze fell on Issa.

Though her expression begged him not to advance, the fire within her was unyielding.

He was doing this for her.

And that made every ounce of madness worth it.

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