Page 43 of Voices in the Stars
“Breathe,” he whispered, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Nothing is going to happen to you now.”
“Now?” I gasped out. “Oh gods, you were going to kill me.”
Atas flinched, seeming to realize the mistake in his words.
“I need you to believe me when I tell you this.” He bent down slightly so we were face to face, eyes staring directly at each other, his hands holding my face. “I never wanted to hurt you. It’s a long journey back to Kilrest. There was a hope I could get you on my side.”
My breathing came in slower as I took in the sincerity of his eyes, thinking back to all we’d been through. He never actually hurt me. There were several moments when I was scared, but that was it. Not that that was acceptable, either. Yet, even when everything he cared about was at stake, he chose to save me when it would have been easier for him to leave me there.
“Your side?” I asked.
“Yes.” He nodded. “I plan on stopping Eris.”
“How?” I questioned him.
“Don’t worry about it. You will never get that close to him,” he answered with determination.
“What happens now, then?” I feared his answer.
“I’m honestly not sure,” he answered, dropping his hands. “Every plan I had went flying the moment I saw you.” He reached down, grabbing one of my hands. “I do promise to keep you safe now. I know my word means very little to you after all of this, but I still need you to know this.”
“I believe you,” I answered.
It was the truth. I felt as it settled into my chest, easing some of the tension I had been feeling from the beginning. It was difficult to sort through the emotions that were coursing through me. The betrayal at feeling like I had been lied to for my entire life. There was a want to learn everything there was in this world that I never got the chance to learn while growing up here. A part of me was just content to stay here and hold Atlas’ hand.
We couldn’t stay there forever.Atlas broke our moment after a few heartbeats, talking about possibly still being followed. I wanted to argue that there was no way anyone had been able to follow us after what had happened. Yet, his father seemed like a very determined man, so I accepted his concerns and let him pull me down the path.
That had been many hours ago. The sun was breaking over the horizon. Hues of pink and orange danced across the sky. I couldn’t enjoy the sunrise as sleep weighed down my eyelids, slamming them shut. My feet weighed hundreds of pounds as they dragged through the dirt. Several times I had stumbled, almost falling to the ground, only to be stopped by Atlas pulling me back up. My head bobbed toward the ground once more, eyes sliding shut.
“We’re here.”
My head snapped back up at his words. We were standing in front of another inn. At least, that was my guess as I looked at another sign I couldn’t read. Glancing around, we were in the middle of a small town. There were only a few buildings hiding among the trees. My brows pulled together as I took in the town. Last I noticed, we were still in the middle of a forest. It felt like a single, long blink between then and now.
“Everything okay?” Amusement sparked in Atlas’ voice as he looked down at me.
I tried to glare up at him even as my eyelids started to close once again. There was a gentle tug on my wrist as I was pulled forward.
Music drifted through the building as soon as the door was opened. It was a soft, lulling tune that threatened to pull me further into sleep. Atlas walked me over to an empty table, waiting until I had slumped down into the chair before walking toward the bar.
I kept my gaze focused on Atlas, using him to keep myself from fully falling sleep. His fingers drummed against the wooden top of the bar. Foot tapping even as he glanced back at me. A lanky man popped up from under the bar, glasses in hand. His grip tightened, eyes widening as he stared at Atlas. Atlas started talking, gesturing toward where I was sitting. The man’s hands started shaking as his gaze moved over to me.
Sitting up straight in the chair, I focused my attention on the sticky, wooden floor. Reactions like this made it hard to write off Atlas’ story as some fable he had been told. My head started to throb at just the thought of it all. There was genuine fear in people’s eyes when they looked at the two of us, and I had no idea how I felt about it. I missed being the ignored daughter of farmers.
Atlas’ heavy footsteps announced his arrival. He held his hands out, pulling me up to my feet.
“They’ve got an open room for us,” he said, walking me toward a door on the opposite side to the bar with his hand on my lower back.
The barkeep avoided looking at either one of us as he met us at the door. Quickly, he opened it, revealing a long hallway and four wooden doors. The man walked us to the door directly in front of us, his hands shaking as he tried to unlock the door. I wanted to sink into the floor as his hand slipped several times. Finally, he steadied himself enough to unlock the door. I muttered a quickthank youas he practically ran from us.
“You’ll get used to it,” Atlas mumbled, gesturing for me to walk in.
My eyes started to burn with tears. There was no part of this that I wanted to get used to. Now, I at least knew the cause of everyone’s fear. Though I couldn’t help but wonder how Atlas planned to stop a man like his father on his own. I walked into the room, only to immediately come to a halt, causing Atlas to bump into me.
“Are you serious?” The words left before I could stop them.
There was only one bed in this room.
The was no settee or anything as a replacement, either. Just a singlebed and table in a room that barely felt big enough to have both of us just stand in it, let alone spend the night. I regretted my words as I saw the grimace twisting Atlas’ face.
