The Stars are Dying : (Nytefall: Book 1)
The Stars are Dying: Chapter 18

As I trudged through the crisp forest layered with snow, it became a subconscious habit to touch my stormstone dagger at my thigh in reaction to any noise. Including my own footsteps. I chanted nonsense to myself in an attempt to tame my skittish mood, trying to pull myself together. Occasionally my chest would pulse with a warmth and I’d power on with confidence, but when it dwindled I remembered all over again how out of my depth I was. Alone and wandering through a world I did not know.

It was already exploding with more than I imagined.

Fae. Celestials. The tales of a star-maiden. All so exhilarating it pushed me to go on and discover what else made up the lands. How our society’s hierarchy worked, which fears were true, and what could be fought.

My pulse was racing, my mind reeling. It kept me distracted from the burst of wings, the caw of birds, the crack of branches—everything that powered my legs on with jumpy anxiety to be back in civilization.

I exhaled in relief when I finally spied the town, and I jogged the last stretch to be away from the clusters of timber that had begun to panic me with their endless directions.

Time was not my luxury.

I headed straight onto the town path, my only mission here to acquire a horse. My pace quickened through the streets, and I glided through bodies, the task giving me the focus not to be overwhelmed in a foreign place.

Around the next bend, my eyes lit up at the two horses I found tied outside an inn. I was hopeful the coin Lilith had given me would be more than a generous sum as I knew which horse I desired. Approaching slowly, I gawked at the brilliant white beast with a long mane and hair around its hooves. The care toward it was evident from the way its mane and tail had been beautifully combed and given a few braids.

The thought of trying to climb atop a horse, however, had me mentally flipping through options for how else I could get to the Central just as fast.

“You have never ridden a horse?”

I sucked in a breath at Nyte’s silvery voice, turning my head to replace him close by. I was becoming accustomed to the abruptness of his presence. It never failed to stroke my spine, and regardless of all reservation, I never felt alone. Why he followed me, I didn’t want to break the small comfort to replace out.

I took a deep breath and reached out a hand, my rigid poise loosening off when the horse seemed to bow its head, receptive to my touch. “I asked Hektor once, but he said they were dangerous and unpredictable.”

“Danger is not in the act nor the being; it arises when one does not know how to handle a difficult situation.” Nyte’s hand ran over the horse’s neck close to mine, and his proximity didn’t go unnoticed, raising the hairs all over my skin. “Unpredictability comes from a lack of preparation or observation.”

In his tone I felt the warning. I had so much to learn, and with where I was heading, my only hope for survival would be to trust in whatever help I could get. Even from him.

I eyed the metal hoop dangling from the saddle. I’d watched people mount horses plenty, though it didn’t translate to confidence now I was confronted with it. “The owner must be inside,” I said.

“Or you could just take it.”

“I have coin.”

“But not time.”

Just then, a man exited the tavern smoking a pipe, and I stilled as his attention landed right on us. He gave no reaction but walked over. I believed the horse to be his. I cursed Nyte for the distraction and opened my mouth to explain we were simply admiring it.

A finger to my lips and a body pressing to mine switched my state to one of incredulity. Nyte’s irises danced at my reaction as the man approached, scratching the horse’s head as though he didn’t see us. My eyes widened. I knew what Nyte was doing. His gloved hand eased away from my face, but the one around my waist remained. He held my stare with a challenge to be silent, not breaking it until the man took a deep pull of the substance he was smoking and headed back inside.

“How do you do that?” I asked, shuffling away from him.

Nyte shrugged. “That’s an explanation for another day.”

“Can other vampires…manipulate minds?”

“I’ve told you before I am not that. But no, they cannot. They have some magnetic compulsion to trap their victims, that is all.” He contemplated my eager reaction. “Though you might say I’m particularly good at it.”

I nearly rolled my eyes at his arrogance. “How am I supposed to believe you?”

“I’m not trying to convince you.”

He’s insufferable.

“Your eyes—they’re different,” I ground out.

That earned me one of those smirks that danced the line between approval and amusement. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of my scowl as I reached up to the horse’s saddle and strained with the height to jam my foot into metal half-hoop. I felt childish for not knowing its name.

“Your struggle right now has me questioning who really danced for me,” Nyte said as he came up behind me. “How high that leg can go is something I’ll never forget.”

My mouth gaped, only to snap shut when his hands held my waist. “I didn’t dance for you,” I grumbled.

“Bend and jump.”

I did as he instructed, and my heart lunged when I soared higher than my mind had prepared for. My other leg hooked over the saddle, my thighs clamped tight, and my whole body seized at the new vantage point and how the horse huffed and dipped.

“Now shuffle forward.”

I wondered why until I looked down and saw he was braced to mount the horse too.

“No way. There’s another horse.”

Nyte chuckled—a low, genuine sound I despised myself for enjoying the lightness of. “If I leave you to ride alone, I hope you’re content with going wherever the horse decides to lead you.”

“It can’t be that hard.” Yet I had no example to follow when I didn’t know how to command the horse to even walk.

Nyte simply waited, knowing my admission would come, but I said nothing and simply shifted forward. He mounted the horse so elegantly I couldn’t suppress my admiration, but I should have anticipated there would be no space between us when he slipped in behind me. He enveloped me completely, reaching over me for the reins, and my breath caught. I said nothing of his breath blowing across my ear, but I wondered if it was deliberate so he could delight in my reaction now my head was level with his shoulder.

His hand snaking around my waist made me open my mouth to object, but he kicked his feet, and when the horse jerked forward I leaned back to balance myself, my hand lashing over his. There was a second, when Nyte’s fingers flexed and mine could have slipped through, that I wanted the gloves removed, if only to know if the tingling in my stomach would erupt at the contact.

I snatched my hand away as quickly as the thought came.

“I’m heading to the Central,” I said.

“I know.” He seemed to contemplate it. “If you were smart, you would forget this course. Head past the Central and toward the veil.”

“Why?”

“You’ve been longing for adventure, have you not?”

That didn’t seem adequate reason. I brushed off his obscure suggestion. Nowhere else could be an option anyway.

“I have to do this.”

He said nothing, and I knew this leisurely pace couldn’t last. I had to ride fast from here on out. I needed to make it to the Central on time, or it would all be a wasted journey of a fool’s hope.

“HEY! STOP!”

I gasped at the man’s call behind us.

Nyte’s arm encircled me fully, and he pressed his body into me before he said, “Hold on tight.”