The Stars are Dying : (Nytefall: Book 1)
The Stars are Dying: Chapter 26

The gasp of air I took filled my lungs with certainty. I shot upright, examining myself, and the dark leathers I wore were a relief. A wicked dream had chilled me. The threads of it singed as I tried to recall what I could, but there was one thing I would never forget: the woodland where I had run straight into Hektor’s arms.

I jerked at the sound of a wet huff beside me.

“You’re awake!”

A chipper child’s voice caught my attention. I found the huff had come from a large golden dog.

The cot I was lying in was barely big enough for me, and the hues of brown around the wooden structure sparked no recognition.

“Where am I?” I asked.

The emblem of Alisus pinned my cloak to my shoulder. That was new.

“East quarter of Ground City Circle, miss,” the young boy said, hopping off his chair and skipping over. “I was to wait here to give you this.”

He held out a small parchment. I took it tentatively and began to unfold it as I swung my legs off the bed.

“Do you know how many days have passed?”

“It’s day one of the Libertatem,” he said.

My shoulders relaxed.

“The others should be awakening now too. Only fair, right?”

I refrained from saying I didn’t think the king cared for fairness in any of this, but I supposed equal measures was his twisted version of the concept.

“Tobias! Those horses aren’t going to muck out themselves!”

The boy jumped at the screech of an older woman from outside the small window. I wondered why they would leave me here to impose on someone’s home, but I was at least glad it wasn’t outdoors in the winter climate.

“Good luck, miss!” Tobias said before scurrying out of the room, and the wagging tail of the golden dog followed him.

My heart raced at the realization I was alone and undeniably a part of the game now. My world hadn’t just expanded when I left Hektor’s manor; it had damn well exploded.

Rallying some composure, I glanced out the window. Dawn was just shy of breaking. I finally looked down at what had to be my first clue on where to go and read the lines.

A riddle.

I groaned.

Of course the trial to obtain the key pieces wasn’t enough. The chase for the locations might very well drive me mad.

I read it again as I exited the humble home. The first thing to greet me was a black cat. I didn’t have much experience with animals, but I approached it tentatively since its meow felt like an invitation of trust. As I crouched it sat politely, and I reached out a hand, which it tilted its head into.

“My first ally out here,” I mused.

It meowed again, and while I was oddly amused by it, I forced myself to straighten with the awareness of what I had to do.

Then I remembered Drystan tucking something into my tunic. Hastily I opened his note. No, not a note—a map.

To my horror, he’d switched the city map given by the king to one displaying the whole continent. This wouldn’t help me.

My panic smoothed only when I became fascinated by the elegant details of the map. The Realm of Solanis scribed along a beautiful scroll at the top. Following the swirling lines, the border was breathtaking. Four animals were illustrated in the corners: a panther, a crow, a dragon, and a serpent. I couldn’t begin to wonder what they meant.

A new urge struck in my chest. Determination to discover more of the lands and not have this city be another cage, a final one. I would not die here.

I looked around but the frosty, dark morning was still. Silent.

“Where am I?” I thought aloud—a habit that made me feel less alone.

My brow lifted when the ink on the yellowing parchment began to erase itself. Lines moved, reforming with blots of ink, and I gasped as I watched small buildings appear as though the map had zoomed in on them precisely.

Then the scroll at the top no longer scribed the name of the realm. It read “Elgalon’s Road.” I blinked a few times as if it would go back to being ordinary.

“Have you figured out your riddle?”

I leaped at the silvery voice cutting through the silence. “Stars above,” I breathed, willing my heart to calm down from the fright. “You have to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Sneaking up on me!”

“It’s rather amusing,” Nyte said, now right behind me, and I almost shivered at his proximity.

“That’s me, the source of Vesitire’s entertainment right now.”

“Let me see.”

I looked over my shoulder as he tipped his chin in the direction of the riddle. My stubbornness was beginning to grow around him with the cool arrogance I wanted to wipe from his face, but this wasn’t the time to refuse help. I showed him the clue.

“Hmm,” he said.

Only my breath clouded the frosty air as though I couldn’t draw it fast enough.

“What do you make of it?” I asked.

“I don’t think this is a team game.”

My eyes didn’t get the chance to fully express their incredulity before his grin dimpled one cheek, showing off his brilliant teeth.

“Then you only serve to distract me,” I huffed. Stomping away, my boots crunched against the frozen grass.

Nyte’s soft chuckle followed me. I’d had more violent thoughts about that sound than anything so trivial in a long time.

I kept reciting the riddle in my mind, tuning out the footsteps that continued after me. Dawn finally spilled across hill, making the frost glitter and diffusing the grass with hues of pink and orange. I wanted to still this moment of tranquility before the city awoke.

A loud chime disturbed the quiet morning. My steps faltered and I winced as it stole the silence.

“That’s it,” I said suddenly. My gloved fingers fumbled with the parchment until I read it again, and the answer seemed glaringly obvious. “Silence.” I watched in awe as the words scribed themselves below the verse. Holding it against the glow of dawn, I beamed in triumph.

“Very good,” Nyte said with genuine admiration.

“Maybe this won’t be so hard after all,” I said, more as a way to lift my spirits.

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself. And never let your guard down.”

I dropped my arms to give him a scowl. “You’re not very fun. Or helpful. Why are you here?”

“You tell me.”

His presence grated on my nerves, but I wouldn’t admit his company was mildly soothing. I turned my focus back to the riddle, scanning it and my map.

“If you knew the city, you’d have a good idea of where that’s telling you to go.”

I wondered if the other Selected had been taught the layout of Vesitire. It was massive, so big that I worried about straying too far and being unable to make it back to the castle by twilight. I had no money for lodgings, and beyond needing somewhere comfortable to rest, I feared becoming a meal if I didn’t make it somewhere safe.

“The most important thing is that you stay hidden. You don’t want to attract any vampires.” Nyte blocked out the sun peeking over the city as he stepped in front of me. His light fingers grazing my chin forced me to look up at him. “This is your biggest advantage over the others. You’re agile, incredibly stealthy, and quiet…” Nyte paused. His throat shifted with his swallow as he scanned my face with a disturbed brow. “Though I’m sorry you had to learn to be.”

His apology wasn’t needed, wasn’t owed, but it was so genuine I thought this was what I’d always yearned for. To be seen. More than just on the surface. Captured by his golden irises, which could steal me far more wholly than the dawn.

“Where did you come from?” I asked. Most of the time I couldn’t be certain he was real.

His expression turned guarded seconds before he stepped out of my path. “Don’t trust anyone, Starlight. No one except the man you arrived with.”

I drew a sharp breath. “Zathrian.”

“He’ll replace you soon.”

I didn’t want to ask how he could be so certain of that, and I couldn’t wait for him either. The countdown was on to be back at the castle, and I didn’t want either of us to be trapped out here for the night. Nor did I plan to waste my days replaceing the first piece of the key if I could help it.

“I’ll have to ask around the city on where this place of silence could be.”

“What if I said I could help you?”

“I’d ask what’s the catch?”

“This time, only that you remember what I can do for you.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “No, thank you.”

His chuckle was a hollow vibration of the wind across my nape. “You could have the first key before twilight.”

I ground my teeth, spinning to him. “I don’t want to owe you anything.”

“You already owe me. Consider this a generous extension of your side of the bargain.”

I shivered at the faint note of something that wrapped promise with threat. “Fine. Where is the first location?”

“There’s a temple called the Sanctuary of the Soundless.”

“The Sanctuary of the Soundless,” I repeated, glancing at my map to squint at any small script that would reveal it, but the words were faded with age.

I didn’t have to look when seconds later the lines were crossed out and redrew themselves in their magical, hypnotizing way. Then a tiny scroll unraveled over the page, directing me over to a tall building surrounded by rocks. From the humble, aged dwellings around it, I knew it had to be on this level. I was glad to maneuver around mostly humans for the day.

“Who gave you that?” Nyte asked, but his hard stare at the parchment told me he already knew the answer.

“The prince,” I said as casually as I could, as though it meant nothing. In truth, the idea of the prince giving me such an enchanted item had shaken me with the same feeling Nyte’s help was giving me.

Given, but with a lingering promise to claim, and I was so desperate and willing that I’d accepted.

“You can’t trust him.”

“You keep talking about trust, yet you expect me to give it to you.”

“Do you forget everything I have been there for so easily?” Nyte towered over me. I thought shadows crept around him to dull the morning light. “I have so far asked for nothing.”

“So far,” I repeated.

All he gave was a wicked half-smile that crawled over me. Not with wariness or fear, but a dangerous intrigue. I stepped back. Turning away, I took off at a brisk pace, trying to clear my mind of him.

“Is he tracking me with this?” I asked, finally stepping onto the cobbled street, which I was grateful to replace empty of bodies in the early hour.

“The map is its own enchantment. Merely a tool that could switch allegiance.”

“You say that as if it’s alive.”

“Magick is life itself,” Nyte said. “It is its own force, as long it can reside in and answer to a vessel. A person with magick can push it too far and it will retaliate. Magick doesn’t like to be taken advantage of.”

“So this map could…trick me?”

Nyte shrugged. “It’s possible. Maybe if you took it to a tavern when it would prefer a brothel.”

I went to whack his arm, but he disappeared in a blink. His low chuckle caressed my other side, and I whirled to him with a scowl.

“There are three types of magick vessel,” he went on, tipping his chin for me to walk with him. “Genetic, gifted, and cursed. You’ll replace most magick is genetic. Strengths and talents can vary depending on bloodline, and for that reason, people can spend their lives looking for their Bonded.”

“Bonded?”

Nyte gave a nod. “A match of power, nothing more. When a pairing bonds, it’s a blood exchange, and they act as each other’s amplifiers, sometimes gaining a new power or strengthening what they have. They don’t need to be romantic. They can have children with others and will still pass on the new height of their ability.”

I stumbled as cinnamon filled my nostrils, tightening my stomach with a craving at the worst time.

“A favorite of yours?” Nyte mused, following my gaze. His tone was almost knowing.

I shook my head merely to push away my longing for the pastries and kept walking. “Gifted magick?” I prompted. His knowledge was fascinating and a welcome distraction.

“It appears mostly among the celestials, those given a higher power by the God and Goddess when they visit the Temple of Ascension. It is how the three High Celestials were chosen and how they have continued to be since the dawn of time. Celestials can be alchemists, soothsayers, and have many other talents. Regardless of if they receive a divination, they all have a role to play in cycling souls to the stars.”

I took in everything and was glad for his pause so I could store what knowledge I could.

“The vampires are cursed. Or at least that’s how they came into creation, but now they are born,” he went on as if knowing I wouldn’t stop until I’d heard it all. “Their existence relies on blood and souls to thrive, and they, along with the fae, were not impacted by the imbalance that’s shaking the source of all solar energy.” He looked up, and though it was daytime I knew what he was about to say.

“The stars,” I concluded.

Nyte branched off down a narrow alley. “This way.”

This section of the city smelled like coal and ash. The buildings were mostly brown and worn, but some were over eight stories high, and I had to crane my neck to see their crooked roofs.

“Keep up unless you want to be swept up in the morning work rush,” Nyte called, indicating how far I’d slowed behind him.

“I thought the star-maiden was their savior. One of them.”

“She was—is,” he corrected, occasionally sparing me a glance to gauge my reactions. I didn’t know what my expression told him. “But five hundred years ago, what entered the world was a power that clashed too strongly with hers. Two entities that were never supposed to exist together.”

“Who is the other?”

He didn’t answer.

I watched a few humans exiting their homes, casting wary looks at me, and some of them widened their eyes like they knew exactly who I was already. I didn’t think it was that obvious, but I glanced down at my attire and found the blaring beacon. I went to unclip the sigil of Alisus, but Nyte’s hand hovered over mine.

“That is the only thing keeping you safe before twilight.”

I nodded at my error though the attention was grating on me. “This…other entity, do they still live?” I asked as a diversion.

“Yes. And people are starting to notice the nights are growing darker. Soon longer.”

“Because the star-maiden has returned.”

“Yes,” he said so quietly I almost missed it.

We walked, blending in with the humans now their initial intrigue had passed. Or at least I did. Yet Nyte’s tall form and pointed ears didn’t seem to draw even a flicker of attention. The threat of panic only lessened as I fixed my gaze on Nyte, tracking him. He led us down some less crowded streets as the morning began to awaken the district and people started their day. I breathed steadily through my constricting throat.

Nyte’s hand lightly grazed my back. “We’re almost there.”

After a few more turns through shops, a market square, and a makeshift children’s playground, we emerged into a quieter area. Beyond a stone arch stood a massive structure with sharp gray angles. A work of art in its own right.

“Remember your riddle. You can’t speak when you enter, not even a word. This place is home to a spirit creature they call the Crocotta. If it hears your voice, it can take it. Permanently.”

I wrung my gloved hands as I glanced from Nyte to the temple. “How will I ask for the key part?”

“You won’t. It will decide if it wants to give it to you.”

“That’s not encouraging.”

“Despite what it can do, the Crocotta is a guardian. It is safeguarding the work inside and the non-speakers who choose to stay there.”

“Non-speakers?”

“Some reside here to heal from past trauma until they wish to leave. Others never do, and this way of living is their peace.”

That didn’t sound as frightening. Maybe I could admire this creature for protecting them even if it could choose to steal my voice.

“You should stay here,” I said.

“Why is that?”

“Because you have a habit of invoking my irritation with a look, and I can’t be certain I won’t break.”

I didn’t wait to see if he would stay behind as I headed for the temple. There was no door, only an archway past the portico, and I took a deep breath before stepping under it. I didn’t expect to be enveloped by heat and the complete eerie weight of true silence the moment I stepped through it.

When I glanced back, Nyte was gone, and I concluded some kind of spell kept out the cold air here, just like it did in the palace. Whatever I’d considered to be silence before was nothing compared to what raised every hair on my arms now. It was so quiet I was certain I’d hear a pin drop.

I wandered inside, replaceing myself standing in a great hall that offered various directions in which to head. There were organized rows of glass cases holding objects, and here I found the first signs of people dressed in white robes. Some stood with books splayed in their palms, looking to be taking notes on whatever it was they studied. Animal skeletons. Old artifacts. A couple spared me curious glances, but no one approached.

My teeth clamped on my tongue to hold back a gasp of fright when out of the shadows ahead a beast stalked. A panther. The two women I’d seen closed their books, scurrying off at the presence of this creature, and that did nothing for my nerves.

I turned to stone in the center of the circular hall, hoping it wouldn’t decide I was a threat or unworthy of being here. As I bowed my head in submission, the black panther began to circle me. Beneath my feet, lines that had no pattern or order spilled across the entire floor like sticks thrown haphazardly.

“What an honor it is to have you standing in my hall.”

Those words rang loud in the silence. A feminine voice. The panther’s mouth didn’t move, and I almost shook my head at the ludicrous notion, but I couldn’t help attaching the speech to the creature.

“I know what it is you seek, and now it makes sense why I have it.”

The panther dipped out of sight, and I didn’t have the courage to track it behind me. It didn’t reappear. Instead the hall began to darken, stealing the daylight and chilling the air. A glint caught my attention, and once again I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to keep any sound from escaping.

A fragment of metal was suspended in the air. It had to be a piece of the key, but it dawned on me this creature wasn’t done playing with me yet. A feminine chuckle blew over my skin.

“What a prize you could give me,” it cooed. “Your voice would be delicious. One of power and strength. A voice that calls through time and awakens the night.”

My voice had always felt small and pitiful in the box I locked it in. I didn’t know what else to do other than stand for judgment. When the creature came back around, my lips parted to the drum of my heart.

It had taken my face. My body. What was worse was that it wasn’t my disguise of black hair and deeper blue eyes; my silver hair had returned with my matching irises, and my tattoos were on full display in the gown it wore. The Crocotta examined its arms, every marking, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when it lifted a hand and the silver glowed.

There had been times before I had thought I’d seen them flicker, but I’d always attributed it to the lights giving off a metallic sheen. But this was beautiful. The glow radiated a soft energy.

Its shimmering silver eyes drifted to me with feline delight. “You make this difficult for me to win.” Its chin lifted before it began to stalk toward me as though it had found something. It was unnerving to want to cower from the image of myself, but the seduction it wore was not mine. “You can be stubborn. Your pride is found mostly in your refusal to lose.” Fingers swept through my hair as it disappeared around me again. “But it is those with the strongest will who know when it’s necessary.”

Movement below made me stumble back a step. The lines shifted, reorganizing themselves. Stacking and angling. When they stilled, I was sucked into a memory so fresh, staring at a far smaller version of this game made out of matchsticks on a beaten, ale-soaked table. Cassia’s phantom laugh punched me with sorrow and yearning.

“The lines will shift every thirty seconds to a new version of the puzzle.”

“Please help me.”

With a gasp I snapped my eyes up from studying how the lines formed. A small girl stood at the far end, in front of me. Nerves turned to trickling pressure as I realized the stakes that were about to be added to this taunting game.

“You have until the end of time on the third try to save her. Or continue for more tries to win your key.”

Outrage overcame me, almost spilling from my parted mouth when a light gloved hand clamped over it. I didn’t immediately meet Nyte’s eye as a huge gray wolf emerged, making me jolt again. At Nyte’s interception, I landed my look of horror on him.

All he gave was a slow shake of his head. A warning.

She was just a child.

Sweat started to bead on my forehead before it could begin. Three tries. Thirty seconds. I was fast at the inn, but not that ridiculously skilled.

Nyte eased away when he deemed me no longer at risk of doing something foolish.

My body strained to save the girl whose cries flexed my fists. This was sick and twisted. I glanced up at the floating key piece I needed. Then my eyes closed as I shook my head. I had to save her, and I needed that damn key.

“Do you accept?” the Crocotta asked smoothly.

I took a single breath and nodded.

“Then let’s begin.”

The clone of me walked off until it was lost in shadow. I followed the moving lines on the ground frantically until they stilled. Then thirty seconds began on a countdown above it.

“Move six to create six equal diamonds.”

Shit. In my frantic state at the timer and hyperaware of the threat to the girl’s life, I wasted many precious seconds before I even focused right on the matchstick puzzle. The image made a star, and just as I beamed knowing which ones I wanted to move, a ring chimed through me, and the lines rearranged.

My fists clamped in frustration.

One time Hektor had brought me an invention of two pieces that could come apart, and the trick was to figure out how. The focused anxiety of that came back now. He had been unable to pull me away from it, and no matter how much he taunted me no one could figure it out, I couldn’t leave it unsolved.

It had taken me four days.

The next arrangement formed a pyramid of triangles.

“Remove five lines to get five equal triangles.”

With ten seconds left, my hands lifted, the lines moved to my gestures, my pulse raced, and my body tensed, but before my final two could slide into place it began to wipe itself again. My mouth opened, but my groan of anger didn’t get to spill at the unfairness of the impossible timer before Nyte spoke to my mind again.

“You have to give up.”

“No.”

“Astraea, it is testing you.”

“I can do it.”

“That is not the point you have to make here.”

The new puzzle formed, and at the blink of the thirty-second marker I flashed my eyes to the girl. The wolf eased down, primed to lunge.

My last attempt, or I had to admit defeat and save her.

My mind strained with the mental tug-of-war, convinced I could do both and incredulous I even thought that was an option. I can do it, I repeated internally, more as a motivation to myself.

“Don’t let your pride cloud your rightful judgment.”

The countdown began, and I blocked him out, my palm pressed to my forehead, which had begun to throb with adrenaline.

I have to solve it.

Fifteen seconds.

I shook my head as though it would fix the damn lines into place.

Eight seconds.

“Astraea.”

My teeth clenched, fingers flexing with eyes fixed on the ground.

Four seconds.

A snarl sounded across the room, and I made my choice.

Abandoning the game, I drew a dagger from my belt, shifted my stance, and sent it soaring for the wolf as it lunged for the child. The beast turned to beautiful silver dust when my blade pierced it, and the thump of metal lodging into wood stunned me. When it dissipated…

The girl was gone too.

An eerie feminine chuckle stroked my skin. “I feared for a moment you would let your pride win. I never should have doubted you would prevail. After all, what an ironic failure it would be.”

I didn’t know what it meant by that, still rooted in my stupor. With the fall of my eyes, I found the lines scattered in no order like when I’d first walked in.

A light touch trailed over my arm and Nyte turned my palm upward. From above, the gray piece of metal floated down, tingling when it hovered over my skin. Until the enchantment left it completely and it rested coolly in my possession.

“Not all forfeited trials are lost,” the spirit said. Then, for the first time, the Crocotta spoke only to my mind. “Only when the crown shifts will your heart and loyalty be tested. Not all written pasts are true, and not all futures told are certain.”

Each word carved a space within me, determined not to be forgotten, though right now I couldn’t untangle the meaning.

When the crown shifts.

I glanced back at Nyte, who stared at me with guarded concern. He’d warned me against trusting Drystan.

“Take this,” the Crocotta said.

A blonde woman approached me. Her light blue eyes smiled as warmly as her mouth as she extended something to me. It was then I understood their treasured silence. When speech was taken away it opened a person up to feel more intensely and see far deeper past the surface to read someone. It was both beautiful and vulnerable.

I took her offering, knowing my gratitude was received from the motion of her sparkling eyes and the dip of her head before she turned away.

Nyte stood behind me and gave a gentle jerk of his head for us to leave.

Before I stepped out into the winter air, the Crocotta’s final word chilled me first.

“Good luck to you, Astraea.”