He sighed in defeat. “If one or more of us gets injured like this again… it makes all of us vulnerable.”
Since Nyte was gravely wounded my antsy concern for our friends facing the same brutal trials, crafted to test them all individually, had risen.
“Your trial… what did you have to do that ended with this?” I asked carefully as Nyte pulled his shirt over the bandages.
“We saw memories. Of us and father in this keep. We were young at first. Memories of times we’d betrayed each other. For the final one, our father made us duel, and it took some convincing to snap Drystan out of the illusion.”
My heart ached for the brothers who’d had to relive such cold parts of the past.
“He seems in his usual spirits,” I said.
“He’s not the one who suffered the slice of a blade.”
“You let him.”
“I had to. You were my anchor to snap out of the illusion and know it wasn’t real. I realized during that trial he had nothing to bring him back. But once it might have been me, so I let him land his centuries-long resentment toward me in that blow.”
My brow crumpled when I heard that. Thinking back to the temple, I realized I never had the chance to tell him…
“I saw Dawn.”
Nyte’s gold eyes snapped to me, flaring a shade darker, as if the goddess would be here for him to target.
“How did you escape her?”
“She… let me go. I can’t be certain she wasn’t just an illusion to taunt me. I thought she was taking me back to the stars when my flesh… it became stardust before my very eyes, and I thought—”
Nyte took my face in his hands, and I hadn’t realized I’d been staring at mine, reliving the sensation of losing the body I wanted to keep, to stay here as a mortal, as long as Nyte would be.
“They don’t get to take you back. Not ever again. You’re mine, and I’m going to wipe the names of Dusk and Dawn from existence to keep you.”
I fell into him, letting his warmth and scent soothe away my burst of panic.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save your friend,” Nyte said mournfully.
“Dawn taunted me with Katerina’s life. She’s still alive, but the longer Dawn inhabits her body the weaker she becomes. If Dawn kills me swiftly and leaves, Katerina will live. If I kill Dawn… what if that means I kill Katerina?”
“She’s manipulating you. It’s not possible for two people’s consciousness to exist in the same brain. Trust me, I know it isn’t.”
Nyte was a master of the mind, and he locked my eyes with such certainty I believed him. Which meant there was no saving Katerina; she really was gone, and I had to take the news to Zephyr soon. Had he been looking for her?
I said, “We need the true name of Dawn to be able to kill her.”
“I’ll be with you next time she shows herself. I’ll find it in her mind.”
Recalling my walk with Death in His realm, the warning he gave ran a chill through me.
Beware, the mind of a god is no easy passage. It is not ventured without consequence.
“It could hurt you gravely,” I said with a spike of worry.
“Are you doubting me, Starlight?” Nyte said it like a tease, squeezing my waist, but I couldn’t muster a smile.
“I mean it. Promise me you won’t ever push past your limits.”
Nyte kissed me softly. “I promise. Not if it means losing you.”
In the abandoned theatre, I’d never seen Nyte this gentle and tentative with another person. We all stood on the stage, but Gweneth and I hung back, letting Nyte approach the elderly woman, who was once again searching through the broken and discarded instruments.
