I would have kept my hold on him regardless but a blast hit my body, striking a pain through me that left no option but to let go.
It wasn’t Nightsdeath’s power that sent me falling.
I saw strikes of blue lightning in the darkness, and I knew who’d come. But soon, I would be lost in complete endless nothing if I kept falling through theabyss, and Nightsdeath and Auster would vanish from my sight. I didn’t have wings, but I could still feel my magick.
My survival came in a rush of adrenaline.
As I twisted, my magick created a sheet of light beneath me and I braced to land on it. The impact shook through my body, but I had no time to think, casting out another step of light, and another, and another. Climbing like I’d done in the void between life and death. The key piece floated above me, and I raced up my light steps one by one as they disappeared behind me.
Then, to my horror, my magick started to dull, as if this trial saw it as a cheat, like my wings. Nightsdeath and I had to retrieve the key piece together—a test of trust. But surely we’d passed that part in our willingness to get this far?
I kept going regardless. I was so. Close. Leaping off my final step I was going to reach it… I was going to…
My fingers grazed the metal, spinning the shard faster. Then I fell again with no way to catch myself this time. Down and down and down. Through a void of lonely dark.
A gust of air enveloped my entire body before something firmer took hold of me. I gripped it back with everything I had; then we were shooting high.
Nightsdeath had come.
“You caught me,” I breathed.
He said nothing, and the stars came back around and the key piece was within reach again. This time I clutched it tightly, pulling it to my chest while Nightsdeath cradled me, flying higher and higher.
Emerging into the temple was a new breath of fresh air.
When he landed, the ground beneath our feet was dull, cracked beige stone again. The illusion dizzied me for a second, but we’d done it—retrieved the first key piece.
I beamed at Nightsdeath, who was able to remove his eye cover now, but when he did those amber eyes were blazing with the heat of the sun, targeting me, then over my shoulder. My whole body stiffened as I recalled the intrusion on our trial.
It hadn’t been part of the game. Auster was truly here. Along with his two brothers, Tarran, and a guard of celestials.
“We’ll take that,” Auster said, holding out his hand for the key piece I held.
Nightsdeath stepped toward me, but at the same time, I stepped toward Auster.
My pulse skipped erratically as I reached him and placed the key piece in his awaiting hand. My gut pulled in knots when I turned back. Nightsdeath watched in pure, still fury.
“I see how it is. Trust is more powerful than love,” he recited from me.What I’d said days ago, and it tore deeply in my heart. “Because trust makes the sharpest blade. Well played, Maiden. You almost had me fooled.”
My chest could hardly contain the devastating storm behind my ribs. I couldn’t stop my quick look toward Tarran. All he gave was a barely detectable nod, and I heard the unspoken words.
You have to kill Nightsdeath.
I’d heard it first from my guardian at the Temple in Alisus and immediately rejected it. Then Tarran recited it back at the castle when we’d found a moment of privacy in the kitchens.
I understood now.
“You of all wicked beings shouldn’t be surprised by this,” I said coldly to Nightsdeath.
His amber eyes flared a shade brighter. He took a daring step closer. Auster’s guards shifted, but I took a step to meet him too.
“Not surprised. Disappointed. You’re just as weak as I thought you to be to allow yourself to rule under one so spineless. We could have conquered the world together.”
“I rule under no one. I am the star-maiden.”
“A title is just a word. In all I see before me, you two deserve each other, and I deserve to break the world apart for all the betrayal it brews, the greed it feeds, and the fucking pain it inflicts.”
Light formed in my palms, and Nightsdeath regarded it with his shadows swirling angrily.
