She didn’t realize her hallucinations had the capacity to be so comforting. She was used to their soft words, turning sharp in an instant. Their sweet touches, turning punishing. She didn’t know which had been hers and which had been sent by the Tenebrae, couldn’t sift through the differences. So she was wary of them all.
The doors banged open once more, breaking them from their starry standstill as an ocean of darkness rushed inside.
Shadows swept through the Lunar Temples, immediately attacking the Stella. The air grew heavy and frigid as the sentient shadows battled the stardust.
In the sudden chaos, Luella ducked, huddling at the base of the marble altar. She pressed her face into her knees, trembling.
Please, fight, come back to us… pet.Bastian’s words filled her mind.
Not real, not real,she reminded herself.
I am real. I am as real as my love for you.
Luella stilled and moved her face away from her knees, right as a cold hand touched her chin softly, lifting her eyes to meet red-tinted ones. Bastian knelt before her, crouched low as light and dark battled at the rafters of the temple. The red in his eyes appeared incandescent, watery with tears.
Bastian’s fingers stretched out, cupping her cheek. Her eyes shifted to his back as she heard a noise, the others, standing and watching with broken-hearted expressions. Bastian tutted and redirected her focus back to him.
"I love you. So much, Luella," the vampire whispered.
Luella was not convinced. Even though she wanted to be.
She leaned her cheek into his palm, feeling the coldness. The hallucinations had been cold, too. "If you love me, let me go. Leave me be."
The stardust was warm as it curled around her cheek, peeking through her hair. Bastian nodded, and slowly, he pulled back until he was standing, the shadows and stardust clashing above.
Holding her eyes, Bastian took a small step back until the vise around her chest loosened, and she didn’t feel like she would suffocate beneath the weight of his nearness, however fake or real it was.
Luella unfurled from her spot near the base of the altar. Standing, she swallowed as pieces of darkness turned to ash in the air, losing against the Stella’s might.
A dragon roared from outside the temple, and she remembered the weight of where she was, what was happening.
Her back hit the altar, and she gasped, reaching behind her to touch the wetness on her cape. Her fingers came away red with blood. She was lagging. She felt it; she knew it. She didn’t have long left.
She reached for the clasp at her neck, her knuckles grazing the collar at her throat, drawing their attention to it.
Just before she yanked the cape away, a soft prickle at her nape made her head turn, to the spot just behind the altar, where a mass of swirling shadows bloomed.
The Tenebrae stepped through the portal, blood dripping from his hair, ash streaking his pale cheeks, and eyes so dark they seemed to swallow up any light near him.
She heard the others shout, but they weren’t quick enough.
The Tenebrae grabbed her and wrapped a strong, cold arm around her midsection, yanking her back against his chest. Helaughed loudly, and the Stella in her hair shrank away from the sound, curling by her ear.
"What is this?" The Tenebrae roughly swept Luella’s hair out of the way, reaching for the Stella.
He pinched the thread of light between his thumb and forefinger, holding it up. His dark eyes rose to the ceiling, and he barely cocked his head to the side, silently calling a strand of shadows down, where it attacked the wriggling piece of stardust, until glitter fell from between his fingers.
Luella sobbed.
"You ran from me. I will punish you for this. But not before I make you watch as I rip your Vincires’ hearts out. I told you they would come for you." The Tenebrae’s head rose until he stared at the three males watching her in his hold. He opened his mouth, and he spokedirectlyto them. "You came. I knew you would. If only my half-brother hadn’t brought so much destruction with him. No matter." He clicked his tongue. "You are here now, and now you will die."
They were real. They were real. They were here. This was really happening.
A shred of doubt threatened to consume her. Itwasreal, wasn’t it?
She met their eyes, flicking between shades of red, amber, and blue.
"What have you done to her?" Graves’s dark, feathered wings stretched out as shadows and light met above.
