Page 132 of Apprentice to the Villain

Evie sprinted forward, pulling her dagger out, and began to slash away at the overgrown vines covering the entrance. Trystan, beside her, pulled a long sword from his own belt and brought it down hard against the foliage. He chopped away with furious cries until a path was cleared.

“Go!” he ordered. She dove through, and then she was falling, Trystan right after her. Her scream was swallowed in her throat as she went down, down, down, until she once more bounced on a floating, dewy cloud. But this one was tinged by night. She didn’t hesitate this time, merely hopped off and rolled as the boss tumbled after her.

Evie jumped up, pulling the slab from her pocket. The stars in the cave mimicked the ones now shining from its crystal surface.

A large voice boomed above them as the crown of clouds was revealed even in the darker lighting. The giant gleamed like a star itself, the midnight clouds clustering to form its crown. “Evie Sage. I hoped you’d return.”

She stepped forward. Trystan’s hand shot out to stop her on instinct—she could tell by how he coughed when he released her. “Go on,” he said, raking a hand through his hair and looking away. She could see what it cost him to trust her with this, to fight his instinct to protect her. Her heart warmed.

She held up the crystal—the one that she now knew was not merely the magicless slab of rock it appeared to be. It belonged to the creature before them; the rough-hewn edges were an exact match to the gaping hole in the sky of its lair. She offered it up to the creature with a humble bow. “Your missing piece of sky.”

The creature was surprised, gasping as it reached down a giant hand and pulled the slab from her fingertips. “My sky. Mybeautiful sky.” The creature wept as it held the piece close, like it had been so lost without it. It reached toward the crack in the surface and pushed the slab into place. And the roomboomed.

The ground shook, the gleaming stars around them dancing and celebrating at being rejoined, at being whole once more.

The creature stared down at her, smiling; its teeth were so large they could’ve been used as stones to repair the ramparts of the manor. It bowed back to her. “Whatever you want, Evie Sage, it is yours.”

She swallowed and breathed out, “You said that you couldn’t interfere with human affairs. But my mother…” Evie looked up through the skylight of the cave to that one bright star, her constant companion beaming down at her. “My mother is not human now. Her magic enveloped her, and she left behind stardust because she became…”

The creature finished with a gentle smile. “A wishing star.”

It began twirling its hands about, and air followed its motions, whipping and growing until an almost cyclone appeared between its giant palms. “Now,” the creature said, “she will be free.”

The creature sent the rush of midnight clouds in its hands up and up and up, through the skylight, out of the cave, soaring all the way to that brightest star above—and plucking it from the soft, vast expanse of the night sky.

It swirled down in a whirlwind. The gale was so strong that Evie’s hair flew back, tugging against her scalp, and her yellow dress molded to her. Trystan gripped her hand to steady them both, holding his other palm up to shield his eyes.

When the whirlwind touched down on the grass before Evie and Trystan, a light shined so bright it was warm against her skin, her eyes, as that one shimmering, gleaming star transformed. A flash of silver, white, and then golden light swooped up in a rush of shine—an unearthly, unbelievablesight, impossible to look at. Evie turned her face into Trystan’s shoulder, gripping his hand with all her might.

That flash of light spread in an explosion of multicolored brilliance, and when Evie looked up, it dimmed, fading until it was nothing more than a woman.

Her mother.

Standing before her in a dress so white, it reminded her of the moon, was a woman she never thought she would see again—but she was there, and she was smiling.

“Mama?” Evie choked out, the word foreign on her lips.

Her mother’s golden skin glowed in the starlight, her arms held out as tears glistened in her warm brown eyes. “You found me, hasibsi.”

A sob left Evie’s lips, and in it, every pain, every heartache; all the overwhelming collapse of grief poured into the sound as she bounded for her mother and fell into her arms. Nura clutched her head, whispering soothing words of comfort in her ear—ones she hadn’t heard since she was a child.

That comfort unlocked everything. A key to the closed door of her childhood, which had been locked tight since she’d lost her mother and Gideon, through all those years of torment without them.

But she hadn’t lost them. Not truly. Not anymore.

Fingers raked through her hair, and she felt the warmth of her mother’s neck, smelled the summer air after a rainstorm on her skin—so comforting she ached. “It’s all right, my darling girl.” Nura shushed her gently, and Evie was finally able to pull herself away, sensing her mother’s attention shifting to the person over her shoulder.

Trystan stood there, hands tucked into his pockets as he frowned down at his wrinkled shirt and then back up to them. Evie smiled. “Mama, this is my, um— That is to say, he’s, uh…Trystan Maverine.”

Her mother’s eyes were kind and delighted, and Evie’s heart swelled with gratitude. Trystan deserved someone who was happy to see him; he so rarely was granted that. Nura reached her hand forward to shake, but Trystan was already bowing deeply over her hand. Ever the gentleman.

“I’m so happy to meet you, Trystan.” Her mother went right into using his name, like she’d known him far longer than this moment.

Trystan winced, clearing his throat nervously. “I’m afraid you wouldn’t say that if you knew who I was…if you knew what your daughter does for me.” When Nura lifted a brow, he fumbled, and was he blushing? “Forgive me. That was poorly worded. I meant to say her profession. What she does in myoffices.”

Her mother let out a twinkling laugh as she patted Trystan’s cheek with maternal affection. “I’m afraid I already know. I’ve been watching you all for quite some time.”

Trystan swallowed, blinking fast. “You’ve been watching?”