Chapter 26
Altair
As soon as Altair reappeared within his own quarters, he punched a hole into the stone wall.
He barely felt his bones break or his blood dripping down his fingers onto the floor.
It didn’t matter; they’d heal on their own within minutes.
The physical pain was a welcome reprieve from the emotional turmoil.
Iyana was alive. Iyana was in Athusia.
Iyana looked terrible.
She was too thin—all skin and bone. Her hair was brittle and frizzy, and there were purple smudges underneath her eyes.
What had Sullane been doing? Was he not taking care of her?
Altair would strangle him if he was simply letting Iyana waste away.
He claimed to love her, to care for her, but Altair wasn’t seeing any proof of that.
Other than the way he held her close when she was crying.
Iyana had clung to Sullane, and Altair’s blood boiled.
Had she so quickly forgotten what they’d had?
Altair had told her while they were in the library to never forget that he loved her.
He had thought then that he could still salvage the situation, but the stars were relentless.
He’d had no choice but to do what he had done.
Altair had told her to remember, and almost in no time at all, she was already in another man’s arms.
The sight had made him want to kill Sullane on the spot.
Logically, though, Altair understood that would only drive Iyana further away from him.
And she was safer with her Kanaliza around as well.
Those were the only two things that had stayed his hand.
Altair hadn’t been planning on telling her she was his astalle.
But seeing her with Sullane had nearly driven him to insanity.
He had laid everything out for her, told her that she was his star-bound mate, and she had still rejected him—his heart had broken.
Altair put his other hand through the wooden door to the bathing room, relishing the feel of the splinters in his skin.
Phaedros take him, he wanted nothing more than to get blind drunk, but the Alpha Centauri was still waiting for him.
Rigil would be wondering what was taking him so long.
Altair knew that if he were to appear in front of his sovereign in such a state, that Rigil would instantly be suspicious.
That was the last thing he needed. Iyana needed time to find Talon’s fucking parents, and Altair would buy her that time.
Taking several deep breaths, he calmed his heart rate and yanked the wooden splinters free from his hand. Once the wounds had healed over, he rinsed the blood off and glanced in the mirror.
The star staring back at him was hardly recognizable. He appeared haggard; exhausted. Iyana was going to kill him. If not with her own hands, then through stress alone. With one last deep breath to steady himself, Altair teleported to the throne room.
Rigil leaned forward on the throne when Altair appeared, his fingers steepled together. Hadar stood slightly behind him to his right, a permanent sneer etched into his face.
“Care to tell me what you’ve been doing, general, when I gave you explicit instructions to go to Nyr?”
Altair straightened his spine and clasped his hands behind his back. “There was more to secure here than I had thought, my lord. I was readying to leave when I heard the rumors of the Aztia being in Athusia, so I’ve been out searching for her.”
“You know none of this would be necessary if you had done your job correctly, right?” Hadar asked. Rigil held up a hand to silence him.
“Hadar has a point.” Rigil cocked his head. Altair felt as if he was boring into his soul. “I’m beginning to wonder if your affections for the Aztia were an act, or if you actually care for the girl.”
Altair forced his face to remain neutral and prayed to the gods that Rigil couldn’t sense how quickly his heart was beating.
“I assure you, everything you witnessed was an act to lure in the Aztia.”
“And yet, you were unable to kill her when you stole her magic, and you are stalling now. Forgive me, Altair, if I’m beginning to doubt your intentions.”
“I am loyal to you, Alpha Centauri.” Altair put his fist over his heart and bowed. “If you will grant me my leave, I will go seek her out now.”
Hadar stepped forward. “Not so fast, Altair. I’m to join you on this little quest.”
Fuck. Altair had been hoping to search out Iyana again to drive his warning home and ensure that she left. Now he would have to actively mislead Hadar whilst appearing to fulfill Rigil’s orders.
“Remember, Hadar,” Rigil said, “we want her alive.”
The Beta Centauri frowned. “I still think we should just kill her and be done with it.”
Stay calm. Stay calm.
Rigil exhaled a long-suffering sigh. Altair still didn’t understand how Hadar had earned this job.
“If we kill her, another Aztia will be born to take her place. And then we would have to find the new one. At least with this one, we know who she is. We only need to ensure she lives a nice, long life. In the dungeons.”
“The dungeons I’ll be in charge of?” Hadar asked hopefully.
“If you wish,” Rigil said dismissively. The Beta’s face brightened significantly with a wicked happiness.
“Let’s go, then, Altair. We have a new toy to go find.”
Altair forced himself to bow to Rigil instead of punching a hole through Hadar’s face. The star was already infuriating, but Hadar had sealed his death when he’d asked for Iyana’s.
Luckily for Altair, the Beta Centauri was silent as they stalked through the halls of the castle. It allowed him to envision all the ways he could murder him, which actually helped to calm his racing heart.
He was jolted out of his daydreaming by someone calling his name. Altair turned to find someone with familiar blonde hair and bright golden eyes hurrying after them in the hallway. A grin broke out on his face.
“Okab,” Altair said warmly, drawing his brother in for a hug.
He hadn’t seen his twin since the stars had fallen.
Hadar frowned at the show of familial affection.
While the Beta and Rigil were technically distant cousins, he didn’t have any other living family, so Altair didn’t expect him to understand the love between siblings—especially a twin.
“What are you doing here?” Altair asked.
“I’ve come to help you search for the Aztia. Really, you should have come to me sooner.”
“We don’t need your help, little twerp,” Hadar sneered.
Altair pursed his lips together to keep from saying something that would get him in trouble.
While Okab was smaller than Altair, in both height and musculature, his stature belied a silent strength.
Okab was proficient with many weapons, but that wasn’t what made him dangerous.
He was able to track magical signatures, then stealing a portion of that power for himself—similar to a Kanaliza, but the power Okab stole never replenished.
The source would be forever slightly less powerful than before.
Because of this, he was always careful and only took the magic if the situation absolutely called for it.
Altair wondered if he was capable of fully draining someone’s magic from them, but was slightly terrified of the answer, so he’d never asked.
Okab was also a powerful telepath. Although all stars had the ability to some extent, it was mostly used against the humans.
They were taught as children how to build a mental wall to keep others out, but Okab could bypass that wall without anyone knowing.
For this reason, only the Aquila siblings were aware of this aspect of his power.
It was better to keep it secret, so that they could use it when it was needed the most—like now.
Brother, Altair projected to him. They had done this enough times over the years that Okab didn’t react in the slightest. We need to find a way to lose Hadar.
Understood, came his brother’s reply. Altair loved that his twin inherently trusted him and didn’t ask any further questions. He’d have to fill him in later, of course, but for now it was enough that Okab was on his side.
Once they made it off of the castle grounds, Hadar turned to Okab. “If you’re going to follow us around like a mangy puppy, at least make yourself useful and find the Aztia.”
Okab closed his eyes to focus.
She’s in the outer ring. Is it okay to lead Hadar there? he asked within Altair’s mind.
It’ll be easier to lose him there than anywhere else.
“She’s in the outer ring.”
“Perfect. Meet me there.” Hadar teleported away.
Okab’s golden gaze, so similar to Altair’s own, glanced over at him. “I hope you’re going to tell me what’s going on. Tara was extremely vague after she found you.”
Altair appreciated that Okab had left him alone at first. With his gifts, he could have pinpointed Altair’s location immediately, but he must have known he’d wanted his privacy.
In all honesty, he had probably relayed as much to Tara, but she worried about her brothers and would have sought Altair out no matter what Okab said.
“I will, I promise. Where is our dear sister, anyway?”
Okab gave him a strange look. “She was sent out with other small military groups to secure the rest of Athusa. Why don’t you know that?”
Altair held back a wince. He was the general of their armies and should have known where Tara was stationed.
But he’d been so preoccupied with Rigil’s direct orders and thinking about Iyana that he had little knowledge of what his army was actually doing.
He’d delegated most of the tasks to his captains.
“I’ll explain in a bit, but we should go before he gets suspicious.”
Altair clapped a hand to Okab’s shoulder, and he transported them to Hadar’s location.
If Hadar hadn’t been so hasty, he might have realized that it would have been smarter to let Okab teleport them all to where Iyana was.
However, the Beta Centauri had never been known for his patience, and it worked in Altair’s favor.
When they appeared, Hadar was standing there with his thick arms crossed over his chest, a deep scowl on his face. “Where to now?”
Okab raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing. He inclined his head towards his right and began walking. Hadar followed, leaving Altair at his back. Perfect.
As silently as he could, Altair drew a dagger and crept closer to Hadar. In a swift motion, he dragged the blade across the other star’s throat.
Hadar’s eyes went wide as his hands flew to his neck, trying to staunch the blood before he collapsed onto the street. Altair and Okab both looked down on the body before Altair crouched to clean his blade on Hadar’s shirt. His twin sighed.
“You know, there were probably better ways to go about that.”
“This was more satisfying, though.” Altair had been wanting to do that for years.
“He’s going to be so pissed when he wakes up.”
Altair shrugged and stood. “We’ll be gone by then. Come on, we’re leaving Athusia. I’ll explain everything on the way out.”