Chapter Twenty-Three
Iran faster than I ever had in my life. I had to pull the Realm Guard away from Aleixo. I knew this wouldn’t end well, no matter what we did, but I still couldn’t give up. Something in me wouldn’t give up.
Aleixo was everything to me. I could still feel his arms around me and his lips on mine as I tried to help us live, even just for a few moments longer.
I knew it was inevitable that he would go, but I was selfish.
Having only acknowledged how I felt now, I wanted more time to appreciate and enjoy it.
“Ah, I hear you running, elf.” Nilsorn’s voice was low and silky smooth as I ran with everything in me. “I’m not sure why you think this is wise, but I won’t hold it against you.”
There was no way I would waste my energy speaking when I needed all my focus not to run out of breath. Somehow, he was gaining on me, even with me giving it everything I had.
The fog was moving in around us, and I hoped with everything—even wishing on myself—that it would help keep me hidden. Branches swam around my vision as my feet kept moving, ducking this way and that to avoid being trapped by persistent, swaying arms.
“I was so happy to see parts of you glowing in the night sky, like a beacon calling me to you. Surely you didn’t mean to run from me. I will allow a lapse in judgment, you know!”
My skin crawled like a thousand rain ants pelted all over me. I wanted to be ill; I wanted to rip my ears off just to escape his voice. That one moment with Aleixo had cost us everything.
We could have had more time; we could have had even just one more moment together—not that it would have been enough, but it would have been something.
Instead, this stupid curse, this stupid star shard that forever thrived in me, would be what I resented for the rest of my life.
I would never forget this for the rest of my days.
I shuddered in horror. Days spent with him.
“Calista, Calista,” he called in a sing-song voice, the sickly-sweet honey sound pouring into my ears as he sang once more:
Should I find an elf divine
I only have to make her mine
For she can grant what I desire
She can stoke the smallest fire
In my collection she will sit
Entertained by my eternal wit
Until my last breath in the end
She will then help me ascend
I nearly paused as his words washed over me. Help him ascend? How in the realms could I help him ascend? True, I had powers beyond what the many races of Wylionis had, but even the star shard power in me was limited. What could I possibly do for him?
My mother’s voice from long ago echoed in my mind. “Why, darling, it is our people that are responsible for all the goodness in the night sky. Yet, our true power can only be truly powerful when we return to our place among the stars.”
Then it hit me. If Nilsorn had me for himself, he would be in control of whatever power he wished to have…
as long as I was dead. But what did his words mean?
Until his last breath in the end? Was I to make him join us in the stars?
Was he going to keep me alive or use me to have a wish? Nothing made sense.
Before I could catch myself, I stumbled over a fallen log, and in seconds, arms wrapped around me that I hadn’t asked for, nor desired. They lacked warmth, they lacked comfort, and most of all, they lacked the feel of Aleixo.
I was in the very arms of Nilsorn, and I would never forget the feeling of them holding me close, as though he would never let me go.
“I knew if I walked down the other path, you would grow careless. Now, here we are, together at last, my bride.”
I would never forget the absolute fright that met me as I looked into the hollow, vacant eyes of Nilsorn, the Realm Guard.
The one who would destroy every last shred of joy in my life.