Chapter Three
The steps seemed to go on for an eternity before Elara reached the bottom. The green flickering flames of the torches on the wall set her nerves on edge, as did the blank black door that stood at the bottom.
She took a deep breath and rapped sharply upon it.
There was the sliding of a grate, and two green eyes regarded her.
‘Business?’
‘I’m here to see Eli.’
She heard a muffled scoff as the eyes trailed down her lank, wet hair and plain black gown.
‘Eli is indisposed at the moment.’
‘Really?’ Elara snapped. ‘I thought that might be the case. Tell him it’s in his best interests to answer the door.’
‘Listen, girl. If Eli wanted a whore, he’d go to the Emerald. Whatever you want him for can wait. Off with you.’
Leo sighed. ‘Oh, you really shouldn’t have said that.’
On cue, the green torch-fire began to sputter out as shadows fell down the staircase.
The room spun but Elara held on to Leo, trying to maintain her vision as the shadows obliterated all light save for the silver of her eyes.
She took a slow step forwards, her face close to the grate.
She made sure that the doorman saw every inch of the threat in those eyes as she hissed, ‘You will let me and my friends in, or I will give life to the terrors that plague you. And you will bitterly wish that you had just let the whore pass. I’m sure the priest lying in his own cooling blood above wished he had. ’
There was a second of silence, the doorman’s eyes widening in fear as he beheld the deadly promise that writhed behind her stare.
‘That’s her, all right,’ he said to someone behind him. Then, without a sound, the door swung open.
A thick mist of tobacco hung throughout the space, making it difficult for Elara to get her bearings.
Music—that of a brass band—gently lilted through the room, though it appeared empty. She could make out the scent of liquor cutting through the smoke.
Finally, it parted.
And lounging in a chair at a table, cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth, sat Eli.
His dark, clever eyes ran down Elara, flicking to Merissa and Leo before he pulled the cigarette from his lips. Elara’s eyes caught on the winding serpent inked around his forearm, a twin of the one on the fountain.
‘Well, well, well. If it isn’t Queen Elara Bellereve, here to grace me with her presence.’ He didn’t deign to meet her gaze, and Elara noticed it then—a tension that bracketed his eyes and mouth, though his signature smirk was in place.
‘I’m surprised by the warm welcome,’ Elara drawled. ‘You know, with the ten thousand midans you’ve put upon my head and all.’
His lips quirked as he took a swig from his tumbler. ‘Hardly my idea. You shouldn’t be here, Elara. Especially not with a Helion general and beautiful demi-Star in tow.’ His eyes flicked to Merissa, and Leo shifted in front of her, casually resting his hand upon the sword slung at his waist.
‘I take it that overprotectiveness is a Helion trait,’ Eli remarked. Leo only glowered.
‘Well, I had no choice, since you ignored my summons,’ Elara replied.
All teasing, all amusement suddenly vanished from his expression. ‘I had my reasons.’
‘Ah, yes,’ Elara said, stalking forwards. ‘Your reasons. Were they the same ones that stopped you from telling me my fate? Knowing what was to happen to me? To Enzo?’ Her voice broke on his name, and she hissed through her teeth, breathing deeply through her rage that was on a fraying leash.
‘He lies now dead to the world, barely breathing. I have tried every way to wake him. I…I prayed to you, Eli.’ Her chest was heaving now. ‘I thought I meant more to you than this. I thought that if I asked for your favour, you’d give it.’
Eli stood abruptly and made his way to Elara. Though it was not sorrow or guilt in his eyes, no normal fucking emotion. No, it was cold anger. ‘I am a Star, Elara. There is little that you can mean to me. I carved my heart out to become one. And you’d do well to remember it.’
‘Then why did you bother helping us awaken at all?’ she spat, nearly nose to nose with him.
His dark eyes searched hers. ‘Something about you is different.’
‘Of course it is!’ she shouted. ‘I’m the starsdamned Moon! Haven’t you seen the sky outside?’ She flung her hand to the ceiling.
Eli stepped away, and it disconcerted Elara more than if he had stayed. Was that fear she saw flash across his face? Impossible.
‘There is much you don’t know about that is happening as we speak. If you had just waited—’
‘I have no time to “wait”!’ she seethed.
‘Do you know how long it takes for a soul to lose themselves completely to the Dreamlands? Two weeks. If that. Ariete, in case you didn’t know, has stolen Enzo’s tether.
Which means my soulmate is currently trapped in those lands with no way back and has been for four days already.
Believe me, I have tried to get him back.
I’ve dreamwalked, and I see him nowhere.
Healers can feel a pulse, but nothing more.
Every tonic, elixir and spell has been used.
And I needed you.’ She swallowed the lump in her throat.
‘You’re about the only person who knows how to wake Enzo. ’
Eli let out a long breath as he settled back into his chair. He went to say something, but he stilled, looking to the walls. The shadows had flickered, though it was only the candlelight; Elara was sure of it. But the god paled.
‘Out,’ he ordered Leo and Merissa. Leo stared him down, and Eli inclined his head. ‘If you want my help, then I’ll speak with Elara alone.’
Leo stepped up beside her. ‘I vowed not to leave her.’
‘Then leave your brother to the Dreamlands,’ Eli drawled.
He turned to the doorman, a look passing between them, and the man gestured to an adjoining doorway, a roaring fireplace and comfy seats beyond.
Merissa gave Elara a worried look, but she nodded. Leo hesitated a moment but Elara held his gaze, and he strode out of the room, though not before knocking past Eli’s chair.
When the door closed, Eli leaned forwards.
I trust not even the shadows.
Elara sucked in a breath as she heard him inside her mind. It filled the space there, though his lips remained set in a thin line.
Here, within your mind, is the safest place for me to speak with you. I’ve built a temporary wall around us. Elara, I feel someone watching. I have felt it since your awakening.
Who? Elara conjured the word in her mind, unsure if she was able to speak the same way Eli did, if it would reach him. But the channel between them seemed open, as he replied.
I do not know who, or what. A spy of Ariete’s. Or something worse. But I have faith in nothing.
Is that why you didn’t come?
He nodded tightly.
You told me once of a world in which we all lived in peace. Where Enzo and I ruled. That cannot happen again until Enzo is awake. Please. Tell me how to wake him.
Eli’s eyes softened, but only a fraction.
But I think you already know, sweet Moon.
She shook her head, looking at him imploringly. I don’t.
Do you know how a death-blow from a Star works?
No.
The last blow that Ariete dealt to Enzo should have killed him.
That was the law of nature, the way fate was to play out.
And yet you, with your power, tipped the scales, awakening him to his true self, though Ariete struck at the perfect moment, right as Lorenzo was about to leave the Dreamlands you’d pulled him into, and the King of Stars stole his tether.
You, as a dreamwalker, know what this means.
Elara nodded. That he’s lost in there.
Not only that. Your ways of waking him have been futile. There is no way to wake him without his tether.
Elara’s heart drummed as nausea swept over her.
But—
You have been avoiding the truth, exploring every other avenue, because you know that your last resort is to confront Ariete. And that, you are scared to do.
I am not scared, she seethed.
I am inside your mind, Elara. Perhaps you don’t know it yet, but you are scared.
For he has caused you immeasurable pain.
And to see him again would be not only to relive it all, but to know it is your last chance to save your soulmate.
Elara looked away. So you ask the wrong question.
You know how to wake Lorenzo. The question should be…
Elara finished the thought. Where is his tether?
Eli gave a satisfied nod. It is with Ariete, of course.
And where is he? Flashes began to assault her: of Ariete’s bloody mouth grinning, of red starlight, of her loved ones stark and white and stiff upon the floor. She took a deep breath.
He’s right here in Castor. Elara jolted her head up as panic and fury both gripped her heart in a vice. But he does not carry the tether within this realm.
In the heavens, then? Elara despaired. How in the skies was she going to gain access to the Star’s resting place?
Eli shook his head. No, he said softly. In a much better hiding place. In his dreams.