Chapter 9 Astraea
Astraea
I was so damn tired of waking up in a state of complete misery.
This time I noticed with a choked groan that I was vertical.
Lifting my head was like it had been replaced with a boulder too heavy for my shoulders to bear, and my arms …
they were strung up above my head. Any slight movement shot searing pain through my dormant, awkwardly positioned muscles.
“Why did you come here, Astraea?” a quietly distraught voice asked. My vision came into focus enough to find Zephyr by the door of the wide room.
I didn’t answer him right away because my sight started to scan the walls, as I grew more horrified at the stains of crimson around this dark, windowless room. Only two torches were lit on either side of me.
“We had to get Eltanin back,” I said, my voice raspy. It ached to speak.
“At this cost? I thought you were smarter than this,” he hissed low, coming closer.
My head drooped, but I fought to keep conscious. My wrists were sure to slice more dizzying pain through me if I tried to move, so, to prevent that, I stayed utterly still.
“Has Auster really bought in to an alliance with the realm’s most vicious creature?” I asked.
“For now, it seems so.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle, though it hurt. My laughter was eerie, but I delighted in it.
“Once a desperate fool, always one.”
“Speak for yourself,” Zephyr countered.
I glared up at him. “I know what I’m doing.”
Zephyr’s laugh was so far removed from humor. “Sure looks like it.”
“What happened to Aquilo? He was absent from the show.”
He stared at me, and I could hardly suppress my wicked smile. Zephyr seemed to be deciding whether to be understanding or disapprove of what I’d done to his brother.
“Auster and Notus decided it was only fair to judge him as they would anyone else. He was exiled.”
I had to admit I was shocked by that ruling, figuring they would keep him hidden and lie about the exile to keep up the pretense of fairness.
“Good. I hope you exiled him from our sanctuary too if he came crawling.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “He didn’t. I’ve been away from there too long. Away from Katerina.”
“Go back. Please, don’t stay for my sake.”
“I’m not. Things are tense and uncertain around here, and, after the destruction of the Nova province and the veil gone, Althenia is shaken too. I still have my own people and land that are terrified the same is coming for them.”
I sighed sadly. “Everyone is afraid.”
Zephyr had a purer heart than I did. I often thought it should be him the world considered their savior.
“Aquilo was nothing but a cruel bully,” I said coldly.
His hard stare was weighed with judgment, but I wouldn’t allow it to inspire guilt for what I’d done—for Aquilo now being without home and title. I was the goddess of justice, and if there was one person I was certain deserved their unfortunate fate, it was Aquilo Sera.
“I know,” Zephyr said in a clipped tone.
I groaned, shifting on my knees. Shit, this position was torture in itself and I didn’t want to ask how long I’d been dead this time. Nightsdeath had snapped my neck so carelessly, and I didn’t think it would be the last time he killed me.
“So—” I paused to gather breath when every movement drained incredible energy. “Are you taking first watch of me while your brothers host a tea party with Nightsdeath?”
“Your wits are high, at least.”
I hissed at the stinging of my wrists, realizing my shackles had been laced with nebulora. “I’m flattered by all these measures to contain me.”
“Nightsdeath wanted to let you roam freely. Said he would enjoy the thrill of you trying to escape or cause chaos. It was Auster and Notus who ordered you here. They’ve been bleeding you and pushing nebulora into the wounds to weaken your magick in case you managed to free yourself from the bonds.
” He said the last part with a wince, and only then did I drag my sight up to see the long cuts down my forearms.
This wasn’t unexpected, but it was still miserable as hell. There was a spark of delight in me, however, that they believed in my ability to escape.
“My wings,” I said. They were glamoured for now, but Auster had promised to remove them when he saw the stark black color of them during the ambush.
“I’d like to believe Auster still cares for you enough to not be so merciless, but if he hands the task of removing them to Notus…”
They wouldn’t be able to take my wings while I had them glamoured, but a slither of cold fear over what Notus might do to get me to break licked down my spine.
“I don’t know what to do,” Zephyr said, nearly inaudible. “I can’t help you here.”
“I don’t expect you to,” I said softly. “Just … don’t let them break my spirit, please.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Remind me who I am. Who I love. That’s all I need to keep fighting.”
Zephyr nodded grimly.
“How long have I been here?” I asked.
“Only an hour or so,” Zephyr informed.
I figured the more times I died, the longer I would be wandering between realms before my consciousness found anchor back to this one.
“Dying is really damn taxing,” I said, wanting to lie down so badly.
Zephyr grimaced. “I thought I nearly died watching him snap your neck so casually. Until he explained that what he’d done put you into, in his words, ‘an effective sleep.’”
I scowled, wishing Nightsdeath were here so I could attempt an effective sleep on him. Could he be sent back to that veil between life and death? I would damn well try if I got a moment out of these bonds.
I would be at Auster’s mercy for a least a week.
Until the next full moon when Eltanin would age, and if the stars were aligned for us, he would choose Nyte as his bonded rider, which would wake him from his curse.
When he came for me, together we would figure out how to defeat Nightsdeath now that he was a distinct entity from him.
Then Auster. Then we’d hunt down his father. Then defeat the gods.
Our list of enemies was long, but together we would claim and right the world no matter the wreckage we might have to salvage it from.
Peace. We’d be reunited to begin our fight for peace down a path of war and terrors, but I wasn’t afraid. Not of myself, and not if we were together to face it all.
The door behind Zephyr groaned open, and I shivered like it welcomed death inside. It was Auster, and I couldn’t decide if he was the worst of the evils there could have been.
“You’re awake,” he said, with a confusing note of care and surprise.
“Sorry, not truly dead this time.”
That wiped the slipup of emotion from his face as he came closer.
“What is our plan for her?” Zephyr asked him.
I glared at them, needing to keep up a convincing ruse that I despised Zephyr too.
“We need her to tell us where Rainyte is. That’s the thing’s urgent request, and I can’t deny it would be a huge thorn out of my side once and for all.”
“How can we trust him?” Zephyr asked tightly.
“You can’t,” I sang, gloating in the irony of them allying with the same person they despised.
“Nightsdeath will crush you all when he’s done with you.
In fact, if you somehow succeed and kill Nyte, I’ll gladly side with Nightsdeath to tear apart the world, and you’ll be the first to burn within it.
Your allegiance with him ends in no favor to you. ”
“This doesn’t concern you,” Auster seethed at me, hovering closer. His right fist tightened at his side, and I eyed it carefully.
“On the contrary, all of your plans revolve around me.”
“He will take away your memories once again, and you won’t remember your vengeance or grief,” he snapped, marching to me.
I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction when he gripped my jaw, forcing me to stare into his brown eyes swirling with humiliation and wrath.
“We’ll go to Althenia when Rainyte is taken care of.
A new veil will be placed around Althenia, and we will govern the celestials as a sovereign nation.
All you’ll know is me and your people, just how it should have been. ”
Terror for that possible fate turned me sharp, and before I knew what I was doing I spat in Auster’s face.
He growled, letting my face go before a vicious slap followed, snapping my head to the side. I breathed through the explosion of pain, strands of matted, dirty silver hair dancing through my hard pants of rage.
“You are a tyrant, Auster Nova,” I said glacially, not looking up. “A root of poison I’m going to weed out from this land.”
“You are a spoilt brat I look forward to breaking. Then I’ll take pleasure in watching you fall for me.”
The mere thought of a life robbed of my memories again and manipulated into loving him made me wish for true death if it ever came to that.
I am Astraea Lightborne. I belong with Nyte. I will not break. I will not forget.
I couldn’t let Auster’s vile fantasy crumple my composure. I would get out of here. I would be with Nyte again.
I am the star-maiden. I am Lightsdeath. I will not break. I will not forget.
I would kill Auster Nova.
“I didn’t say you could hurt her without cause.” Nightsdeath’s voice slithered over me like shadows come to life. He could have stood in the back of the room and been near undetectable were it not for the glow of his eyes.
“What I do with my bonded is none of your business, that was our deal,” Auster said, turning to him.
Nightsdeath came closer, not even dignifying Auster with a glance as he kept those amber eyes on me.
“Until I have my full form, she does not belong to you.”
“I don’t belong to either of you,” I snapped.
That earned a slight curl of Nightsdeath’s mouth, more like approval than amusement, as he slipped a hand into his pocket.
“Leave us,” he said.