Chapter 46 Nyte
Nyte
I found Astraea and Nadia together, kneeling somberly by Edasich.
The dragon was gone, lying there so still and tragically as snow gathered over its ethereal blue body.
Astraea was crying. I scented her tears and that pummeled me.
Athebyne’s cry of mourning struck deep in the hearts of all. She approached, wounded greatly from the battle, and dropped close to Edasich, nudging her giant head into the blue dragon’s body.
“They were friends,” Astraea croaked, having heard me closing in behind. “Not in the sense we know, but it’s the best way I can describe their bond. In the past, before their entombment, they had a respect for and understanding of each other.”
I couldn’t comprehend Astraea’s connection to all the dragons. She could feel them and command them as their bonded riders could.
“That’s why she helped us,” I said, reflecting on the dragons’ battle in the sky.
“I just can’t understand it,” Drystan said in defeat, leaning on Athebyne. “Rastaban and our father made sense as a pair, but a dragon as gentle as Edasich choosing Auster Nova…”
Astraea sniffed, and I crouched by her with a hand on her waist for any small comfort.
“Sometimes barbed armor guards gentle hearts,” she whispered. “After wearing it too long, one won’t realize they were slowly bleeding themselves, and pain turns peaceful things vicious. Auster wasn’t always the villain he became.”
I didn’t respond. As much as Astraea despised Auster for all he’d done, I also understood he was once a dear friend, and that she would always grieve for that part of him.
“You need a healer and rest,” I said gently.
Astraea nodded, wincing as I helped her to stand.
Eltanin emitted noise, coming closer to us. He bowed his head, rattling toward Athebyne, who appeared so weak it was difficult to know if she would pull through.
“I can’t lose her,” Drystan whispered, resting his forehead against her giant head.
It would break him completely. This bond he had with the dragon meant more to him than anything. It was everything our father couldn’t give him. Devotion, loyalty, love.
I watched Eltanin as he walked closer, and it was then I saw the glistening in his eyes.
He was offering his tears.
Three of them fell over Athebyne, and Astraea’s hand tightened on my arm around her when they shimmered over the dragon’s red scales.
“His tears can heal,” Drystan muttered in fascination. He smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.
Athebyne still had a long way to go to recover fully, but whatever Drystan felt from her now must be enough confidence to know she’d make it.
Astraea took my hand, smiling preciously at me until something caught her attention. She glanced down, gasping as she pushed my sleeve up as far as it could go. The thin black vines of her blood used as poison had already crawled past my elbow from where my Father scored my wrist with the blade.
I tipped her chin with my fingers, and though her eyes were glistening with shock and panic, I smiled.
“Just another matching tattoo.” I tried to lighten the situation.
My days were now as numbered as hers, but I didn’t fear. I only wished I could give her more time in this world with her friends, but the fates had bound our final hours together, and though that was tragic, I was glad.
Her brow crumpled more.
“Oh, Nyte,” she sighed, leaning into me.
I retrieved the key from the void. Astraea felt its pull instantly, straightening to take it from me. Back in her possession, the staff flared brilliantly, blasting a wave of power around us all.
“Now, let’s reclaim your throne,” I said.
Astraea wouldn’t let me carry her, but I kept a firm arm around her waist as we passed through the first gates into the lower level of Vesitire’s tiered city.
The streets were ominous and quiet.
Humans, fae, vampires, celestials … we passed them all, and they watched us with variations of fear, hope, and curiosity. As if not knowing which figure of power to trust as friend or foe anymore. Some whispered to each other but I didn’t know if Astraea could hear them.
“It’s the star-maiden.”
“She saved us.”
“Praise our Maiden.”
“Our queen.”
Yes, she was. And we took our time for the city to see her heading off to take back her throne.
We passed someone taking down the posters of us Auster had plastered throughout the streets. In their place they began to hang a purple banner. Astraea’s constellation with her key through the middle adorned it, her black wings splayed proudly.
They were accepting her. Putting their faith in her. My pride in Astraea grew immeasurably.
Astraea walked, her chin held high with her sight never leaving the glittering black castle that drew closer. Her steps were tired and her eyes fluttered, but she pushed on in silence, and I didn’t disturb this moment for her.
Coming home.
We still had the gods to send back, but for now this was victory.
On the castle courtyard, guards littered the grounds, but we paid them no attention. I stiffened when the first one moved, but … he lowered to one knee, head bowing.
“Long live the queen,” he declared. The first strong voice in our trek of somber silence, and there were no words more perfect.
One by one the guards started kneeling, uttering the same devotion.
Astraea’s tears were flowing now, and I wished I could sense they were happy, but something was polluting that emotion.
Only when we made it past the castle doors did she break.
I hugged her tightly, letting her cry into my chest, hands covering her face, until her sobs ran dry.
“What do you need me to do?” I asked gently.
Her arms circled around me. “They’re all talking as if it’s over. As if I’m here to stay,” she whispered.
“Then let’s live like we are. Until the very end.”
She squeezed me tighter, and I pulled us through the void then, taking us to her rooms. I lay her down on the bed and I had to see …
Peeling the torn piece of her tunic up, I tried not to buckle under my wave of cold panic.
Her wound had gotten so much worse, with the skin around the puncture site a dark shade of gray, and I couldn’t see the end of the vines carrying my blood toward her heart.
In my flustered desperation I removed her top layers, finding the end of the graying vines that stopped between her breasts.
“That bad?” she asked quietly.
My fingers traced over her ribs, lingering under her breast until my thumb touched the top of the mark growing to kill her.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
It was my blood that would do it, and that fact scored a deep wound in my soul.
“Please don’t say that. I can’t bear it.”
Astraea tugged at my forearm, and I read her signal, leaning over to bring my mouth to hers.
She said, “Lie with me.”
“I’m going to get a healer.”
“I’m not in pain anymore. I just want you to lie with me.”
I knew that was a lie. Whatever my father and Fedora had done to her had made her fatal wound worse and further weakened her body that needed to recover. Her pleading eyes were too much to deny.
I took off her boots first and brought a blanket to cover her naked torso with.
“Your father is dead,” she stated more than asked, but her words were gentle.
“Yes.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m … not sure.”
She nestled her head against my chest more, tucking herself in comfortably.
“I’m relieved,” she confessed. “The two people who hurt us the most are now gone.”
“All that’s left is a couple of arrogant gods.”
I felt her smile.
“Then peace.”
“Then our peace.”
My fingers combed through the lengths of her tangled hair.
“It pains me to see your stunning hair so neglected. At least let me run you a bath.”
She chucked softly, and I collected that sound every time like tiny candles to place in a hall of my mind, a reminder of what true light in this life felt like.
When Astraea stood naked, I helped her into the milky water filling the room with an aroma of honey and lavender. She sighed sitting back, closing her eyes, and I dragged a stool to the edge, unable to keep my hands off her for a moment.
Gliding a sponge over her clavicle, I reached a hand up to her bruised cheek.
“Father or Fedora?” I asked, controlling my wrath.
“Father,” she admitted.
My teeth ground. “Perhaps there’s a necromancer somewhere. I don’t think I’m quite done with him after all.”
Astraea took my hand, and her fingers traced over the thin black vines over my forearm. Her lips pressed to the tip of them halfway over my bicep.
“Where do you think Fedora went?” Astraea asked.
“Back to the sea, probably killing off more clans in her anger.”
“Do you think she’ll be a problem?”
“A creature like Fedora isn’t going to stop now. She lost her ally on land because she chose the wrong one, but she’s prideful and determined. I don’t doubt she might attack us herself again, and we can’t underestimate her with the trident.”
Astraea nodded, and I wished I could take more of her burden.
“You could join me in this bath,” she said.
“Hmm. As tempting as that sounds, we’re about to be—”
“What the fuck happened?!”
I groaned against her skin at the intrusion and Astraea’s hands lashed over her chest.
“Zath!” Astraea shrieked, twisting her head over her shoulder.
He’d barged in without a knock, along with Rosalind.
At least she had an apology on her face for how they’d interrupted us, but Zath didn’t seem to care if Astraea was in a bath or otherwise.
The primal instinct in me to have another male so close, with my mate so vulnerable right now, itched violence in me no matter who it was.
“I’ll give you this one warning to get out while Astraea is naked,” I said, taming my wrath.
Rose gripped his bicep with both hands to drag him out.
“Wait! What happened? Did you know it’s snowing in the throne room? I need answers—!”
His rambling faded with Rosalind forcing him out of Astraea’s rooms entirely, and I never thought I’d be thankful to the one who despised me most.
Astraea giggled, leaning back again as I quelled my irritation with the interruption.
“These are the friends we need to keep by our side?” I grumbled, reaching for a lavender balm for her hair.
“This may sound a little contradictory right now, given their interruption, but they are part of our peace, I’m afraid.”
I hooked a finger under her chin to tilt her head back, kissing her lips.
“The things I tolerate for you.”
A dear smile bloomed on her. “Your denial that you care for them all is amusing.”
“I care that you care for them.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
I smiled too, though she didn’t see it as she ran a sudsy sponge along her leg lifted gloriously out of the water while I rinsed her hair.
Her glistening, tattooed silver skin was mesmerizing.
If I hadn’t been so considerate of her need to heal after her ordeal, I would have acted on the desirous impulses stirring in me.
For now, however, I treasured our gentle touches and this silence filled with contentment far more after what we’d endured today. The war wasn’t over, but we deserved to bask in the triumph of an ages long battle against my father finally won.