However, he mustered enough strength to argue with Elion. He was shouting at him, but the sound was muted—like voices behind glass. Astraia watched, straining to hear, but couldn’t make out the words.
Elion stood in defiance, gesturing toward her, shouting something back. His voice was muffled, his face red with rage.
A woman stood in the corner of the room, her narrowed eyes fixed on Astraia. Hatred, violent and intense, echoed in the woman’s eyes. She could not recall the woman’s name. Why was she looking at her with such disdain?
Astraia tore her eyes away from the venomous woman’s glare and back to Elion and her father. She tried to speak. Nothing. No voice. She tried to move. Nothing.
She was frozen.
Something was wrong.
Why were they fighting? What were they saying? Why was she rooted in place?
That was when she felt it—a low rumble all around her. It shook the ground beneath her feet so hard, the glass in the windows rattled. A high-pitched ringing pierced the muffled silence and filled her ears. Her father and Elion stopped shouting. They both turned their heads, and their eyes fixed on her.
Elion’s face twisted in panic as he reached for her. His green eyes bored into her soul. His voice filled her mind, echoing through her body.
He whispered, soft and low, “You are Starlight, Astraia. You will not fall.”
A burst of white light erupted—brighter than the sun—engulfing the room.
Astraia screamed, “No!”
Her voice shattered the dream—
And then came blackness.
Astraia jolted awake, sweat slicking her spine. She sat up, heart pounding, breath ragged. It was barely dawn, and morning dew clung to the ground surrounding the camp, making the grass of the clearing appear to be carpeted in Starlight. Stiffly, she rose from her mat and pulled her cloak around her, noting a slight chill in the summer air.
Val was smoking his pipe, stoking a fire with a pot of tea warming. Thalen and Vastor were absent from their bed rolls.
“Ahh, yer awake. Good. The transport should be here soon.” Val puffed on his pipe and nodded toward the river beside them.
“Where are they?” Astraia inclined her head toward the absent bed rolls as she grabbed a metal cup from her pack and poured a cup of tea, steam rising to meet her face as she poured. She had nudged Thalen awake for the second watch last night but passed out quickly afterward.
“Doing a perimeter check, I reck’n. That’s what they told me earlier before ye woke up.”
Astraia set her cup down. Her eyes scanned the tree line, the heavy fog rolling in from the river like a veil. The Starfell Woods stood silent—too silent. No birdsong, no wind. Just the pulse of something unseen.
Her bond stirred. Not a flare. But the familiar tingle along her spine, the breath just out of reach.
Then her gaze landed on where the horses had been tied up the night before—only to find them all missing. Orion included.
Astraia leapt from her spot around the fire. “Val, they took the horses! How could you not notice they took our horses?” she shouted, thankful she had kept her bow and arrow by her side last night as she slept. She slung her quiver over her head and stared at Val incredulously.How could he be so naive?
“I—I don’t know, Traia. I wasn’t fully awake yet and I guess…” He ran a hand through his hair as he stood in front of her. He letout a troubled breath, his eyes locked on hers with clear regret filling them. “Stars, I’m sorry.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, swallowing her frustration as she glanced over where they had unhitched the wagon. It too was gone.
“And they took the wagon. Just great.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead.
“Listen to me, Val, you need to tell me right now what Delphi was shipping,” Astraia demanded, irritated more so at herself for letting her guard down.
“You know I can’t tell ye that, girl. Less people know, the better,” he said, eyes narrow.
“Val…if I’m going to go after them, I need to know. What if they’re explosives and they try to ambush me?”
“They ain’t no explosives, but they might as well be.” He sighed, running his fingers through his beard.
