“How did you find me? You were gone for days, and we were nowhere near Volpes.” Her pulse quickened, unsure if she was prepared for his answer.
“I was barely a day’s ride away from Volpes when I had a dream. It sounds insane when I say it out loud, but it was so real,” he said, shaking his head.
“What…what was the dream?” Her palms were clammy, a cold sweat rushing over her.
“I was in a bright room, bright as the Stars. At first, it was quiet, then I could hear shouting. The sound grew louder, and I knew, in my bones I knew, it was you,” he replied, holding her gaze.
She could not breathe. Could not move.
“I called out to you and reached into the light for you.” His voice was low, barely more than a whisper. “And suddenly you were there, holding my hand. You stopped screaming and just stared at me. You said in the darkness that I was your light.”
Spots danced in her vision, and the back of her neck was damp with sweat. It was not possible. Could not be possible.
Draven cleared his throat, shifting on his feet. “I woke from the dream and knew I had to return. But when I got to Volpes,you had already left. That squirrely butler was hesitant to give me your route, but I am…persuasive.”
“Draven,” she started, swallowing the lump in her throat. “I had the same dream.”
“What?”
“Probably the same night. It was my nightmare. But this time, you saved me before I destroyed them.” Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away, holding his bewildered stare.
“The Stars. They must have been speaking to us,” he murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t have left. They knew it too.”
“Why did you? You say it was to save me, but…” Her voice lowered, unsure.
“But what?”
“You never asked if that’s whatIwanted,” she said. She now realized how angry she had been when he left her, claiming it was for her own good. But she knew it vexed her more than she had been willing to admit.
“What is ityouwant then, Starborne?” He stepped closer, his breath warm on her face, the scent of him overpowering her, clouding her thoughts.
It was hard to breathe, hard to think clearly with his body so close to hers. Her bonds pulsed in her spine, a burst of warmth flooding her body, enhancing her senses. It was almost too intoxicating to bear.
“The truth,” she replied, voice firm and demanding. She was tired of the hidden agendas, hidden half-truths, hidden feelings. She was tired of standing on the precipice of uncertainty—she needed something real.
“The truth is complicated,” he said, staring at her.
“Enlighten me.”
“Very well.” He stepped back from her. The space between them felt like a chasm, cold and dangerous. His shoulderstensed, jaw clenched. Then he sighed before he spoke, his voice calm and even. “It’s true that my father was bonded to Rage. That was not a lie. But I am also bonded to Rage. It is somewhat of a generational right.”
“Go on,” she urged, crossing her arms.
“Many years ago, my father… He died. In battle. He and the entire legion of warriors with him.”
Astraia held her breath, and a palpable silence filled the air, but he did not stop.
“His death was my doing. The enemy swarmed us, and I was too far from him to render aid. Even with his bond, he was overtaken. I watched him fall, and the anger… I flared uncontrollably. I killed them. The enemy. The legion. I woke days later under the care of a healer who had found me. But something had been broken that day. Now, I cannot access my full bond, my true form.”
He paused, glancing up at the black abyss, then back at her. The pain and grief he bore laid bare before her, plainly written on his face. He had suffered as greatly as she had—cursed by bonds they never chose.
“But you—you were the one who told me to believe the Stars answered, that they lived. How could you after what they took from you?” She grappled with the truth, that he was Starborne, that he flared and others paid the price, just as she had.
Yet he still clung to the Stars, to an undeserved faith.
“I believe because they speak to me too, Traia. Rage, he speaks to me. The Star is my tether. The healer taught me how to harness my bond, channel it, and I found Rage in the darkness. Evil will forever lurk in the shadows, on the edge of the night, ready to break those who would stray from the light. But the light is an ever-fixed mark. You need only to allow it to burn.”
He began walking toward her once more, closing the gap between them with every step. “I knew that day, when you flaredwith the wraith, that you were strong, but you clung to your grief, letting it consume you in darkness. You just needed to allow the light to burn brighter for the Stars to answer you.”
