Auster didn’t answer. He didn’t move.
Astraea tried to shake the unease he was inspiring in her. She took a step closer, but he stepped too.
She felt the magick too late. Not until it was a bright violet flare between them did she realize what he had in his possession. Not until she dropped her horrified sight from his cold, unfeeling eyes… and saw the stone tip of her key lodged in her gut.
No. This was a nightmare. A cruel, despicable nightmare she would wake from.
Because Auster would never do this. Her best friend would never hurt her. A man she loved and trusted would never want herdead.
Astraea’s trembling hands wrapped around the staff. Light engulfed Auster’s hand, and his hiss of pain rattled through her as he let go. She looked up, finding him clutching his left arm to his chest, backing away from her.
“Auster…”
He was leaving her here.
“Wait.”
Astraea tried to follow, but she only got one step before her knees buckled.
Was this truly real?
Despite the agony that ripped her apart, cell by cell… Despite the blurring sight of Auster retreating… she still struggled to conceive it.
But if she was dying…
Nyte.
His name became the only thing that mattered to her. The only person she wanted in the world right now. They hadn’t had enough time together. She was desperate, greedy, for so much more time with him while her life was draining rapidly.
They were supposed to change the world together. Had already begun making progress toward their ambition for vampire equality. She was going to show the world who Nyte truly was, and he was going to be free from the chains to his father, as was Drystan.
Oh, Drystan… he’d become such a dear friend, and she couldn’t abandon him now. She couldn’t leave them both to their horrific father.
Astraea gripped the key tighter, and the pain from ripping it out of her body stole the last of her strength. She fell, losing more of her consciousness every second. This was worse than the first time she’d felt the key in her body. Auster had made sure to strike deep, pushing as much of the key’s magick as he could tolerate into her body before it punished him. She couldn’t even use the void one final time to reach Nyte.
There would be no saving her this time anyway, but still… she wanted to see his beautiful face just one last time as the darkness pulled at her. She wanted him to hold her in his warmth as her body turned cold.So cold.
Instead, she was all alone, lying here as one of many corpses lost in this senseless battle. Death knew no title.
She wanted Nyte to know that she called for him even if it was too late. She wanted to tell him that she would find him again. No matter what, she would find him always.
In those last fleeting seconds, she felt him so strongly she couldn’t be sure if it was her desperation, or if he’d come for her. She couldn’t see him.Oh what she wouldn’t give to glimpse his golden eyes one last time.But she took the last notes of his scent with her as she had to leave him for now.
48Astraea
After all the trials and terrors, being reunited and surrounded by my friends reminded me why every hardship was worth the suffering. As I’d been prescribed bed rest by Lilith, they’d decided to bring the tales of their own ventures to my rooms. This resulted in Davina lying at the foot of my bed, Lilith sitting by the side on the ground with some cushions, and Rose sitting on the armchair by the fire while Zath sat by her feet, his elbow propped on the side of her seat. Drystan was here too, eager to hear about all the dragons that were freed as he scrawled in his journal from his lean against the wall near Nadia, who perched unconventionally on the dresser.
As they told me about their quests to their designated temples, we sipped tea, and I couldn’t stop catching the subtle flirtatious movements between Rose and Zath. He tucked closer into her, an arm draped over her thigh, while she played absentmindedly with the short lengths of his hair.
“Is there something else I need to catch up on?” I prompted.
Rose wore a sheepish smile while fighting the instinct to deny what was obvious.
“We might all die in a war against gods, so why deny any of our pleasures, no matter how many thorns they come with,” Zath mused, squeezing her thigh.
“Still insufferable,” she muttered.
“But you love me.”
