Then it was gone. The key was sent into the void by Nyte, who cupped her face in both hands now, kissing her back with abandon. Kissing her as if she would die in his arms any second. Kissing her to claim her last breath if she did.
He pulled back, panting and distraught, resting his forehead to hers. Astraea’s hands on his chest reached fractions higher to where the black veins retreated past his collar.
“Don’t ever stand in the path of me when I’m like that again, do you hear me?” he said, his voice so raw and thick with emotion. She didn’t respond, still in a daze over what had happened. The magick from her key started to diffuse from her body but lingered with a pulsing warning within her.
Nyte pulled back, holding her eyes fiercely. “If I tell you to run from me, you fuckingrun.You don’t falter; you don’t look back. That part of me isn’t merciful, least of all to someone as bright and powerful as you. And if I ever—gods,if I ever managed to—”
Her hands tightened on his jacket. Nyte couldn’t finish, but she knew the grim reality of what could have happened. She’d been reckless, so completely fooled by her love for him that she’d put herself right in the path of death.
Yet she knew she would do it again.
“My heart is yours anyway,” she said, looking up to find his beautiful eyes their usual subdued amber shade. “I’m always running with you, never away. We’ll figure this out together. Perhaps the more you expose that side of you in tamer doses, the more control you’ll have around me. This continent might break with war soon, and I plan to fight by your side. As Nightsdeath if you must be.”
Her words seemed to stir conflict in him, like he yearned to be able to fight with her and not lose control of Nightsdeath to turn on her instead, but he also didn’t believe it to be possible when he’d never had reason to build restraint with the dark power inside him.
She reached a palm over his cheek. “One day at a time.”
Nyte gave a barely there nod. “My infinite days are yours.”
16Astraea
I never would have anticipated my escape from the castle of Vesitire to be in the literal form of Nightsdeath.
So far, none of Auster’s forces had come after us. After the bloodshed in the city, it was hard for me to settle my guilt. I’d asked Nightsdeath to attack; I’d all but unleashed him like he was my weapon to wield.
If you’re not with me, you’re against me.
I sighed, my breath a thick cloud as we trudged through the snowfall just outside the tiered city. Well, I did. Nightsdeath could be mistaken for gliding with how effortlessly he walked. He wore no cloak or gloves either since he was immune to any physical feeling.
Right now, I might even have envied him for that, as the winter had grown so cold my cheeks nipped painfully, and I had to keep sniffing to prevent my nose from running despite my layers: hood, gloves, and thick boots.
I wanted out of the blood-splattered white clothing as soon as possible.
“I can hear your teeth bashing together. It’s rather irritating,” said Nightsdeath.
Casual conversation from him always made me glance at him as if by some miracle Nyte’s full mind could have awoken. The shadows, which drifted off him like thick smoke in his wake, and the ethereal brightness of his irises immediately extinguished that small spark of hope each time.
“Another mortal weakness,” I grumbled.
“So become immortal with me. I’m willing to bet Lightsdeath would defy the effects of the miserable seasons like I do.”
With that enlightenment, I stopped internally complaining about the cold.
We trekked in silence for a while longer. I hugged myself and my cloak tightly; the exertion of trudging through the snow started to ache in my legs, but I didn’t speak this to him when it would only be met with jarringly quippy remarks or temptations for me to join him in an eternal dark reign.
“This may take far longer than a week to retrieve given your slow pace, and you’re no good to me if you get ill or die.”
“Thanks for the concern. I’m not as weak as I might look right now.” My magick was slowly returning and helped to warm me at times.
“I could go alone if you told me where it is.”
I didn’t divulge the specific location to Nightsdeath, knowing he would do just that.
“Travel is more fun in company.”
He gave the most genuine quirk of a smile I’d seen on him.
“You could use the void to escape me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop you,” he said.
