“I’m not sure what exactly it is. There’s a different explanation for every culture. All I know is that the stars shine brighter, they change into this brilliant blue color, and come to life for one night every hundred years. Time seems to slow as the night grows longer, giving us a little more time to enjoy this anomaly.” He averted his eyes from the sky to give her a warm smile.
Adara’s lips twitched, fighting between the urge to smile or frown. “I’ve never known of this in Blemythia.” She searched her memory for anything that may have hinted at this cosmic event, coming up empty-handed. There was no trace of Konstelaria in any books she had read, in any conversations, in any fairy tales.
Dominic shrugged. “Happens everywhere.”
Adara finally settled on a frown, brows creasing as she fiddled with her signet ring. Konstelaria should have been something Blemythia had experienced in the past, yet Adara had never heard of it. Her mood suddenly turned somber at another devastating revelation.
“What’s wrong?” Dominic asked.
Adara shook her head. She bit her lip, another painful stab of the past shredding its way through her soul. “Blemythia . . . We should have been able to experience Konstelaria, butneverhave. Now that I think about it, I rarely saw stars as a child in Ignatius. I just assumed the sky was always cloudy at night.
“But now I realize it was another thing the Shadow Empire robbed the kingdoms of.” Adara looked down, still fiddling with her ring, images of her imprisonment flashing in the back of her mind. “Blemythians believe highly in our gods. When they die, parts of their soul become the constellations, and people who go to Sengui become the other stars, scattered about the heavens. They chose to be the light to guide us through the dark.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that Blemythia wasn’t covered by unusually cloudy nights. Zenura veiled the kingdoms in shadows.” Masking the stars and stealing faith from them. Making many believe that the gods had disappeared, had given up. Her voice wavered. “They ruined one of our strongest forms of culture. Stemmed our belief so we’d have no hope to defeat them.” Faith was her strongest ally, and they managed to take that from her, too.
A finger hooked beneath her chin, tilting her head to face him. “Hey,” Dominic started softly. “You’re the infamous Phoenix. No one can steal from you without getting burned. We’ll make them pay.” His voice took on a dark edge.
The corners of her lips turned upward. She wanted to believe him with all her heart, but she couldn’t.
“Now, come on, no need to think of those dark memories on a night like this,” he said, gesturing to the ocean where the Andreilians were.
Together, they walked to the sea, kicking off their boots and socks along the way. Dominic paused before the water could reach his feet and stripped out of his tunic. Adara didn’t peel her eyes away as he pulled off his belt of knives and tossed it into the sand.
“You’re staring, love,” he murmured.
“I know,” she replied, admiring his toned body. Gods, it made her sick to force her eyes all over him, but she couldn’t let Dominic know she was onto him. “But I do recall saying thesame thing to you the first time I did this.” Adara pulled off her shirt and stepped out of her pants, leaving her in a thin, sleeveless shirt and her undergarments. Chills ran up her spine at the sudden cool air of the night. Before tonight, she didn’t mind Dominic looking at her that way, with a hunger in his eyes that he could barely restrain.
Now she couldn’t stand it.
But as she turned her head over her shoulder to look at Dominic, she thought of all the moments they’d shared, all the times they defended each other with their lives. He could have only done those things to make her fall for him, to remind her that she was only important because he needed her key. Yet the look in his eyes as he glanced up and down her body, settling on her face, made her want to believe he’d done it because he actually cared.
And hehadcared. At least, when they knew each other before, he had. Now Adara was unsure. Perhaps this was his morbid machination to get his revenge on her. Make her love him now since she hadn’t loved him enough before.
“You’re staring,” she taunted, straining to keep the bite out of her voice.
“I’m completely aware of my own actions.”
Are you?The taste of copper filled her mouth, blood leaking from how hard she bit her tongue to keep the words from spilling from her lips.
Drawing closer, not taking his eyes off her, Dominic’s hand lightly grazed the back of her thigh, making her heartbeat quicken. It sickened her how her body reacted, craving him while everything in her mind told her he should die for what he’d done. Her gut twisted at the realization of how hard she’d fallen for his tricks. Betrayal was a feeling that stemmed from those you cared for, not those you didn’t.
“And I don’t think you mind it,” he said roughly into her ear.
“I don’t.” She trembled, and she didn’t know whether it was from the closeness of him or the fear that he would find out that she had dug up his deepest secrets.
“Then hopefully, you won’t mind this either.” In one swift motion, Dominic’s arms slipped underneath her knees and back, and he scooped her up to his chest.
She gasped at the sudden movement, arms clinging around his neck as he sprinted to the ocean. She didn’t have time to protest before he dumped her into the water. But not before she wrapped her arms around him tighter, pulling him with her. His eyes widened as they both plunged into the dark, stardust-speckled sea.
Adara gasped for air as she shot up, breaking the surface. A second later, Dominic followed, coughing up water, wet hair hanging over his forehead.
“Not expecting that, were you?” she teased, ruffling his chestnut hair, spotted with blue dust.
“Look who finally decided to join us!” Ace called out to them, wading farther into the ocean while trying to stay above the gentle waves rolling in, having difficulty treading water with only one arm. Deeper in the sea, laughter rang out as they swam, watching the twirling constellations above. Wooden boards had been brought out with them, carved and polished to glide along the waves as they surfed on top of them. Some sat along the shore, relaxing and staring up at the sky, admiring the magic that only happened every century.
Arms wrapped around her, practically tackling her with enough force to almost submerge her underwater again. Adara let out a sound of surprise as she spun out of his arms and threw him face-first into the sea.
