Sitting up, Ember opened the window next to her day bed, letting in the night air. The breeze brushed over her, and she closed her eyes as it cooled her skin.
She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky. The full moon hung low, dimmed by hazy clouds. The stars weren’t bright, they never were here in the city, but she could still make some out.
A bright star streaked across the sky, disappearing behind the clouds.
Ember’s breath caught. When was the last time she’d seen a shooting star? As a child?
She chuckled as she folded her arms atop the metal frame of her daybed and leaned out the window. She didn’t know what possessed her, didn’t know why she was filled with a sudden, whimsical urge to make a wish, but the words came out nonetheless.
“Starlight, starbright,” she began, face heating, “first star I see tonight. I… I wish for love. A deep, abiding love. A love that’s unwavering, unconditional, that’s never judgmental. A love that feels…fated. Please, send me someone who I can forever trust with my heart.”
As soon as she’d made her wish…nothing happened.
Well, of course nothing would happen. What did you expect? To feel a rush of magic? To see fireworks go off in the sky and form a giant arrow pointing you right to your fated lover?
With a wistful sigh, Ember dropped back onto her bed, feeling absolutely ridiculous. But she couldn’t help the sadness creeping into her heart as she picked up her book.
She lay down and tried to forget she’d made that silly wish. “I guess I can continue dreaming about fictional love…”
And so she read, losing herself in the story, until her eyelids drifted shut and she lost herself in her dreams instead.
Chapter Two
In her sleep, Ember didn’t see the same star streak across the sky again. She didn’t see it glimmering as it sped toward her house and flitted in through her open window, or she would’ve known that it wasn’t a star at all—for what star was small enough to fit in her hand?
She didn’t see the silver light falling across her walls, floor, and bed. And she didn’t hear the mischievous, tinkling giggle that echoed through her room.
The light moved closer to the human, hovering above her and casting its glow upon her. “What have we here?”
The human was quite pleasing to look upon. The black roots of her hair faded into long silver strands that shimmered beneath Starling’s light, and her skin was pale and smooth. Black, fanned lashes rested over her sharp cheekbones, and thick, dark brows arched above her closed eyes. Her features were bold yet delicate. She could’ve seduced even an incubus with a sultry curl of her full lips.
Starling’s gaze roamed past the human’s face to her body, clad in a short white nightgown. The almost sheer materialclung to every voluptuous curve, accentuating her generous breasts, soft belly, and flaring hips while leaving her long, thick, shapely legs bare.
The sprite grinned. “Ah, you are perfect for him.”
Because it was far more than this woman’s beauty calling to Starling. Magic dwelled within this mortal, powerful and brilliant, slumbering in her chest. Untapped but present. And that was all Starling needed.
She giggled again. “Finally. There will be an end to his moping.”
Whisking under the bed, the sprite darted about, trailing stardust upon the floor in her wake. Once the summoning circle was complete, she flitted back up and hovered over the human’s face.
“Oh, yes. You areperfect…but you have much work to do.” Starling leaned close and whispered in the human’s ear. “Summon him, witchling.”
As Starling spoke the words of the incantation, the woman repeated them in her sleep, her voice resonating through the room with an arcane thrum.
The summoning circle blazed with blue-white light, casting deep shadows on the ceiling overhead.
Chapter Three
Violent shaking startled Ember to alert wakefulness. Heart hammering, she jolted upright. The bed trembled, its metal frame rattling.
Oh God, is this an earthquake?
She crawled to the edge of the mattress to seek shelter in a safer location only to freeze when she saw the floor. Blue-white light shone from beneath the bed, covering everything in an ethereal glow that deepened and stretched the shadows in the room. The air was charged, bristling with static electricity, and she felt it buzzing on her skin.
That sensation intensified as the shadows began to bleed into the light, overtaking it on the outskirts of the room and then creeping toward her bed with increasing speed, covering more and more of the space in darkness.
“This is definitely not an earthquake!” she whispered.
