- I can’t. He’s my friend.
- You will.
He said it so calmly, so assured.
- No. I don’t accept. Keep your protection and your power. I will not hurt someone I love.
- You have already made the deal. If you do not fulfill the bargain, it will kill you instead. It’s him or you.
- Then it’s me, I said.
He hissed, his cold breath blowing over my heart.
- You say that now, but you don’t mean it. No one lays down their life for another. In the end, we all choose ourselves.
- You’re wrong.
I reached for his candle and tried to destroy it, but as soon as I touched it, it felt like I was bitten all over again.
Sidarphion laughed.
- You can be brave now, but you will change your mind when the pain of defiance sets in.
I wiped my bleeding palm on my robes and turned to leave the chapel. I couldn’t bear it anymore.
- You can’t hurt me. You are not Sidarphion anymore. You are nothing more than a voice in the dark. To the rest of the world, you are no longer real.
- You’ll see, North Star. You have already lost.
My bloody hand was pressed to the door.
- No, you’ll see, Dorian Ship.
But I know he’s right.
I am too afraid to fight.
The words blur on the page. Claudia can’t breathe. Can’t speak. Her entire body trembles with fear and rage and shame.
How did she not see? How has she been so naive?
Dorian Ship is Sidarphion. He is the god of stars and nightmares.
He wasn’t simply striking a bargain—he was stealing her blessing.
This is why she could defy Cassius’s curse of silence, why she’s tied to the origin and the end—she gave her soul away to the one who created it.
Dorian lied. He lied about everything. Claudia didn’t wake him at all.
Odette did. Odette’s was the first soul he tasted. His North Star. He tricked her into a sinister bargain—one that hinged on Cassius’s death. And when she refused, the bargain killed her.
Now, Claudia has taken Odette’s place in that fatal deal.
That means Cassius isn’t simply going to die.
Claudia is going to kill him.
SIDARPHION
