Fate yields only to sacrifice.
Sidarphion, God of Stars and Nightmares
Claudia barges out of her room and runs full speed through the halls toward the chapel. She shoulders the door and strangles the handle with her grip, but it’s locked. It doesn’t budge. Rage-filled, she slams herself into the door over and over, giving it a final, flat-palmed slap before collapsing against it.
“FUCK,” she cries, out of breath. She groans in frustration, tugging her hair by the root. The back of her hand scrapes against the sharp part of her earring, and she gasps. She rips it from her ear so hard it bleeds. Jamming the needle into her thumb, she widens the wound until a thick river of blood pours down her hand. With expertise she did not know she had, she dots Pyxis, Reticulum upon the lock: To Unlock and Open.
The lock glows green.
There’s a click, a creak, a groan, and the door opens.
She charges inside, straight toward the black candle. When she touches it, it burns as though she’s stuck her hand into a furnace, but she doesn’t let go. She presses her thumb onto the wick, squeezing her wound until the celestial magic in her blood catches fire.
The candle pulses once. Twice.
“DORIAN SHIP,” she screams. “SIDARPHION. ANSWER ME.”
At first, there is silence.
And then, there is nothing but white-hot, blinding pain. It’s coming from her chest. From the claw mark that has just barely healed.
Magic rips through her body and reopens the wounds between her breasts. She screams while hot blood pours down her chest, her stomach, her legs. In seconds, her entire front is soaked, and the gashes just keep bleeding. Pouring, pulsing, spurting. She falls back, lightheaded and panicked. Blood swirls and steams on her skin. Putting pressure on the wound doesn’t help. It seems to make it worse.
Her vision blurs and blackens. She’s fading, falling.
The world dips, spilling out all its warmth and color. The light leaves Claudia’s eyes, and she lies unconscious on the cold floor of the chapel.
A familiar chill breezes over her body.
When she opens her eyes, she’s in the Realm of Nightmares. And Dorian Ship—Sidarphion—is holding her against his chest.
His embrace is a death trap. Will she make it out of this alive? Odette didn’t, and she was his first choice. His favorite. His North Star.
Claudia is second best. Not worth saving. Not worth anything.
She looks into his eyes, and the weight of the realization sets in—this is not a man. He is more than a nightmare. He’s a god.He’s the most powerful creature she can imagine, and despite the fact that he’s tricked her into a fatal bargain, he’s holding her like he wants her to live.
He’s too good a liar. Even his body language is a trick.
Her voice gets caught in her throat. She can hardly breathe. Her bottom lip quivers.
“Now you know who I am,” he says.
“You’re a killer.” She tries to pull herself out of his grip, but she can’t. He won’t let her go.
“Just like you.”
She freezes. Her eye twitches while she lifts her chin. Reaching up, she softly caresses his face with her hand until he relaxes his grip on her. She behaves as if she wants this, as if she missed him. Then, with all her strength, she strikes him across the face hard enough to split his icy skin and knock him to the ground.
Gods, that felt good.
Flat on his back, the god of stars and nightmares is bewildered, breathless, and frozen in shock. Claudia towers over him with her foot pressed to his chest. He remains perfectly still, save for his chest rapidly rising and falling beneath her foot. For a whole minute, neither of them moves or speaks.
“When you bit my soul,” she finally growls, breathless, “did you take my blessing?”
His brow furrows. “Igrantedyour blessing. I gave you your greatest desire and brought you to Cygnus.”
Her fists tremble at her sides. Hot tears stream down her face. “I have cried to you about how badly I wanted to be the valedictorian so I could get the chance to talk to my mother one last time. Andyou—” She nearly chokes on her rage. “All this time, you knew you’d already taken away my chance. And you knew what happened to Odette becauseyoucaused it.”
