The voice presses itself to her ear and warms the side of her face. “This is a nightmare, which is always more exciting, isn’t it?”
The voice is wicked. It awakens some deep, primal instinct that begs her to run. Breathing quickening, she stretches out her arms and heads into the dark as if she can walk herself awake.
“Wake up,” she whispers before slapping herself in the face. “Come on, wake up. This isn’t real. You’re drunk. You’re scared. You’re asleep.”
“Darling, where are you?” Lord Fournier growls close by, startling her. She must be just about to walk into him. She’s sickened by the very idea of his closeness.
“If you run from me, Lord Fournier will be your fate,” thevoice threatens. “We don’t want that, do we, Claudia?”
She pinches herself and pulls her hair, but nothing wakes her. “How do you know my name? Who are you?”
“I am what you prayed for. I can change your fate.”
With a loud snap, the sky cracks in two and leaks out an inky black, darker than the night itself. Warm shadows weave over, around, eventhroughher body, tightening around her chest so that her heartbeat feels like a wound. The shadows bend, twist, and expand into hard lines and strong muscles. Then, catlike green eyes and a devilish smile. Long silver hair that glows like the moon and teeth sharp as knives. Standing before her is a monster who is as beautiful as he is terrifying. Tall and powerful, he has an ice-cold aura that radiates from him like he’s made of winter.
“Stay away from me, demon.”
He gives her a look of pity. “Demon?” he mocks. “How little you think of me.” A shadow lashes out from his body and wraps around her throat with an iron grip.
She claws at the shadow, but her hands pass right through. “So you’re a nightmare, then.” She swallows hard against the tight hold around her throat. Then she laughs. “I’ve had worse.”
“I know. I’m here to make it better.” He smirks when he saunters toward her. She can’t run—his dark power holds her in place. Now, as he towers over her, she can see pinpricks of silver scattered throughout his glowing green eyes.
When he smiles, light burns behind his teeth like he’s hiding magic in his throat. “Poor girl. Bound to a man you despise. Forced into a fate you don’t want. And then you nearly fell to your death.” While he speaks, he circles her, his arms trailing over her frame. “All that fear. All that desperate wanting. It’s enough to drive one mad.” Standing behind her with his hands at her waist, he rests his chin on her shoulder and whispers in her ear, “But now your nightmares have brought you to me, and I can so easily change your fate if you’re willing to do the same for me.”
“Another man who wants to dictate my destiny.” She scoffs.“You do not tempt me. Leave me alone.”
“You don’t want that.” He faces her, hooking her chin right as the shadow relaxes from her neck. “You want me on your side.”
She pushes his hand away. “I don’t want anything from you.”
“What if I told you that I can get you into Cygnus University?”
Taking a step back from him, she furrows her brow. “How dare you offer something so plainly out of your control. The High Sage wrote that their rejection is final. I can’t even apply again. What power could you have that would change that?”
He looks stunned for a moment, but his face quickly falls back into cruel, calm composure. “They are the liars. Not me. They also told you that Astrologia was false, didn’t they? They said it was a futile pursuit. But you know in your bones that they’re wrong. You sense something in the stars, don’t you? You know there is a reason for your fascination with the night sky.”
Her heart thunders. Her body hums. She looks up at him, and his eyes are earnest. Soft, even. “Who are you?”
“My name is Dorian. I was an Astrologia scholar at Cygnus when the god of stars and nightmares fell.”
Her rejection letter flashes in her mind. “That’s not possible. That happened a century ago.”
He shakes his head. “I was in the Realm of Nightmares when he started to run. I chased after him, and I should’ve known better. The last thing Sidarphion did before he disappeared was punish me for trying to stop him. He cursed me.Cagedme. All I could do was watch as the stars turned. Around me, their light warped. Darkened. The night itself fell out of balance. The nightmares grew too strong, and I was too weak to wake up.” His jaw tenses. “For one hundred years, I have been trapped in this realm by cursed stars, shifting from man to monster.” With a sharp claw, he tucks her hair behind her ear. “But you woke me, and you have the power to free me.”
He takes her hand and drags his claw across her palm until itbleeds. She gasps, jerking her hand back, but he won’t let go. “You have stars in your blood.” Light spills from his mouth, and he licks the cut on her palm. Her blood begins to glow. “A gift from your mother,” he says. “She would want you to use it.”
Her blood warms her palm. She watches it spill between her fingers. “You knew my mother?”
“She was a Roe. Haven’t you ever wondered how they built an empire from nothing? What gave them the vision to create their world-changing timepieces? It was always magic, Claudia. The same magic that burns inside you.”
Claudia looks around and sees nothing but him. There is no light other than whatever burns at the back of his throat. The forest, the trees, the sky itself—all gone. Dorian is all she has. She can’t help but reach for him, if only to keep from falling. He welcomes her hands in his, stroking her knuckles with his thumb.
“Here is my offer: I will get you into Cygnus. In turn, you’ll learn the language of stars until you’re strong enough to rewrite them. You will set me free.”
“But they don’t teach Astrologia anymore. How am I to learn?”
“Everything you need remains at the university. You will find it. Study it. Master it. It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick, but you won’t stop. You will do whatever it takes.”
