“Great, now let’s go.” I didn’t give him time to do anything other than follow, his rare silence unsettling as his pounding steps sloshed through the mud behind me, no one around us. I was suddenly reminded of that night when he was drunk and I’d taken him to Artie’s. Of the terror and distaste on Artie’s face when he realized who Altair was.
And then, as if the stars were playing a cosmic joke on me, I caught sight of Artie’s shop. I stopped in my tracks, my heart beating so quickly I wondered how it didn’t pound straight out of my chest.
Altair halted behind me, a sharp intake of breath sucking into his lungs. All I could do was fall to my knees, a violent scream barreling out of my throat, burning it on the way out. Arms encircled me, his chest against my back as he attempted to tug me into the shadows. But I couldn’t move. I could do nothing but stare at the way blood dripped slowly from Artie’s forehead, how his body hung limp and lifeless. I sobbed at the oversized nails that pierced his skin. I screamed for the dignity stripped from him as his beaten body lay perched against the front of his shop. More importantly, I raged at the parchment that slightly fluttered in the wind, the words unreadable from the distance.
Shoving against Altair, I freed myself from his grip and ran to Artie, my tears nearly freezing against my face from my speed. My trembling hands reached out to him as I grew near, eventually meeting his cold, greying skin and his crisp pale hair. I couldn’t tell how long he’d been gone, because the nearly freezing temperatures would have slowed the decomposition. I knew that much from my time practicing forbidden magic. How odd that I was once a grave robber, desperate to save my familyat the cost of my morality, but now it was those I loved who’d take to the dirt in penance.
“Tershetta, we have to go. People will come find us! If your friend was killed, it was with the hopes of drawing you—” Altair cut himself off, likely reading over my shoulder as I gripped the bottom corner of the pale parchment to still it.
Nova Tershetta, did you think you could take the stars from me once more with no punishment? Know that every eadi death is on your conscience. That their blood soaks your hands. Come back or watch them all die in your place.
I couldn’t help it, I lost my cool. I yelled, punching my fist into the glass on the door to the right of Artie’s body. My knuckles met the window and shattered it, the smell of smoke from his still burning fire wafting my way. Not dead long then.
I was a mess of blood and bones and thin moral lines. I was a compilation of all things awful in the world. I was horror and fear and pure evil. I was death, and I was coming for Iblis Altair.
The snake held me tighter, his large hands gripping onto my blades beneath my layers as a gasp left his mouth. Shoving him with my shoulder, I ripped off his cloak, tossing it his way. Then I gripped the hem of the shirt, tugged it off and threw it to the ground, cutting off the trousers with one of my knives. Altair was up and ready, his hands reaching towards me with his palms facing my way.
“Tershetta, don’t do something hasty right now.” Surprisingly, Altair knew me well. Not well enough, though.
I summoned the fire from Artie’s hearth, willing it to spread across his shop, letting it overtake the building and watching as it burst across the walls. Altair watched in what could’ve been called awe, his golden eyes wide and his full lips parted. I tookhis moment of distraction and capitalized on it, darting around him and heading for the shops center. For the gallows.
Altair wasn’t stupid, and perhaps that was the problem with him beyond the purity and the hatred. He was on me in moments, the slosh of each barreling step proving how much faster he was than me. The shops were eerily silent, candlelight gone in place of odd shadows. It was the middle of the day, and yet the place was a wasteland.
And I couldn’t deny that I knew in my heart why. As I skidded to a stop, I dared to truly look at the doors to each shop. And there, nailed to every single one, were the owners. Notes fluttered in the wind, rain beginning to fall from above as I took in the bloody and mutilated bodies surrounding me. The sweets shop. The fruit stand. Tea. Cloth. Pottery. Fortunes. Butcher.
The stars hissed in my mind, abruptly angry as I lost every ounce of sanity I possessed. I screamed again, this time sending sparks of silver and black into the air.
“You want me so badly? You want the stars? Then come and get me you filthy core bastard! Come find me you weak and pathetic fucking man! Iblis Altair, you worthless excuse of a human! Of a shaytan! Come and fucking get me!”
Altair suddenly slammed into my back, tackling me to the damp cobblestone littered with mud and rain. I rolled, shoving my palm into his face, but he held firm. That was when the shouts came. When the officials came.
“Hey, you two! You aren’t supposed to be here! This square has been shut down!” The men ran at us, their deep blue uniforms with embroidered silver stars and jet black belts almost hidden beneath their dark cloaks.
“Ben, that’s her! That’s the akhata!” one of them shouted, his finger pointing at us frantically. The other one gasped, turning and running towards the far end of the shops.
Altair dipped his head, dark curls tickling my nose as his body sunk into mine. “Fucking stars above.”
With that, he shoved his hands into the cobblestone and pushed himself up. I was momentarily stunned as he ran at the official, summoning a blade of shadows and slicing through the man’s head before he could even attempt to ready for a fight. Altair’s head fell forward, his long, pale fingers gripping the bridge of his too-large nose.
Rolling over, I too stood, prepared for a fight. Eager for one. It seemed Altair had other plans.
“Let’s go. Now!” Once again, I was struck by how horrific it was to see him that way. His curls grew damp beneath the now falling rain, his full lips parted and his freckled cheeks red as he glared at me with golden eyes.
“No! They want a fight? Now they have one. They want me? Here I am.” I lifted my arms, stretching out as if, for the first time, I was ready to show the world exactly who I was.
“You idiot. All this will do is get you killed, or worse, captured!”
“Stars forbid I ruin whatever plan you’re brewing, just like you ruined mine!”
“I didn’t ruin anything! You were planning to come here and what? Take that potion and spy on your old neighbors? No, I don’t buy that. You’re armed to the teeth. Which means you’re here for revenge. And whoever you’re wanting to kill, you won’t succeed. You’ve practically sentenced yourself to death by coming here, so you’re lucky I’m stepping up and saving your ass!”
“You’re not saving anyone, Altair! You and your disgusting kind are all that’s wrong with this world—this entire universe! All of us shaytan are a fucking scourge! A disease killing everything in our wake!” I motioned towards the carnage, tryingto convey my feelings without showing just how bleak my thoughts had turned.
Clearly, I was unsuccessful, because Altair’s gaze grew wide, his lips thinning as he pursed them. And then, with no warning, he was running my way. “We’re going home. Now.”
As if the stars themselves were intervening, a stream of shadows flew towards Altair. I watched in horror as darkness encircled the two of us, Altair only barely pivoting in time to ward against the hit. His back shoved into my chest, his body acting as a sort of shield.
It was that, his fearless and deadly aura, that reminded me of exactly who I was.
