Page 223 of Blood of the Stars

Reyna stepped forward, holding out her hand. “Give me the starlock.”

“Will you listen?”

“I listened to you a thousand years ago. Nearly helped you. Andreas is an outcast because of you. I shouldn’t have to remind you what happened to Bryton and Lucian.”

Orra winced at the sound of Bryton’s name on Reyna’s lips. “It’s time for me to fix things.”

A bitter laugh rang out from Reyna. “You mean interfere? You’re still interfering?”

“My mere presence is an interference. All of us were interfering when we communed with the people. It wasn’t about whether or not we interfered—it was about whether or not we were guided by the Sun.”

Something in Reyna’s face shifted, her confidence wavering.

Orra stood straighter. “You’re communing again, aren’t you?”

The vulnerability disappeared, a hardness hiding Reyna’s true response. “We’ve chosen a select few.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

Reyna shook her head. “We’re testing if the people are ready for it, and these ones are.”

Orra’s fingers tightened around the starlock until they felt numb. “Everyone is ready for it. Always. There was no reason to stop.”

Reyna’s voice turned cold. “You are the reason we stopped.”

Orra was running out of time. “Please, Reyna. I need your help. Where are the other pieces? I’m certain the stone was here recently, but I don’t know about the fish or the dagger. If I can find them—if I can reunite them—we can change this. We can save these people and this world. We can right my wrongs.”

Reyna reached over, her hand wrapping around Orra’s until Orra hissed from the heat and let go of the starlock. It dropped into Reyna’s other hand, the metal glowing and bubbling until it dripped through her fingers and to the balcony’s floor, leaving behind a small curled lock of black hair—Reyna’s hair. She tucked the lock in her dress pocket.

Orra backed away, knowing what would come next. Reyna wrapped her arms around Jasperus, placing her forehead against his. She whispered words, a soft song, and her skin’s glow brightened until Orra could no longer look.

She shielded her eyes from both the light and the heat as Reyna’s inferno enveloped Jasperus’ body. When the heat receded and the glow faded, Orra blinked into the blackness. Dark ash covered her skin. If she’d been a mere human, even a half-light, she would have been burned up in Reyna’s glow like Breeve had been. Released to the Sun along with Jasperus.

Instead, she was left alone to mourn all she’d lost.

CHAPTER 90

As night gave way to morning, Aeliana kept watch over her mother and Iris. No one was confident in the tower’s stability, so Sylmar was determined to evacuate them all once the winex left with the Sun’s morn. She only agreed after Marnok reassured her the two women could survive the move.

She tried not to think about Jasperus and Breeve being burned up on the balcony and—if rumors of that process were true—Orra as well. She tightened her grip on her mother’s hand and let her gaze roam over the bodies sprawled throughout the room, all their chests rising and falling with life.

Holm sat next to Iris’ side of the bed, his head bent by hers and his arm half wrapped around her, somehow aware to be gentle even in his sleep. Kendalyhn and Lukai slept on the settee, their hands lightly touching in a way that made Aeliana’s bond mark tingle, which was silly after all they’d been through.

Velden and Sylmar started to stir even though they’d been the last to succumb to sleep. Their murmurs and plans for the day woke Marnok, who stepped over Gaeren and Cyrus. He kneeled next to Thallahan, whose eye was beyond healing but could still benefit from Marnok’s magic. Larkos and Riveran leaned against each other by the wall as if they’d been keeping watch over the room before falling asleep.

Most were awake by the time the Sun’s light filtered through the window, but everyone sat a little straighter when the balcony door opened and Orra walked through.

Larkos broke the silence by swearing.

“How did you survive?” Gaeren asked.

Orra glanced over, but it was like she didn’t see or hear him. “We have to find them all. It’s the only way.”

“All the starbridges?” Gaeren asked.

She nodded. “All the pieces. We have to reunite them.”

“What’s she talking about?” Sylmar asked.

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