Page 44 of Blood of the Stars

They were all doomed as long as Arvid had her blood. Unless…

“What if we can get them to use up all my blood?” Aeliana murmured. It would be just as good as getting it back.

“No.” Cyrus tugged on her arm. “You said you just wanted to look. Let’s go back to the cave.”

“Where did Iris go?” Aeliana counted the rocks under her breath. There wasn’t enough for her mother’s maidservant to be one of them.

“Maybe she’s circling around to surprise Arvid and Vera?”

The illusion flickered once more, and this time Aeliana recognized Lukai’s form sprawled in the moss. She gasped at the red slashes on his chest. On instinct, she pressed a finger into the mark on her palm, desperate to know if their connection held. Pain seared through her, and she grabbed on to a bamboo shoot, her knees nearly giving out as she moaned.

“Are you all right?” Cyrus asked.

Aeliana sensed Lukai’s pain, shared his anguish, but the bond remained intact. He was alive. The sense of relief surprised her. He was a stranger, and while she didn’t wish him dead, she also shouldn’t care so much that he wasn’t.

As Aeliana’s pain faded, she gained a new sense of awareness. Arvid’s eyes narrowed in her direction.

“Come out, Aeliana. Before I make you,” Arvid called.

“No,” Cyrus hissed, grabbing her arm to hold her back.

Vera stepped closer to Lukai, who was a rock once more, and Aeliana stiffened. The older woman bent down, placing her hands on the rock. The illusion dissipated, leaving Lukai hunched like a newborn baby, his face bunched in agony.

“He’s a pretty boy,” Vera said. “It would be a shame to leave him less than whole.” She ran the flat of her knife’s blade over the smooth skin of his face.

“No.” Cyrus tightened his grip on Aeliana’s arm.

“They already know I’m here,” she argued. “They’ll make me come out. It’s just a matter of whether it’s before or after they’ve hurt him.”

“That’s backwards. You’re falling for the same trick they used before. They’ll hurt him whether or not you come out. It’s a matter of whether they get you, too.”

She bit her lip in indecision. “Maybe, but maybe I can make them use up the rest of my blood.” She shook off Cyrus’ hand and stepped forward into the clearing.

Arvid grinned, and another low rumble met their ears. The skies remained clear of clouds or lightning, but a fiery glow spread across the forest to the left. In the light, blue and purple scales briefly glittered across the sky before disappearing beyond the treetops.

“Perfect timing,” Vera said. “Our ride is here.”

Without warning, Aeliana’s legs flew out from under her, a smoky black rope dragging her by the foot across the moss. Random clusters of fresh bamboo shoots scraped her back and hip, and her vision blurred with the passing trees. Still, she caught a glimpse of Sylmar’s face, his scars puckering in grim determination. Vera and Arvid raced between the trees, dragging Aeliana behind them, her blood and the dark spirit fueling their escape.

Another rumble and another glow in front of Aeliana turned Arvid and Vera to silhouettes running between the trees. Now she could see flames, slow to engulf the bamboo thanks to the perpetual wetness around them. Still, a portion of the land had been cleared to blackened ash. Other figures appeared behind her, but Aeliana quickly lost the ability to identify the people chasing her as she was tossed and turned by Arvid’s and Vera’s blood magic.

When Aeliana abruptly stopped, she let out a grunt, her entire body aching. She rolled over with a groan. Smoke filled the air, and ash clung to her trousers and cloak. They were in a new clearing, unnaturally widened by fire or some kind of brutal force. The trees that weren’t blackened were uprooted and cracked in half, shoved to the side as if by giant hands.

On her left, Arvid and Vera argued near the center, their harsh voices making her wince, but their distraction left her free of the rope they’d used to bind her. She crawled backward away from them, her efforts likely futile.

“I won’t give you more.” Vera’s voice rose and fell, only allowing Aeliana to catch snippets of their fight as the older woman tucked the vial of blood in her cloak’s pocket. “We’ve already…half the bottle. Mayvus will…if?—”

“There’s more blood in the girl, you idiot.” Arvid reached his hand into Vera’s pocket, but she slapped it away. His eyes burned red, and the black trails leaking from his ears and nose billowed faster, like a furnace being fed more coal.

Panic rose in Aeliana’s chest. Her hands stung, but she flipped to her knees, then shifted her crawl to a low run that took her to the tree line so she could hide. Footsteps crashed behind her until the thunderous roar returned. A massive creature flew overhead, giving Aeliana a clear view of its soft pale underside, its length from head to tail tip rivaling the height of a Stargazer. Its wingspan was as wide as it was long, the transparent cerulean skin of its wings revealing the Stars still at their dance in the sky above. Flame and smoke, pouring out across the northern edge of the clearing, hid its snout.

Aeliana couldn’t stop the scream escaping her mouth, but it was muted by the roar of fire and flap of wings. The humidity that had absorbed her shifted to a blazing dryness in a matter of moments. Arvid and Vera gave one last look toward Aeliana’s hiding place, then turned and ran to the center of the clearing once more.

“Meet Durriken.” A familiar voice cut through the night.

She turned to find Velden crawling up behind her with a grimace. Blood trickled from a wound at his side, which he stuffed with seaweed as he spoke. “Some say he’s the last dragon.”

Aeliana squinted through the smoke and flames to her left, but the beast was gone. Vera and Arvid huddled in smoldering ash, waiting like bait for the dragon to return and squash, eat, or burn them.

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