Page 203 of Blood of the Stars

Aeliana bit her lip, studying the blood still on the floor, hoping it wasn’t enough for Arvid to use. As if he could hear her thoughts, he started laughing, and Gaeren stumbled at the room’s edge, the last of the dead soldiers in his arms.

“Gaeren!” Aeliana shouted. Her heart lurched as he dropped the man like all the others, then bent forward as if a string might be connecting them before barely catching himself against the wall’s sharp edge. When he turned back around, his face held a grimace. His right hand gripped his forearm, now drenched in blood from a deep gash, and he took a few uneven steps toward Aeliana.

Arvid intercepted him, wrapping an arm around the prince’s neck.

Aeliana tensed, watching their motions as if underwater, her eyes demanding the scene to reverse. But there Arvid stood, holding a knife to Gaeren’s neck, stretching his other hand over the fresh cut on Gaeren’s arm. The others all went still, the room finally void of any enemies beyond Arvid, and yet the balance of power shifted in his direction.

“They really do find the highest starblood concentration for their line.” Arvid’s eyes rolled back in his head for a moment, and Gaeren grew more limp under his grip. “It’s rare to find anything so pure.”

Even Sylmar glanced around the room, clearly at a loss for what to do. If they attacked Arvid, it was Gaeren who would get hurt. If they didn’t attack, Arvid would continue drawing power from Gaeren’s blood until nothing was left.

When Sylmar’s gaze landed on Aeliana, it seemed there was an apology in his eyes.

She shook her head. “No. Stop.”

Arvid turned, swinging Gaeren in front of him like a puppet, using him as a shield. Her gaze dropped to Gaeren’s arm, to the blood seeping out.

“They’ve been teaching you.” Arvid’s grin widened. “You know how this works. Probably found yourself wanting their blood. Afraid I won’t leave enough for you?”

She winced and stepped back, hating the way his words picked at her past, like a scab hiding a gruesome wound. “Never.”

His grin quickly fell, and the point of his knife dug into Gaeren’s neck, droplets of blood falling like the sprinkling of rain. “You could have been as great as Mayvus by now if you’d stuck with us. They’ve weakened you.” His fingers tightened on Gaeren’s forearm, widening his wound so the blood spilled over, making the prince moan in his half-conscious state. “A small taste of this, and you could see how far blood magic could take you.”

She closed her eyes, unsure if it was to block out the temptation or to focus better. Gaeren’s blood practically sang to her, Arvid’s words ringing with a truth she’d never sensed in the past. If anything, that should make her more wary. The only reason he’d offer her power would be if he knew it would break her in some way.

She took a step closer.

“No, Aeliana,” Lukai hissed from behind her.

The words she’d heard Cyrus recite from The Sins of the Stars came back to her.

“The closer you stand, the louder its call.” She muttered the quote almost like an incantation, then took another step forward. The scent of Gaeren’s blood grew stronger, permeating the air in a way that heightened her other senses. In all her training with Lukai, she’d never been exposed to this much starblood. She was heady with it, the reverent words coming more like a childhood rhyme. “Flee while it whispers or suffer its fall.”

Another step brought her close enough to touch Gaeren’s arm. Arvid adjusted his grip, leaving space for her to place her hand over Gaeren’s wound. When she did, she sensed her blood’s itch to draw his energy into herself, like the leeches she’d used years before.

She hardly murmured the last words, but Cyrus joined in, his voice drowning out hers. “Better to die without knowing its gall.”

She hesitated as his voice echoed across the stone walls. She’d tasted its gall. The family she’d killed, the ways Arvid and Vera had used her blood. She’d been a pawn in their hands. Now it was her move to make. Using Gaeren’s blood would be her choice. Her own invitation to the dark spirits.

She should run, save herself from the dangers of blood magic. But how could she save herself and leave Gaeren at Arvid’s mercy?

“How much more could I do with blood magic?” she asked, finally opening her eyes.

The protests of her comrades were like the buzzing of insects in her ears.

Arvid’s grin returned. “Why don’t we find out?” He licked his lips, glancing down at the blood on her hand, waiting for it to be used. Waiting for her to invite the dark spirits in just as he always had.

She gripped Gaeren’s arm tighter. It would be so easy to use his blood. Outside of Gaeren’s body, it was no longer any use to him, but for her? She shivered. Now that she knew how to control its power and guide it, she could do so much with it—far more than Arvid—but it would come at a cost.

Instead of drawing Gaeren’s power into her starlock, she fought against the starblood’s natural flow. She let her power flow out, driving his energy source back in. She sensed the wound knitting beneath her hand long before she could see it. Arvid shifted, lowering his knife and loosening his grip on Gaeren in anticipation of Aeliana’s blood magic being the death of the prince.

“I used to think you took my blood because you were greedy. You wanted more than what you already had.” The blood remained on Aeliana’s hands, its energy no more or less than before she’d begun, and the blood in Gaeren’s veins flowed strong.

She shoved him aside, careful to let him fall on the stones exposed to the Sun, hoping in his weakened state he might play dead just a bit longer. “But the truth is, your magic was never as strong as mine. Blood magic was the only magic you could do. So you tricked me into using it to weaken me. To keep me enslaved without a need for chains.”

Arvid twitched under her gaze, but he didn’t disagree.

“I never wanted any part of it, and I still don’t.”

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