Page 16 of Flame and Starlight
“I didn’t leave because I was done talking. I left because you’re tired, your body is literally about
to give out on you, and I have things to do that cannot wait.” He placed a hand on my shoulder as we
approached the door and stopped. “Emric is on his way down. Can you just stand here for two
minutes and stay out of trouble? Just go to your room and go to sleep. You’ll be training harder
tomorrow. You need your rest.” He eyed the dusting on my shoulder and neck, a cloud of his own dust
marking me, tracking me. I rolled my shoulders, and his hand fell.
“What’s so important?”
“You are filled to the brim with questions,” he said through a sigh and rubbed the heels of his
hands into his eyes. His eyes were red and tired when he stopped his assault and instead raked his
fingers through the waves of his hair a few times. “If I explain to you what I am doing tonight, do you
promise me that you will go back upstairs with Emric and go to sleep?”
I folded my arms across my chest but nodded in agreement.
“Fine,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the door. “Tonight is Mayassar. Every
month, on the new moon, the High Lord of the Night Court is responsible for making sure Mayassar is
watched over and completed without issue.”
“And Mayassar is?” I prodded.
“Mayassar is when the evil souls of our world cross over into the After. I am responsible for
making sure that every soul makes it over and doesn’t cause…problems.”
I blanched. “You have to escort ghosts into the afterlife? Like a Faery version of Hades?” He rolled his eyes at my comparison. “They are not ghosts, and there is no afterlife for the souls
crossing over on Mayassar. They will cross into the After and become nothing. They simply cease to
exist.”
There was a pit in my stomach, and it grew cold and hot at the same time. The entire plate of food
I ate out of spite earlier was suddenly sitting in there, heavy as bricks.
“Do they fight you? Do they try to escape?”
“Some do. Not often, but they do sometimes get desperate and try to escape. It normally only
happens with the souls who were exceptionally strong when they were living, mentally and/or
psychically.” Gooseflesh rose over my arms, and I felt a creeping sensation make its way over the
dust on my shoulder. “It’s far enough away that you don’t have to worry about them,” he said, eyeing
me like I might pass out. “I’m also very good at what I do.” He flexed his crossed arms and stood
straighter off the door now.
