Page 28 of Flame and Starlight

Well, maybe not so much between two worlds anymore. Now that Nyxa had forced my hand and made me change, it was more like I was between two courts: a court of flame and a court of starlight. I couldn’t see myself ever going back to the human world. Even if I could learn how to use my magic to glamour myself, going back to see my friends would be torture. I’d never be able to live in that world again.

I also was trying to come to grips with why I hadn’t told Asher I could feel his emotions. His Faery GPS seemed to be a two-way street now, as well. It didn’t seem to work as clearly as it did for him, but I could sense him. I knew he was alive before I even saw him. I could sense his smile and laugh. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted him to know his every emotion was broadcast to me yet. I didn’t trust anyone in this castle completely yet, not even Mavka. And this could give me an advantage. It could help me.

Mavka wasn’t in the room when I made it back, and I took a selfish look at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t help it—I smiled at my reflection there. Even though I was still very wet from falling in the lake, I was beautiful. My skin was clear and healthy, and my eyes had changed as well. They were still the same honey color that Asher hated so much, but there was a light behind them now that made it look like they were glowing. The freckles across my nose and cheeks were still faintly there. I was still me, there was just more life in me now.

I peeled off my wet clothes and hung them near the fire to dry and kicked my boots off onto the hearth. The sweater I was wearing was unsalvageable, though: it had been ripped to shreds when my wings made an appearance. I threw the sweater into the bin. I twisted my damp curls up into a haphazard bun and threw on some warm clothes before making my way back out of my room. I turned to say hi to the guard that would surely be there now that Asher had told them I was back, but there was no one there. Maybe I didn’t warrant constant watching now that I was a relatively equal match to someone that might come looking for me.

I walked right into Asher’s study without really thinking about knocking and found him reclined in the chair behind his desk, swirling an amber liquid in his glass. He had changed and wore a pair of loose black pants and a black T-shirt that stretched tightly across his broad shoulders and showed off his chiseled arms and the tattoos. I cringed when I remembered why those tattoos graced his skin. He had one leg casually draped over one of the arms of the chair and the other one curled up underneath. His head was reclined back, but he opened his eyes when I walked in.

“Please, come in.”

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm and surveyed the room. At his back was a fireplace, roaring and cracking with heat. The windows on the wall opposite the door I had come through were deep and covered in cushions. The rest of the room was relatively bare besides the couch and chairs in front of his desk. There were a few bookshelves scattered up against the walls, but that was it.

I took up residence in the window closest to his desk and looked out at the swirls in the night sky. I pulled my knees to my chest and curled my bare feet into the velvet cushion. I tried to ignore how his dust danced over my skin the same way his did under his. It tickled when he was near, like it could sense its home was close and wanted to get out of me and back to him.

I turned to look at him, but he was right next to me, holding a glass that matched his, filled halfway with the same amber liquid. I smiled and carefully took it, trying not to let our fingers graze. His eyes didn’t leave my face as I took a sip. I was expecting the smooth burn of whiskey, but instead, it floated over my tongue like warm honey. I took another drink and reclined my head onto the wall behind me, and a satisfied moan came through my lips.

“What is this?” I looked up at him and watched as his heated eyes stared at my mouth. Between his moods and my own feelings towards him, I was going to get whiplash.

“Whiskey,” he answered and made his way back to his desk. “But everything is going to taste better to you now that you’re Fae. Your taste buds are heightened.”

Emric walked in and let his hair drop out of the bun and fall to his shoulders. He ran his hands through it a few times before pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He downed it in one go, poured another glass for himself, and filled my now empty one before making his way over to the couch.

“What’d I miss?” He reclined and crossed his legs, one ankle resting on the knee of the other.

“I was just about to tell Alyssandra what the creatures were in the woods that chased her.” Emric raised his eyebrows at that and took another drink.

“The floor is yours,” Emric said. Asher leaned on the side of the desk facing me and crossed his arms.

“There are a lot of creatures that call Esteria home that are not Faeries. And tonight it seems some Serrens came across your scent. Their hunger is fierce. They’re some evil little shits that will skin you alive and suck the fat off your bones.” I shivered at the thought of the hot breath I felt on my ear as Isolde pushed us past the castle gates.

“Did you have to fight them?” I asked. “I know at least one followed me. I could hear the trees breaking behind me, and I know I felt it close to me.” I took another drink. My body started to get warm under the influence of it. I wasn’t a lightweight per se, but if I was drinking straight whiskey, I wouldn’t last long.

“A couple stayed behind, but I took care of them. By the time I was done, you were already crawling out of the lake.”

“You don’t look like you had a fight,” I said, looking over his face and arms for any sign of scratches or bruises. Nothing.

“Contrary to what you saw on Mayassar, I’m not an easy target. I’m over four hundred years old, Alys. Give me some credit.” Emric snorted at that and then became very interested in the fabric of the couch when Asher turned his stare to him.

“Okay, so the woods aren’t the safest place to be at night. Got it.” I took another drink and found my glass was empty again. I went to the little bar and filled my glass back up. My hair was starting to give me a headache from the weight of it on top of my head. I took it down and shook it out before leaning against the bar.

Asher cleared his throat and seemed to struggle to take his eyes off me. He sat back down in his chair, leaned his elbows on his knees, and looked up at me through his stupidly long lashes. God, sometimes I really wanted to punch his pretty face. I turned my attention to his shadows dancing in the firelight. I was definitely starting to feel the heated, sluggish effects of the whiskey.

“Alys,” he said, his voice curling around me like the smoke around him.

“Yea?” I asked, pulling my eyes to his.

“I’d like to discuss what you saw in the lake tonight. Or rather who you saw in the lake tonight.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I looked from Asher to Emric and back again. Both of their eyes were on me, waiting for me to tell my story. It was hard to remember, both because it all happened so fast and because the whiskey was clouding my mind with my own shadows. I poured myself a glass of water instead and took a sip.

“When I was riding Isolde, I started talking to Nyxa. She is the only Goddess or God that I know of here, and I thought it would be better to pray to her than a mortal one.” I swallowed at the memory coming back. “I was running once I got inside the gates because Isolde had thrown me. I decided that I would run across the lake instead of around it because I figured it had been cold enough for long enough that it would be frozen. And I didn’t have to go through the dead center of it.” I looked up, and my eyes caught Emric’s violet ones, staring through the strands of dark hair that fell across his face. He nodded to urge me on. I sighed.

“I felt the ice cracking,” I continued. “I could feel it shift and move underneath me, so I ran harder. I thought I could make it, but I didn’t. When it opened beneath me, I fell into the ice, and I swear I heard my ribs crack in half.” I winced, thinking about that sharp pain. “Anyway, I tried to swim, but it was just too cold. So I kept sinking and sinking. My lungs burned with the effort of holding my breath. Just when I was beginning to give up, I begged Nyxa to save me again. Then she was there. Her eyes —” I shivered at the thought. “They were white and glowed hot. Her skin looked so pale against her black hair. She told me it wasn’t my time to die and told me to change. She touched my forehead, and then I guess that’s when the change happened.”

“I think we’ve had this all wrong from the beginning, Ash,” Emric said as he reclined back into the arm of the couch.

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