Page 63 of Ties of Starlight

Idonea huffed. “Hmm, all the deaths I’ve died and worry hasn’t once been the cause.”

Nyrunn laughed, drawing Asa and Frode’s attention away from their spat and back to them.

Frode shot Asa a victorious look. “See, His Majesty agrees.”

Idonea had no idea what Nyrunn was supposed to be agreeing with, but Asa just huffed, gathering up her reins but not actually doing anything with them. “He’s laughing at you, not agreeing with you.”

Nyrunn ignored them and whispered, “We’ll talk tonight.”

Idonea nodded, turning her focus back to Asa and Frode, trying to figure out what they were arguing about now as the subject had changed thrice already.

Thankfully, they made it to their next site without any Moon Elves dropping from the trees and without Asa climbing over Nyrunn and Idonea to strangle Frode.

Nyrunn dismounted first and helped her down after, but he sent her to be checked on by the healers while he conferred with the captain and the Constella about their plans.

The healer changed her bandages and checked on herprogress, glad there was still no infection and everything seemed to be healing, even if slower than ideal. He said that in a few days she’d be able to do without the sling, and Idonea’s only disappointment was that it would be a few days before she had her full autonomy back. However, he did confirm she was cleared to ride by herself, proving her suspicions Nyrunn had only done that so he could keep taking away her pain. Once the healer was finished with her, she went straight for her and Nyrunn’s tent.

Thankfully he wasn’t long after her, coming in as she was sitting on the bed. He came in, carrying their things. He brought her bag, full of her books, to her feet and held it out to her.

She took it, pulling it into her lap with one hand even though there was nothing in it left to hide.

He cleared his throat. “We haven’t really spoken fully about what I learned before the attack. Idonea… You understand what you’ve told me is impossible and absolutely insane, and there is no evidence such a thing like this is even possible with magic.”

“I do.” She eyed him. Had he just been humoring her before? Placating the madwoman until he could gather his thoughts?

He ran his hands through his hair before sitting up straighter and sighing. “But I believe you nonetheless.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest. He did? Really?

She breathed out. “That means a lot to me.”

“I can only imagine...” Nyrunn shook his head. “I can only imagine how lonely this all has been for you.”

That's what he'd been thinking about all day?

Not the fact that he was married to a murderer?

“It...” He took a deep breath. “Knowing everything you've endured in life after life, the things done to you—Idon't know how you can bear coming back again and again.”

Her mouth went dry and she fiddled with the strap of her bag. “I just do. And I hope maybe this one will be the last. Until it all goes wrong again.”

“So...” Nyrunn looked up from his hands. “Youarecertain you’re going to live this all over again in another two hundred and fifty years?”

She reached up and brushed her fingers over the stars on her necklace. It was one of the only things she was certain of.

“Until the cycle is broken.”

“And... because this is the first time Olaug wasn’t the other half—I mean, am I now part of this? Am I going to come back?”

She couldn't help her soft laugh as she shook her head. “No, you're not going to come back. You don't have to worry about being trapped in this mess. It's Olaug and me because of what happened in our first life during the ceremony, but it’s not the ceremony with the comet itself. Does that make sense? It’s why we come back whether we finish the rituals or not. Our souls were specifically tied to—to the comet. Otherwise, it'd be the first couple always coming back. I'm certain you're just going to live your life as normal, no coming back.”

He glanced at her bag. “Alright, then how do we break it?”

What?

Idonea gaped at him and he narrowed his eyes at her incredulous expression. He gestured at her wounded side. “Don't tell me you want to continue coming back to be abandoned, cheated on, poisoned, stabbed, brutally murdered—”

She cut him off before he could dive into more of thethings she'd endured in her many years. “I don't enjoy it, but I can't break the cycle.”

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