Page 129 of The Star's Sword

I nodded.

“But I love you, Cleo. I love you to the ends of the universe. I love you to the stars and I love you to the moon. You’re my everything, and I want to see you shining, even if it’s the last thing I see.”

“I love you, too,” I said. “You’ll always be the brightest star to me.”

“No,” he said, brushing my hair back. “I’m just the darkness to your light. Here to watch you shine.”

“I’ll do my best,” I murmured, just wanting to hold onto this moment forever.

Stay here with him watching the rain and not face the battle that could kill us or all the people who hated us.

“Now let’s go,” he said, gently moving me off of him to stand up and pull me with him. “We can eat, spend time with our friends and charge up, and then head up for trial this afternoon. Finally time to beat that nightmare and show everyone who she is.”

I got changed with him and followed him out into the hall.

Yes, time to beat her. Finally.

43

That afternoon, I did ride my unicorn to the trials.

She tossed her head as we passed through the gates and onto Simon’s land.

Vampires were scattered about the courtyard, but not as many as yesterday. I figured they must be over by the arena area.

Samael was on one side of me, and Zadis at the other. Cayne walked next to Samael, and Os, Griffin and Mor walked behind us.

I didn’t have the biggest party, but I knew that all of us were strong in our own way and would die for each other, which made us even more fierce.

I felt strong today, my inner demon restless, my wolf shifter pacing for a fight, and that odd burning inside me that I knew might be my Morningstar power was bright.

The clop of my unicorn’s horns sounded over the walkway as we continued, ignoring vampires who yelled taunts or paused to mock us.

It was clear we were being blamed for the vampire deaths yesterday when Vasara abandoned the battlefield.

I truly wondered if she would even show up today.

To my surprise, as we made our way over the grassy hill and the arena came into view, Vasara was standing there.

Even at a distance I could see her, in full armor which gleamed in the sun, listening nervously as several well-dressed elder vampires appeared to be giving her a pep talk or trying to hand her weapons.

She looked insecure. Excellent.

One of her elder vampires got to choose the next trial, so I was a little surprised it looked like it was going to be combat-based.

Vasara’s eyes went wide, along with the red eyes of the vampires next to her, as they looked at my unicorn, and then me atop it.

Vasara’s lip curled, but then she turned, as if to leave the preparation area outside of the arena. One of the vampires grabbed her by the arm, trying to stop her. “You will not embarrass us again,” I heard them hiss. “You still stand here and fight her, gods damn it.”

Vasara paused, then tried to walk away again, and I dismounted from my unicorn and scratched her on the shoulder, before sending her with Mor, Os and Griffin to watch from my side of the spectator area.

Zadis, Samael and Cayne stayed at my side.

Luren and Ara waited back at the sanctuary to come if needed. But someone still had to watch the gate to hell.

I strode out to the weapon racks, where Vasara was still struggling to escape her elder vampires.

“Running again?” I called.

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