Page 107 of A Clash of Stars

I didn’t know if he would make it or not. Part of me knew he was already gone, and that crushed me. I finally fell to my knees, giving in to my emotions and my lungs that were exhausted from running so hard.

I didn’t know if a heart could break physically, but it felt like it. My heart was completely ripped apart, torn into pieces. The indestructible man, who was immortal, was struck down. He wasn’t supposed to die, and he couldn’t die. My mind raced through all the ways someone could kill an immortal bloodline. Lilith Silver, Bloodvine, and a combination of powerful magic were the only ways someone could kill us.

Flashing back to what happened, I tried to recollect the details from that moment. Why would someone who was after me not shoot me after shooting my father? Who would do that? What did they shoot him with? Then, it clicked. The arrow was of pure Lilith Silver. It would kill him. It did kill him.

I felt my veins pulsing like fire running through my skin. I was so furious and dismayed that my other emotions were hidden, captured deep within so that no one else could sense or touch them, not even me.

My fingers started to dig into the ground, and that’s when the glow that illuminated me and the light started to run through the ground into the roots of the trees and plants around me.

This was my natural born power to control nature. Then I looked to the sky. It was bright and sunny, which made me sick to my stomach. I wanted it to be as dark and empty as I felt inside.

Instantaneously, clouds started to move in, and the light dimmed. It was pitch black, with the only illumination being me. I wanted to split the ground open and have it swallow everything in its path, but that’s when I was distracted by a noise rustling behind me.

I wasn’t scared or frightened by who it was because I would utterly destroy them if they tried anything. “Whoever you are, you need to leave now.”

Then I sensed it. The person who was there. I had been around them before, but where? Why was this scent so identifiable? I turned my head so my vision could align with this person.

I laughed. Honestly, I laughed that this man would be kneeling in front of me. I was astounded by this scenario. The man who had stabbed me during the Variance was now kneeling in front of me, begging to be spared. The man who ran like a coward.

“Why are you here? Did you kill my father? Was that you?” I hadn’t noticed my voice was loud and echoed throughout the trees with such demand that it even startled me a little.

“No, it wasn’t me, Clara, I swear. I know you don’t trust me, but I hoped you could believe me. Just this once, please. I beg you.”

I reached out my powers to wrap around him, one, to scare him and, two, to get a good read on him.

I was surprised by what I found—the truth. He was being honest with me that I should believe him, which angered me more than it should.

Luke had never given me any indication before the Variance that he was untrustworthy, but again, others also surprised me. I also knew that Evander expressed his reasons for why Luke stayed away, and I considered that before deciding on my next move. I dropped the ties that bound him to me, and my light dimmed, leaving us in the dark with only a tiny light radiating in the distance, where Elistayre was.

“Okay, Luke. I will believe you, just this once. Why are you here?”

He sighed, stood, and took a cautious step toward me. I could feel his anxiousness, but I also felt another emotion, protectiveness.

“Look, Clara, I know that I betrayed you and hurt you in more than one way, but I came here to protect you.”

My eyebrows raised with the question, “Protect me from what?”

He scoffed, and I could see his eyes searing into mine, almost pleading when he spoke,

“Not from what, from who—Madok.”

My body went rigid with this new information. It left my mind wandering in circles as I tried to decipher what he could mean by it.

I knew Madok wasn’t trustworthy anymore, but what could he possibly do to make Luke want to protect me from him? As I was about to respond, we heard rustling and people talking in the woods.

He leaned into where I stood and whispered with urgency, “Come. You need to come with me.”

I remembered what my father had told me, Run away from everyone.Run and don’t look back.Yet, I stood here willing to go with the man who was once my friend and stabbed me during the Variance.

The voices were getting closer, and Luke grabbed my hand, “Clara, we have to go. Please, for just this once, trust me.”

So, I did. I grabbed his hand and ran with him. As we were running, I couldn’t help but examine him. His blonde hair moved like a wave sweeping across his brow as he looked back to ensure I was still with him. My eyes moved to his hand intertwined with mine. It was a solid but gentle grasp holding my hand in place. I felt what he was feeling. Unknowingly I had tapped into his emotions again, and he allowed me to do that. To be able to trust him.

By the time I looked ahead of me, I had smelled saltiness in the air. We were close to the sea. We ran until we reached a small shack on the forest’s edge beside the Artesian Sea. We walked quickly towards the entrance to this worn-down shack with rusted red paint peeling off the door and warped wooden boards supporting the frame.

When Luke opened the door, my eyes widened at what I beheld. The entire inside of the shack was updated. It was indeed a surprise to see.

“What is this place?”

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