Page 108 of A Clash of Stars

I started walking around, noticing the artwork and dried flowers placed in resin, perfectly preserving them. They were everywhere. I found one in particular, placed on the top of the fireplace. A blush carnation, perfectly preserved with a plaque on the bottom,Clara’s flower.

It left me confused. How could a man stab me and also care for me? It made no sense to me whatsoever. How stupid was I to come with him? I’d find out soon enough.

“This is mytemporaryhome. I found it a few weeks ago after you fled from Aster. The older woman here showed me how to create the resin art, and then she passed away, leaving this place to me.”

I wondered if he killed her instead.

“And no, I didn’t kill her. She was very ill when I got here, and you can even look at her journals if you don’t believe me.”

I was surprised by his quickness. Luke had always been brilliant but cautious, which is why we got along atSefida.

I watched him fix a glass of wine and raise it to me in a silent question, and I would never pass up a good glass of wine.

He walked over, sat in the chair by the fireplace, and asked me to join him. I grabbed the glass from him and sat in the adjacent chair. That’s when his cinnamon scent hit me. It was comforting. The way I felt when I was a child and Madok was around was how I felt right now—safe.

“So, I know you are probably wondering about many things right now. First, I need to apologize for what happened to you. Second, I am so sorry about what happened to your father in the woods. I tried to stop it from happening.” He took a deep breath and continued. “There is something I want to show you, but you must trust me completely. Nothing can stop you from opening up to me.”

I looked at him curiously, “What do you want to show me?”

He turned his ice-blue gaze from me and looked into the fire that was crackling in front of us. “It’s going to alter everything you know about Madok. I want to warn you before I show you.”

His ocean eyes returned to me, “Give me your hands, relax your mind, close your eyes, and I will show you everything you need to know.”

If this had been a few days ago, I probably would have killed Luke on the spot in the woods, but something had shifted inside of me, whether it was Evander or the way Madok treated me, I didn’t know, but I was about to see into Luke’s mind for the first and hopefully last time.

“Close your eyes. Whatever you do, don’t let go of my hands.” I nodded in agreement. Too nervous to even open my mouth to respond to him. I just closed my eyes and allowed myself to enter his mind.

“Luke! Hey man, are you ready for the Variance?” Madok walked up to Luke and asked him. Luke hesitantly smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, I think so. How is Clara feeling?”

When Luke asked Madok this, I saw the flex in Madok’s jaw, the look of discomfort. Luke’s brows furrowed as he watched Madok react to the question.

“I thought you two hit it off again?”

Madok’s look intensified, becoming more uncomfortable and angrier. He took significant strides toward Luke.

“We did, which will ruin what I had planned in the Variance.”

Luke gave Madok questioning eyes, and at this point, they had already told me there was a ruse set up in the Variance to kill me, and they led me to believe it was Evander.

“What do you mean what you had planned? I thought we knew for certain Evander would be the one to try and kill her.”

Madok looked up at the sky and back down to Luke and laughed.

“You believe that lie? I haven’t gotten close to Clara over the past eight years for nothing, Luke, and you will help me.”

Luke scoffed at Madok, “Who in the abyss do you think you are, Madok? You love Clara, and she loves you. Why on this great land would you ever want to hurt her?”

Madok’s eyes darkened at Luke’s question, and even I could sense the hatred seeping from him.

“That’s a great question, Luke.” He started to stroll around Luke. “You see, I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity—the Variance—to complete the rest of my plan. The King of Aster and I have been in talks about restoring power to the rightful rulers of this world.”

Luke’s expression was genuinely confused at Madok’s statement, and in hindsight, I now understood what Madok meant by his statement to Luke, but anger started to swell inside me.

Madok grabbed Luke by the neck just like he did to me in the gardens, forcing Luke to look into his eyes.

“You will bethe one to kill her. I will help lead her to you, and you will stab her. She will think that Evander is the one making the decisions when it’s me.”

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