Page 107 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

CHAPTER

Rada

A s soon as we stumbled out of the gate from the Other, I sensed something was dreadfully wrong.

A tension in the air. Every gaze snapping to Noctis and me.

The rain had ceased, the ground turned into squelching mud.

Someone had dragged the bodies of the slain Rakash to the edge of the clearing, a gruesome reminder of what had happened.

The Sundered must have left, taking Calder with them, as only Briseis, Varien, Kyree, and Tristan remained, deep in conversation.

“Rada!” Briseis cried out, stepping toward us. My instincts warned me even before I saw the fierce expression on Kyree’s face as he overtook her, charging at us.

“Murderer!” he screamed, his voice raw with fury. The Aerieth lunged at Noctis, gray feathers gleaming in the light of the setting sun, a long knife appearing in his hand.

Starfire flashed between them, halting Kyree’s advance at the last moment. Only the healer’s honed reflexes saved him from impaling himself on the sharp blade .

Our eyes met, and the hurt and betrayal in his hazel gaze cut through me like a knife. Briseis and Varien cried out in alarm. Tristan cursed under his breath, rushing to intervene. Yet my aim didn’t falter.

“You must think me a complete fool,” Kyree spat.

“Did you really believe I wouldn’t find out?

” He pointed his knife at Noctis. “I thought he was one of your Anima, joining you in exile. But he is someone else entirely, isn’t he?

Skilled in Chaos magic, the Chiasma calling him Master. How could you lie to me like this?”

I took a deep breath, struggling to find the right words as guilt and sorrow churned within me.

I had always known Kyree would feel utterly betrayed when he discovered Noctis’s true identity, yet I had accepted the inevitable pain it would cause him.

To have fought alongside the man he blamed for everything he had lost, the enemy he despised so deeply—it must be tearing him apart.

“Technically, we never lied,” Noctis remarked, seemingly unfazed by the venomous glare directed at him. “We just didn’t correct your assumptions.”

The audacity of the man. I shook my head in disbelief, hissing, “You’re not helping.”

He was fortunate that I still felt raw and vulnerable from his ordeal with the Chiasma.

The moment I had found him with the help of his Air stone, one of his former acolytes poised above him, ready to impale him, was seared into my mind.

The memory made me quite unwilling to allow any threats to his life, even if Kyree’s anger was entirely justified.

“Kyree,” I said, hoping to reach him. “Please give me a chance to explain.”

“Explain what?” His glare remained unyielding.

“That you saved the Fallen One’s life? More than once, I suspect.

That you gave him shelter, allowing him to live among us as if…

” His voice faltered. “As if he is not the monster who slaughtered thousands of innocents. The one who nearly wiped out Alona’s entire people.

Who murdered her parents, who took everything from her. ”

Each of his words struck me like a dagger. I had not forgotten Noctis’s deeds—how could I? Yet, in the peaceful refuge we had built on my farm, I had convinced myself we could leave our past behind. Now, it had caught up with us.

I glanced at Noctis, wondering how he felt about Kyree’s accusations.

His expression was cold and emotionless—the mask he wore to hide his true feelings.

It reminded me of his time as the Lord of Darkness and Chaos.

The paleness of his face after his recent blood loss only added to the chilling memory.

“I am also responsible for you losing your wing,” he said softly, his dark eyes inscrutable. “It does you credit, Kyree, that you value the pain of others above your own, but we should not forget it.”

I braced myself at his words, expecting them to reignite the Aerieth’s fury.

To my surprise, Kyree lowered his knife instead, though he did not sheathe it.

“I lost my wing during the Battle of Laurelin Forest,” he said, his gaze growing distant.

“Ten thousand Winged Blades took to the sky that day to secure the Drakuul’s flight.

Only a few hundred returned alive. Did you know they looked like falling stars as they plunged into Elariel Lake?

A pity not even water can quench dragon fire. ”

The hoarse tone of his voice, the images of war and destruction resurfacing in my own mind, sent a shiver down my spine. So much loss, so much senseless death. Even Noctis was affected, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he looked away for a moment.

“My brother shouldn’t have sent them against my dragons,” he finally answered. “They never stood a chance. Aramaz let Sha’am’s cries for vengeance cloud his judgment. ”

Blaming his brother for everything that had happened. It shouldn’t surprise me that he was falling back into that familiar pattern once more, yet I couldn’t deny my disappointment.

Before I could speak, Kyree’s voice, bitter and hard, cut through the air. “Yet neither the Aurea of Fire nor any of your brethren joined that battle.”

Surprise flickered in Noctis’s gaze when the healer did not immediately lay all the blame for the war’s atrocities at his feet. “Well, one could argue they were occupied with stopping me from conquering Lyrheim,” he said, a pensive look crossing his face.

Kyree scoffed. “Oh, I know preserving a few mortal lives was not a priority then. Preserving the Ten’s power was, no matter the cost.” He slammed his knife into its sheath, his mouth a grim line.

“They sent only a few Anima to help us. And even they abandoned us when all hope was lost, choosing to return to their masters’ sides rather than perish with us. ”

At that moment, Bane wriggled out of Varien’s arms and came running over.

The cat wound around Kyree’s ankles, mewing plaintively.

Briseis ordered her son back to the clearing’s edge where Nacin was tethered.

Varien obeyed reluctantly, loudly complaining about being excluded from the adults’ discussion.

When Kyree picked up Bane to stroke him, I lowered Starfire with a relieved sigh.

“Why did you give the order to kill them all? Tiamat had fallen, and the Drakuul were no longer a threat to your armies.” The Aerieth’s question made me tense again. I knew how Noctis usually bristled at open accusations.

But this time, he did not react with his usual prickliness.

Instead, an unusual openness settled over his face as he pondered his response.

“They had defied me,” he said softly, his hand clenching into a fist. “Their constant raids on my supply lines delayed our campaign for moons. I recall my anger when I issued the order. The need to punish them. And…”

He took a deep breath.

“And I knew that after forty years of war, the forces of Order were faltering. That a devastating defeat might be just the thing to break them completely.”

Kyree’s gaze snapped from the cat in his arms to the man before him, clearly taken aback by the admission that all that suffering had been nothing more than a calculated move in an eternal game.

“Do you regret it?” he asked. “Even a little?”

My heart clenched painfully in my chest, part of me dreading the answer.

The unfamiliar vulnerability I had noticed more and more in Noctis since his return into my life was back, his face contorting with emotion.

“I’ve lived through all the ages this world has seen since its creation,” he said.

“I’ve witnessed wonders and horrors beyond mortal comprehension.

I’ve fought in countless battles, seen more death than you can fathom.

My regrets are as numerous as the stars in the night sky, healer.

But they won’t bring back a single soul you have lost.”

It was more than I ever expected to hear. But was it enough? Could words ever be enough?

Kyree clearly didn’t think so. A bitter laugh escaped him. “And I guess neither will your death?” he asked sarcastically, before turning toward me. “You believe becoming Human changed him? That he deserves a chance at forgiveness?”

I raised my chin, refusing to feel guilty for what my heart told me. “Forgiveness is not earned. It’s a gift,” I said. Then, after a barely noticeable pause, I added, “As is love.”

I didn’t dare look at Noctis, aware of his gaze on me. Many years had passed since I last told him I loved him. For countless ages, I held those words back, afraid to let the undeniable truth escape into the world, keeping it a secret in my heart.

Had I ever stopped loving him? Even during our darkest moments?

During war and despair? I had hated him then, hated what he had become.

Yet the small flame inside me that burned just for him had never flickered out, a stubborn spark remaining among the ashes.

I would always love him. Perhaps I always had.

“Don’t be a fool, Rada.” Kyree set Bane down with a sigh and stepped closer, gently touching my arm.

“You cannot trust him. He’s only using you to regain his powers.

” His eyes searched mine, desperation in his voice.

“Remember what you told me when you and Briseis saved my life? There’s no shame in letting our emotions lead us astray; it shows we have a heart, unlike those who betrayed us.

But we must also learn from our pain and grow beyond it. ”

Yes, I remembered. His anguished confession about a lover who had abandoned him for duty.

His body ravaged by fever, the pain of his burnt wing nearly driving him insane.

Briseis and I had done our best to ease his suffering after finding him and Alona on the road to Dalath.

The little Drakuul girl clung to him throughout, the man who had saved her as her world drowned in flames.

Yet I always felt she had saved him too, her presence the anchor that kept him alive.