Page 36 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

It only drove a mocking laugh from him as he stepped around me, still hovering close. “They are mortal,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s what they do. And then they are reborn.”

I thought of the anguished screams of the young Elvish mother tearing through my heart as Namtaz and I failed to save her little son.

The sight of her cradling her lifeless child, her desolate sobs echoing in the chaos, was seared into my memory.

I doubted that the promise of their loved ones returning to the light of the Allfather and entering the circle of life anew would console those left behind.

A sudden sharpness entered Belekoroz’s tone, his eyes locking onto mine. “I hear you and Aramaz made your little Elves quite long-living. Are you too tender-hearted to let them die, or do you regard them as more deserving than other mortal creatures?”

I watched him over my shoulder, a familiar annoyance at his taunts stirring awake within me. “It was the Allfather’s wish.”

“Of course. ”

A hiss behind me. The darkness closed around me in the blink of an eye as he moved so swiftly that I had no chance to escape. Keeping the force of my own Light from flaring up instinctively was a challenge.

“And we would never do anything against his wishes, would we?” Belekoroz murmured against the sensitive skin of my nape, his warmth seeping through my leathers.

I had learned that the best way to handle his constant provocations was to respond in kind. I would never back down or submit to him.

A deliberate move of my head. My lips so dangerously close to his cheek as I spoke that each word carried the hint of a touch with it. “Would it really be so bad to help us from time to time?”

The gesture made him pause, a wild gleam in his eyes as he moved even closer.

Time fragmented into separate sensations: the smooth glide of his hair against my skin, the tantalizing aroma of dark ice and a hint of spice in my nose, and the electrifying tightening in my stomach that I couldn’t suppress.

“Are you begging me, little queen?” A warm exhale brushed my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “I could get used to that.”

I didn’t move away, our breaths mingling in the small space between our lips, our eyes locked. Tanez’s dire warning echoed louder in my mind with each passing moment. As tempting as this game was, I had to be more careful.

“No. Never.” I kept my expression unaffected and my voice light as I stepped out of this shadow of an embrace, moving toward the entrance of the tower. “But you can continue to hope. We all need our indulgent little fantasies, don’t we?”

Belekoroz chuckled, following me. “Perhaps I just wanted to lure you into my lair.”

I reached for the heavy double doors, growling in annoyance when my firm tug didn’t move them at all. His grin widened. Oh, so the bastard wanted to watch me rattle at the door like a fool. Too bad I didn’t plan to play by his rules.

With a burst of my powers, the wooden doors were ripped from their hinges, leaving behind a heap of broken shards, smoke still rising from them. Ignoring Belekoroz’s shocked exclamation, I stepped into the tower without hesitation.

“Are you completely…” His sputtering outrage as he followed me inside was quite satisfying. “Going somewhere without an invitation is incredibly rude,” he said, eyes alive with a dark flame.

I lifted an eyebrow, unimpressed. “As rude as not helping your brethren?” When the oppressive force of his powers deepened at my retort, a mischievous smile appeared on my face. I knew by now when he was only posturing. “Besides, you did invite me in. Just now.”

With an irritated snarl, Belekoroz snapped his fingers. The shattered door shards rose from the ground and seamlessly reconstructed themselves, the resounding boom as the doors settled back into the frame clearly for my benefit.

Instead of commenting, I glanced around the ground floor of the tower. On one side, a narrow, winding staircase twisted its way up to the other floors. Surprise flashed through me at what filled the rest of the space.

Weapons.

Swords and axes. Knives and halberds. Mounted on every part of the wall, with dozens more filling every rack and surface. A faint light from a few torches cast a glow on the sharp blades and the sparkling gemstones adorning the hilts and scabbards.

“I didn’t know you had such an interest in weapons,” I said, my mind racing. With what he had stored in his tower, he could easily supply a small army .

Belekoroz’s face became closed off as he approached a pair of broadswords made of dark, polished steel.

The rubies set in their hilts glowed with an intense inner fire.

He gently ran a pale finger along the edge of one blade.

Made for a man’s hands, and too heavy for me to lift without the help of magic.

“There is an undeniable allure to a finely crafted blade. A sharp beauty.” His grip closed around the hilt of the sword, and he swung it to test it. “The satisfaction when you achieve the perfect balance.”

“You made them yourself.” I should have known. The reverence with which he touched those weapons hinted at countless hours spent creating them.

His lip twisted with some unnamed emotion. “You couldn’t have known. After all, the Allfather has destined M’tar to be the smith among us. I’m merely dabbling in the craft.”

It didn’t look like mere dabbling to me, but before I could ask about his forge and the need for so many weapons, he moved on, taking a wooden staff from the wall.

“Your weapon of choice is the bladed staff, isn’t it?” he asked, offering it to me.

“Yes.”

“I’ve seen you train with my brother.” Belekoroz watched as I let the staff hiss through the air.

It was perfectly balanced, complementing my every move as I flowed through a few basic forms. A spark ignited in the darkness.

His full lips tilted up in a familiar challenge. “He goes far too easy on you.”

“Is that an offer to take over my training?” I asked, giving him a sharp smile.

He stepped into the range of my weapon, unfazed as I brought the staff up in a lightning-quick movement, stopping just shy of the vulnerable skin of his throat .

“I can definitely teach you a few things,” he smirked, his amused expression unchanged.

“Do you really think I’ll let you get that close to me with a weapon?” I retorted.

His laughter filled the air as he gripped the staff, pulling me toward him. “You forget: we are weapons.” Again, he was far too close. Again, I did nothing to stop it. “All of us. Some are just more aware of it than others.”

With a quick movement, he effortlessly regained control of the staff and returned it to the rack, casting a quick glance at me.

“Do you want to see the rest of the tower?” he asked, his tone casual, as if the tension between us was nothing more than a game.

We climbed the stairs, his tall, dark presence looming behind me, the constant awareness of his nearness brushing against my senses. The mix of excitement and unease it prompted gave way to curiosity as we stepped onto the upper floor.

The interior of Belekoroz’s tower was nothing like I had imagined.

Wooden shelves lined every wall, brimming with countless scrolls and objects.

Glittering stones and vibrant dried flowers caught my eye, drawing me closer.

I couldn’t resist; a soft sound of awe escaped me as my hand trailed along the shelves. This was fascinating.

“What are these?” I asked, my fingers brushing against a particularly vibrant gemstone.

“Things that piqued my curiosity,” Belekoroz replied, amusement playing on his lips as he watched me wander through the room. I ignored his inviting gesture toward two comfortable armchairs by the fireplace, next to the tower’s sole window.

“Where do you sleep?” I asked, turning to face him.

Though our kind did not need sleep like mortals did, our minds occasionally craved rest. My question was meant to unsettle him; the temptation to get the upper hand in our little battle of wills was too great to resist. His face showed no unease, though, that vexing amusement only deepening.

A tendril of dark magic playfully tugged at my braid.

“Trying to trick me into letting you into my bedchamber?” he asked, eyes sparkling with mischief.

This time, it was me closing the distance between us, pushing, pushing so much further than I should to get a reaction. “I doubt I need to resort to tricks to get in there.”

The power to render him speechless, his long lashes fluttering as he blinked, could easily become an unwise addiction. The brief moment of surprise on his face was a victory in itself.

“Through there.” He motioned to an unobtrusive door hidden among the shelves, his voice suddenly hoarse. I walked over, my body brushing against his as I passed, the contact sending a shiver down my spine.

The iron staircase to the tower’s roof was even steeper than the one below.

The metal was cold underneath my hands as I climbed up.

At the top, only darkness awaited me. A vast expanse of deepest black stretched out over us, with no barriers to impede our vision, and only the faint glow of the crescent moon to provide any light.

The wind teased my skin, causing a few stray locks of hair to dance around my face.

Alone up here, it felt as if we were the only beings in all of Aron-Lyr, the shadows hiding countless secrets.

Was it foolish that I desired to unveil all of his?

“Is this where you sleep?” I asked, noticing a cozy nest of cushions and blankets in the center of the open space.

“I love feeling the night breeze on my skin.”

I fought the all-too-enticing image conjured by Belekoroz’s words and the lilting tone of his voice, drawing closer to the bed.

With a sigh, I sank into the luxurious cushions, rolling onto my back to fully appreciate the vastness stretching out above me.

“That sounds nice. Perhaps I should join you one night?”

His deep intake of breath made me look over at him, and I felt a thrill of satisfaction at his cautious look. I remained an enigma to him, my reactions too unpredictable for his usual games. Good. I enjoyed keeping him on edge.

“Which nights do you prefer?” I asked, my eyes closing. “The ones when the moon shines bright or the dark ones with barely any light?”

As the cushions next to me dipped, the fluttering feeling in my stomach returned. I couldn’t ignore his presence pressing against my senses, my powers stirring just below the surface.

“Take a wild guess, little queen.”

I laughed. “How predictable.”

“And you are not?” he scoffed, shifting on the cushions. “You likely prefer the brightness of the day, wandering under Aramaz’s sun.”

My betrothed was not something I wanted to think about at that moment. “He did not make the sun,” I corrected Belekoroz, my tone sharper than intended. “The Allfather did.”

Belekoroz’s voice turned into a bored singsong.

“ And the Allfather brought forth the sun and the moon, illuminating the existence of all beings and leading them out of the darkness. ” A disparaging sound escaped him.

Something tugged on my hair again. “If I wanted to listen to the myths of creation, I would visit that little temple your worshippers built and let them preach to me.”

“I expected you to love being worshipped.”

“There’s a difference between being worshipped as nothing more than an image others created of you, and being respected for your true nature.”

His words breathed life into doubts I’d believed only I had, creating an unfamiliar tension in my body. The vulnerability in his statement caught me off guard, a rare glimpse into his true feelings.

“What do you want, then, if not to be worshipped?” I asked, genuinely curious.

The answer was immediate. “Absolute freedom. The freedom to do what I want, in the manner I decide.” Faint amusement had crept into his voice. “And the power to achieve it.”

“Is that why you live here alone? Where are all your Anima?”

I sat up abruptly, unable to endure the way he played with the tip of my braid any longer—only to find Belekoroz sitting a proper distance away, his expression the very picture of innocence.

“I don’t mind living alone.”

Trying to hide the sudden flush in my cheeks, I asked another question, loath to leave without learning more. “Why do you need all those weapons?”

Belekoroz’s eyes turned to cold obsidian, making it clear that he no longer wanted to entertain my curiosity. “Wanting to unearth all my secrets, Baradaz?”

“What do you know about those creatures?” I retorted, flickers of my Light escaping into the air above the bed like a swarm of fireflies, betraying my agitation.

With a graceful motion, Belekoroz caught one with his fingers, his face transforming into a beautiful, cold mask as it sizzled on his skin. “You will need to accompany me to the Other once more if you want to find out.”

“So, you do know—” I began, but he cut me off.

“I have a few theories.” My Light guttered out underneath a surge of Darkness, its tendrils twisting around the bed in a mesmerizing dance. “Nothing more.”

He leaned closer, that challenging flame back in his gaze that, try as I might, I could not resist answering .

“You really should come with me, though.” Pale fingers fiddled with my braid. I gasped as it came undone, my hair cascading around my shoulders, free and unbound, a wave of fire. “To make sure I behave and share all my findings with our dear kin. And my brother.”

Something stirred to life in the endless depths of his gaze. Something that should have alarmed me, but only fueled my reckless desire to affect him somehow, to dig deeper behind that hard, icy surface he showed the world.

“You’re here to spy on me, aren’t you?” His smile was all sharp threat. I wanted to bite it off.

“So, you are keeping secrets.”

The gleam in his eyes made me fear he was aware of every dark, forbidden thought flashing through my mind—and that he reveled in it.

“Don’t we all, little queen?” He brushed a strand of hair out of my face with a gesture so tender it made me shiver. “I’m starting to wonder what your secrets are.”