Page 64 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

CHAPTER

Rada

A few white feathers were all that remained of Bella. Or Tilda. I could never tell those two apart.

Ignoring the agitated cackling of the hens, I followed the feather trail to the back of the henhouse.

My eyes narrowed at the shallow hole where wood met packed earth, deep gouges from sharp claws revealing my missing chicken’s fate.

So that was where the cursed fox got in.

But how, by the deepest pit of the Abyss, did it pass the barrier of thorny bushes?

Well, it didn’t matter. I was tired of trying to outfox the cunning little predator. Time to settle this once and for all.

I gave the surviving white chicken, Tilda—I always preferred that name, and it was not as if she would complain—a resolute nod. “Don’t worry. I will handle this. You will be safe soon.”

Tilda fluttered her wings and clucked. From the way she tilted her little feathered head, she wasn’t convinced. A sigh escaped me. I could not blame her. After all, I was not proving competent at protecting anyone or anything. Least of all my heart .

After cleaning up the feathers and closing the hole with a wooden plank, I collected a few eggs for breakfast. I wondered if Noctis was awake.

He had still been asleep on his pallet when I had silently crossed the main room, where he was sleeping after I had given in to his demand that I move back into my bedroom.

He had been utterly exhausted yesterday evening, barely saying a word during our meal, just watching me with eyes full of a haunting vulnerability.

Tense. Waiting. As if part of him expected me to throw him out at any moment after his slip-up with the Chaosdagger, after he had revealed his weaknesses to me.

A deep wariness had softened the usual intensity of his presence, sparking an oddly protective urge inside me in answer.

So, I had let him rest a little longer. That was definitely the only reason I had sneaked out, careful not to disturb him.

Not because of how he had looked while caught in the embrace of sleep.

All disheveled dark hair and relaxed, achingly handsome face, one arm thrown over the pillow above his head, full lips slightly parted. At peace.

I could have woken him with a soft kiss, his eyes fluttering open with a hazy expression, only to heat with desire as he pulled me on top of him…

My vivid fantasy had driven me outside, the cool morning air a welcome balm on my burning cheeks.

I felt disturbingly like a fortress under siege.

Noctis was one of the most brilliant tacticians in Aron-Lyr, and I feared this time it was not some poor, beleaguered city that had to bear the brunt of his sharp mind, but my own flimsy defenses.

I had put the Chaosdagger back into its hiding place, all too aware it might already be too late—that using it might have revealed our exact location to the Chiasma.

Yet I hadn’t mentioned a word of what I had discovered in the village to Noctis.

I didn’t suspect that he was secretly plotting with his old servants; at least that fear had been put to rest by the way I had found him upon my return—desperately holding on to the magic, nearly overwhelmed by his turbulent emotions.

It reminded me of the first time he had fully used the power of the Adept of Chaos.

It had been to save Lyrheim, to save me.

But like yesterday, there had also been a darker reason.

He craved the power, the freedom he thought it would bring him.

“I will never be powerless again,” he had said to me so long ago, a fervent light in his eyes.

Yet I had made him powerless. I had taken his magic away from him with my betrayal. My hands clenched around the handle of the egg basket.

He had offered to leave. But if the Chiasma were searching for him, if whoever had killed the Irwings had been looking for him, that wouldn’t be enough to protect Dalath. I might need to hand him over to the King’s Council.

I had sworn I would stand between Noctis and the innocent people living here. But could I sacrifice him to keep them safe? Even if it wasn’t he who was the threat? If he had changed, if he wanted to help me heal the damage he—we—had caused in the world?

Fuck duty. Briseis’s fierce voice echoed through my mind.

I would not do what I should do. I would not betray him again. Blessed Light save me, I could not bear the thought of losing him once more. I was going to give in. I could feel it. And this time I was falling with my eyes wide open.

A dark shadow landed in front of me with a hiss. The chickens exploded into an agitated frenzy of flying feathers and panicked cackling.

“Bane!” I exclaimed, diving into the chaos to catch the tomcat. “I told you to leave the chickens alone!”

I stepped out of the henhouse a while later with a mildly remorseful cat in one arm and a basket of eggs in the other.

Entering the farmhouse, I froze. Noctis was awake.

Very much so. He was moving around my kitchen, clad in nothing but his black breeches.

The strenuous work on the farm had done him good, I could not help but notice, his lean muscles tensing up enticingly as he stretched to get a milk bottle from its place in the cupboard.

“You’re awake.”

Fuck, I sounded like a breathless, overwhelmed maiden. It made me blush, suddenly embarrassed that I had caught him in a state of undress. Which was completely ridiculous, considering I’d seen him naked more times than I could count—and besides, this was my fucking house.

A mischievous glint lit up Noctis’s eyes as he turned toward me, a small smirk playing on his lips. Apprehension flashed through me. Curse the man and his ability to catch on to my every weakness. And the fact that he was ruthlessly exploiting them all.

“Good morning,” he said cheerfully, his good mood obviously returned. “Forgive me. I slept in.”

He lifted the milk bottle to his lips, drinking straight from it. Offering me a full view of all that pale skin on display, of the vulnerable slope of his throat as he swallowed. Did the impossible man really think that would affect me?

The sad, sad truth was that it certainly did.

I did not know how long I stood motionless until Bane’s mews pulled me out of my stupor.

My eyes roamed over Noctis’s body, taking in the still-angry red scar on his right side and bypassing the black markings of his tattoo on the left, because I could not deal with that now.

I lingered on the trail of dark hair that led down from his navel, emphasizing the firm hardness of his stomach before vanishing into the top of his breeches.

Sudden need pulsed through me. So violent that it took all my remaining willpower to not make a sound.

What would he say if I sauntered over there, brazenly met his eyes, and dropped to my knees?

If I hooked my fingers underneath his breeches and slowly dragged them down?

If I bent forward to take him deep into my mouth?

It would earn me a very satisfying “Please,” I was sure.

He had always liked it when I went down on him.

Why was it a terrible idea to fuck the former God of Chaos on my kitchen table? I struggled to remember. Perhaps because he was also my former lover, and I knew how badly it had ended. How I had needed years to get over him, if I ever got over him at all. The realization sobered me up.

“We own glasses, you know,” I snapped, depositing a squirming Bane on the floor and the basket of eggs on the kitchen counter, trying to hide my fluster.

“Of course.” Noctis smiled as he put down the milk, easily seeing through my pretense. “Should we make breakfast?”

This had become a well-orchestrated, complicated dance, performed every morning.

The two of us whizzing around the kitchen and the dining table, close but never touching, Noctis compensating for my hurting wrist without me needing to point out where I needed help.

Only this morning, he was far too close, brushing against me at every opportunity, his body heat a constant reminder of his scant clothing.

When he stepped up behind me to put the heavy pan on the stove—so considerate, wasn’t he? —I snapped.

“Can’t you put on some clothes?” I waved at his naked torso, eyes narrowed. “A shirt or a tunic?”

His lip twitched, but he kept his gaze on the pan as he added butter. “Am I making you nervous?”

“No.” I cracked one egg after the other on the rim of the pot in front of me, the sounds punctuating the finality of my statement. “ But I would appreciate it if you stopped acting like you have seen me naked.”

For this strange cohabitation to work, I had to set some ground rules. We might not be enemies anymore, but we were far from anything else. Because I knew better these days, whatever Briseis said.

“But I have seen you naked.” Noctis smiled smugly, taking the pot from me and scrambling the eggs. “The memories of your glorious breasts have helped me through many lonely nights.”

Ah yes, the story of his decades-long chastity I was not sure I believed. The story I didn’t want to believe—because, like the markings on his body, it would force me to acknowledge a truth I wasn’t ready for.

“Well, hold on to those memories.” I placed two tomatoes, an onion, and a bright red pepper on a plate before sliding a large knife out of the block. “As I told you, it will never happen again.”

I chopped the vegetables aggressively. Noctis’s smile didn’t waver at my harsh words or the way I brandished the blade.

But then, the sight of me with a weapon probably heated his blood.

His hands were very warm as he took the knife from me and cut the vegetables twice as fast. I fought the urge to step away; I wouldn’t back down in my own kitchen.

A low sizzle. Then a mouthwatering scent filled the air as he put the vegetable slices into the pan. “Is that so?” he said mildly, adding the eggs. “I could have sworn you were caught up in some naughty fantasy when you came in earlier.”

Oh, that arrogant…

The familiar temptation to do something reckless, to needle him a little, to tease back where I should not, rose like a storm within me.

“Mmm.” I slid between Noctis and the stove, the heat of his body overwhelming.

“You know I have a taste for certain activities in the morning.” I glanced down between us, smiling at the visible proof of my effect on him.

“There are some memories that helped me through a lot of lonely nights.” And then I slowly licked my lips.

For a moment, I wondered if I had finally pushed Noctis to breaking point.

Dark eyes blazed down at me with undisguised need, his breaths shallow and unsteady.

My heart pounded in response. The spring sun had painted a dozen freckles on the bridge of his nose and his high cheekbones, I noted absentmindedly as I watched him tremble in a desperate fight for control.

“You are burning the eggs,” I said, proud of my nonchalant tone.

Noctis stared at me as if I spoke a foreign language.

Then he breathed in deeply and stepped around me, cursing softly as he tried to salvage our breakfast. I used his distraction to calm my own racing heartbeat.

Part of me was tempted to stay inside the wonderful, cool stone conservator powered by two blue lyrin -stones as I collected butter and cheese from it.

The sound of movement behind me made me tense up, anticipation flooding my body in a heady rush. I could not resist the urge to rub against him, and I could feel…

Oh. Arousal pierced through me with sweet intensity as I realized what was pressing against my backside, hard and demanding.

“Fuck, Baradaz.” Firm hands closed around my hips, stilling my movements.

“That is a very dangerous game to play.” Noctis’s hoarse exhale tickled my ear.

Did he know what it was doing to me to feel his lips so close?

His teeth? He must know. The tremble running through me was so strong I nearly dropped the butter.

“You once told me those are the only games worth playing,” I managed to gasp out.

His lips pressed against the sensitive spot on my nape. Such a small point of contact, but it felt as if my entire body were burning up, my eyes closing at the sensation .

“You are an impossible tease,” he murmured against my skin, the rasp of his stubble so delicious I wondered how it would feel in other places.

“You love that about me.”

I surrendered to the madness roiling in my veins. My fingertips trailed languidly over his bare arm, nearly burning with the heat of him. I relished the way he tensed up violently, a soft hiss escaping him.

Sharp teeth sank into my nape. A warning. The sensation drove a helpless groan from my lips. “I love you all flustered and wanting more.”

With that last hoarse whisper, he was gone, leaving me flushed and confused, struggling to rein in my traitorous body.

The expression of smug satisfaction on Noctis’s face as he brought our delicious-looking omelets to the table was annoyingly familiar.

He even fetched a simple black shirt from his pallet and pulled it over his head before sitting down.

He wanted me to be the one who crossed the line between us again. The one to admit I still wanted him.

I followed him to the table with the rest of our breakfast and sat down. Maintaining eye contact, I tasted my omelet with an exaggerated moan. “Mmm, this is delicious. Who knew you had skills in the kitchen?”

We would see who caved first. Not that I planned to cave at all.

Noctis’s lip twitched. “You know me. I’m skilled at everything I do.”

“Well…” I smiled sweetly. “You can apply those skills when we ready the farm. The next days will be long and exhausting.”

Sharp awareness flashed through his eyes. “Ready the farm for what?”

Curse it, I had no idea how to convince him to come to Dalath with me and help defend the village. Somehow I was quite sure that when he’d said he wanted to find a way to deal with Chaos, he had not meant training the local farmers into soldiers.

“For summer,” I said, keeping my voice level. I still had a few more days to devise a plan before Adesh and the others expected me to come to the village. Hopefully.

Noctis ripped off a chunk of bread with long, pale fingers, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes as he continued to watch me, clearly catching on to my sudden unease. “I look forward to it.”

Self-assured bastard.