Page 83 of Darkness Births the Stars #1

CHAPTER

Rada

T he moment Noctis brought Nacin to a stop in the farm’s courtyard, I slid off the stallion’s back and made my way toward the barn.

Unsurprisingly, Noctis called after me, a hint of frustration in his voice. “Where are you going?”

“As you said, there is a lot to do,” I threw over my shoulder without turning around fully. “We should get to it as quickly as possible.”

I knew that despite his earlier agreement to go to Dalath, he would try again to dissuade me. It was better to get the necessary tasks out of the way before facing this inevitable battle.

I scooped up Bane, who had come running to me with a mew as I entered the barn. “Stay with me, little one,” I murmured, stroking his soft, dark fur. “I can guarantee he will be grumpy the rest of the day.”

My prediction proved true. Noctis’s face darkened further every time I caught a glimpse of him as we both bustled about the farm, taking care of the animals and dealing with the small damages the storm had left behind .

The sun was already setting when I finished up in the barn and moved toward the house. Its reddish glow cast a foreboding hue over Noctis’s face as he stepped between me and the front door.

“Rada,” he said, his tone firm. “Really, we need to—”

“Did you put the water barrels where I told you to?” I asked, veering out of his way and making for the back of the house instead.

“Yes, but…” With an annoyed growl, Noctis trailed after me.

I ignored his grumbling and gave him an overly bright smile. “I’m just taking a quick shower, and then we can go pack things up in the house. You could make yourself useful and get me a clean dress.”

To my utter surprise, he simply nodded and whirled around to return to the house, though his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

After he left, I deftly opened the bindings of my blouse and let the sweaty garment fall to the wooden planks, followed by my breeches and chemise.

It was a warm summer evening, the cool water a welcome relief on my skin as I stepped underneath the spray of the shower.

While I had kept up an unbothered facade around Noctis, the events of this morning had shaken me more than I wanted him to see, leaving a lingering sense of horror and fear that even being back in our little sanctuary couldn’t dispel.

I tilted my head back, eyes closed, reveling in the way the water cleansed me. It washed away not only the exertion of the day’s hard work, but also the oily feeling that had settled on my skin since we had found the Chiasma’s gruesome handiwork.

The wood creaked outside the shower, signaling Noctis’s return. “I’m putting your dress with the towels,” he said gruffly.

The sudden realization that I was completely naked, with only a wooden wall separating us, shot through me. I hurried, swiftly toweling myself dry before reaching for the dress he had brought.

A frown appeared on my face when I unfolded the garment and saw it was just one of the short cotton dresses I wore around the farm, nothing else.

“Isn’t there something missing?” I asked.

Noctis’s voice was full of barely contained laughter. “You only asked for a dress.”

I scoffed and slipped it over my head, the thin material clinging to my still-damp skin, and finally stepped out of the shower. My narrow-eyed glare only deepened his insolent smile, but I chose not to comment.

“Fine,” I said instead, aware I could not postpone this discussion any longer. “Tell me about that Chiasma. You know which one of them it is, don’t you?”

Noctis nodded, a grave expression immediately replacing his amusement. “Her name is Deira. She is one of the most dangerous among my former servants, capable of wielding both Chaos magic and the Earth magic of the Dryads.”

“She’s a Dryad?” I gasped, dread piercing through me as I remembered the strange encounter I’d had in Dalath not a tenday ago. “Fuck. I think I’ve met her.”

“Really?” Noctis gave me a surprised look. “During the war, she always preferred to act from the shadows, but—”

“No,” I interrupted, rushing past him in my agitation. “Recently. In the village.”

“What?”

I halted abruptly, my thoughts racing. “At the last farmer’s market.

She bought a bow at Briseis’s stall. I spoke with her, and there was something…

” A shudder went through me, and I rubbed my arms to ward off the sudden chill.

“Something that felt strange.” An angry growl escaped me at the thought of the Chiasma pretending to be nothing more than a harmless customer. “I guess she was spying on me. ”

“You’re lucky spying was all she did.” Noctis’s face was haunted. “Deira is absolutely ruthless. Power is the only thing she cares about. She destroyed her own heart tree to gain access to more magic. ‘Freeing herself,’ as she called it.”

“So that’s why her horns are broken. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”

“Well, it made her even crazier than before. The amicable mask she presents to the world hides nothing but darkness underneath.”

I scoffed. “All your former followers are so incredibly charming.”

Noctis ignored my comment. “You must have said or done something to make her wary. She’s always been a shrewd tactician.”

I recalled the nearly fearful expression in the Dryad’s eyes before she had left abruptly. There was only one possible explanation. “She thinks we still have some of our powers.”

“The fact that we disposed of Tharion and Vultaron must have made the Chiasma think so, yes,” Noctis said.

“That’s likely why she didn’t attack the farm outright.

It’s our territory. All those surges of Chaos magic: the attack of the wolves, the spoiled grain, the storm—they were attempts to flush us out without showing her hand.

” He grabbed me by my shoulders, an insistent light in his gaze.

“We should leave. Regroup somewhere else until we can gather enough information to decide how to proceed.”

I shook my head, my conclusion far different from his.

“You said it yourself. She is clever. By now she will know exactly how much Dalath and its people mean to me. She won’t chase after us like a fool.

She will simply attack those we leave behind without protection, knowing it will lure us back here if we don’t want them to die. ”

The resigned look on Noctis’s face told me he knew quite well I was right. “Baradaz, listen to me,” he tried once more, a hint of desperation in his tone. “Deira is not like Tharion or Vultaron, controlled by their own magic. She’s one of the most powerful users of Chaos in Aron-Lyr right now.”

“And she wants you dead to gain even more power,” I said. A tight fist was clenching around my heart. Again, I felt trapped, with no right decision available to me. I did not want to force Noctis to risk his life, yet abandoning the home I had made for myself was no option either.

The threat to himself seemed to be far from Noctis’s main concern, though.

He threw his hands into the air, as if at the end of his patience.

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he exclaimed.

“It’s you. I could not bear it if she got her hands on you.

Stars, do you have any idea what she would do to you? ”

Facing his stark desperation was harder than I would have anticipated. “It is my decision, not yours,” I repeated, determined to hold on to my resolve.

I saw the exact moment he realized he would not be able to sway me, his eyes turning an unyielding obsidian. “Do you think dying to save these people will absolve you from failing the entire world?” he asked, his voice cold.

An involuntary gasp escaped me as I stumbled away from him as if he had hit me. I was such a fool, wasn’t I? Thinking he would not hurt me again, lowering all my defenses when I had known it was only a matter of time.

“Baradaz, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said…” Noctis reached out to me at once at my reaction, remorse in his tone. I was not prepared to listen, though, avoiding his touch as I moved around him to return to the front of the house.

“Just because you don’t care for anyone in this world but yourself does not mean I feel the same,” I snapped back at him.

This time my barb hit its mark. The pain flashing over Noctis’s face brought me no satisfaction. “Well,” he rasped out. “There is at least one other being I care for, isn’t there? As inconvenient as it is sometimes.”

Perhaps we were destined to always fall back into this, to tear into each other until we both bled.

“The chickens need their water.” I kept my face averted as I left, unwilling to let him see my anguish.

Safely hidden inside the henhouse, I finally allowed myself to let go, a strangled sob escaping me as hot tears of anger and frustration streamed down my cheeks.

Damn him! Damn him for getting behind all my defenses.

Damn him for knowing me better than anyone else and telling truths I did not want to hear.

A bitter laugh escaped me when I finally calmed down again. No man who had ever walked the Allfather’s creation had both tempted and vexed me as much as the former God of Darkness. Had I honestly expected that to have changed?

Bane had followed me, hoping for another round of chasing the chickens. I shooed him away and filled the troughs with fresh water.

I could use my Air stone to contact Tanez and ask for help.

But what if she told the other members of the Council?

Calling on the Ten was out of the question.

Considering what the Aurea of Earth had told me about the unrest in the realm, Aramaz would hardly rally the armies because of a few attacked farms. And I could not explain why I knew Chaos was stirring again. I was truly out of options, and…

There was no white chicken in the henhouse.