Page 25 of Starfall

Ari

I gasped awake, panting as I scanned my surroundings.

The woods. I was back in the woods. Awake .

Something heavy pressed into my torso, and I turned, finding Elias’s arm slumped over my body. He must’ve rolled over sometime in the night. My cheeks flushed as I shimmied out of his grasp before he woke.

Elias couldn’t know about my stranger. He barely believed in the Eternal as it was, and if I said anything about another entity now, he might not wish to get tangled up in the mess that I’d found myself in.

Still, my heart raced, and the phantom touch of the white-haired man seemed branded on my skin. I loathed how he affected me. How the darkness had started to soothe me rather than frighten. I should be aghast, angry, and outraged. Instead, I indulged him in conversation. Like a fool.

“ Mmm .” Elias shifted in his spot, his arm now flush with the cold soil.

I stepped away, studying him as he eased awake.

He looked younger in the morning; his hair all mussed, his eyes heavy with sleep.

His lips weren’t turned down in a scowl, and the creases that usually marred his forehead were absent.

He rolled over and gazed at me, his peculiar eyes locked on mine. “ Good morning,” he said, voice gravelly and deep. Elias groaned as he stretched, sitting upright to ease the aches from sleeping on the ground.

“Morning.” I rushed over to a fallen tree beside our little campsite and took a seat. Nerves had never bothered me until the night of the Fall—and then everything that proceeded to happen afterward. Especially now. I felt as if I betrayed Elias by keeping my dreams a secret.

I remained silent as he went about his morning routine and returned to the camp. He cocked his head at whatever he saw on my face. “You’re paler than usual,” he noted, his thick brows pulling together. “Sleep all right?”

I waved a hand. “It’s hard to sleep when you’re lying on top of twigs and damp soil,” I replied, hoping enough teasing lilted my tone.

Perhaps he was too tired himself, because Elias nodded and moved on. “Ready to head out?”

No .

But I couldn’t very well say that.

“All set!” My voice came out too chipper. My smile too forced. Now, I’d earned his attention, but before he could open his mouth, I darted for the path we’d taken yesterday. Calling over my shoulder, I said, “Don’t let us get lost again!”

Another deep noise greeted my ears. “We’re not lost.”

By midday, we came across a small pond, and instantly, a familiar heat spread.

An invisible tether pulled me to the water’s edge, and I dropped into a crouch.

There, the remains of a sprite glimmered beneath the scorching sun.

To anyone else, it would’ve appeared as nothing more than foam, but to my divine eyes, sparkling colors moved and danced in the light.

My fingertips grazed the top, a jolt of energy wracking my frame.

When a sprite died—their bodies laden with too many toxins—they chose to let go, to become one with the waters they loved. I said a quick prayer for the fallen being before watching what remained of them sink into the abyss.

I swore I glimpsed a flicker of a hand reaching out from the pond’s surface, but it vanished just as suddenly. Sprites were pack creatures, and with the death of one of their own, they often spent months in mourning.

A different kind of heat burned into the back of my skull. I could feel Elias’s eyes on me, watching, assessing. Ever since this morning, he’d been extra observant, much to my dismay. It wasn’t until an hour ago that I finally started to feel normal again—enough to fool him.

Although…his worry over me made me feel things . Is this what it’s like to be cared for?

I’d been too quick to judge Elias, assuming him a thoughtless brute. He put on an act, like most people did in order to protect themselves. I was guilty of the same. I expected Elias to ask why I’d paused here, but his lips remained sealed. He hadn’t questioned me about the Eternal since yesterday.

My eyes drifted to him now, or more specifically, to his broad back. He trudged ahead, silent and scowling. While the quiet that settled between us had grown easy, I longed for the banter he provided. It took my mind off Lily, and riling him up and watching his ears tinge with red amused me.

Eleven days until the fight.

While it might seem like enough time to get to Persh and help Elias win his championship fight, especially since I suspected my power would work, I dreaded what might happen if my theory was wrong.

Elias asked me not to test my power back on the train, and I hadn’t brought the subject up again.

A part of me knew I could try it on him , but that felt intrinsically wrong.

Either way, I would need to test it out at some point if our plan was to work.

I slowed as that same golden-eyed raven dropped from the skies and landed on a spindly branch. His deep feathers gleamed a soft purple in the light of day, and I admired his beauty even if apprehension trickled down my spine.

Why was it following me? The way it cocked its head and held my gaze was inhuman. Frightening . If it was a divine being, I wished it would reveal itself.

“Do you want to ascend?”

Elias’s question forced me to break eye contact with the raven.

The thumping of its wings sounded, and a few dying leaves scattered to the forest floor.

It was the beginning of a bitter fall, and the leaves slowly changed to sickly yellows and ochres.

Some green remained, the forest nymphs hard at work, but even they couldn’t prevent the inevitable chill of an eager winter.

“Excuse me?” I asked, grateful my voice didn’t waver. I yanked my skirts high, bunching the fabric into my fists. Cool air wafted below the hem, and I sighed. I was five minutes away from grabbing Elias’s sacred dagger and cutting the bottom half clean off.

“Do you want to ascend?” Elias repeated, glancing over his shoulder. “Seems like a pretty straightforward question to me.”

I instantly regretted my wish for Elias to open his mouth. Maybe silence was preferred.

“Of course I do,” I said, hoping to leave it at that.

“Why?”

He wasn’t letting up. “Because it’s an honor. I get the chance to do something that could change the world for the better. And to become a star? Who wouldn’t want to live forever in the sky?”

Yet…I’d hesitated right when Mistress Lina called me forth. I frowned at the memory.

Elias grunted, the noise one of discord. “But you’re essentially dying , right? You won’t be”—he looked back, scanning me from head to toe—“ you .”

“I’ll still be me,” I replied, ignoring the subtle flush in my cheeks from his careful perusal.

He’d been growing bolder by the minute. It hadn’t been lost to me when his eyes skirted my direction when he thought I didn’t notice.

Not that I hadn’t stared at him with his muscled back facing me.

Even a star maiden such as myself was tempted to admire it.

“No, you won’t be the same. You’ll be a lifeless star,” Elias argued. “Unable to live or move or speak. Unable to do anything but watch .”

Something about the way he snarled that last word caused my throat to constrict.

“It’s my destiny, Elias. I don’t expect you to understand.

” And I didn’t. He’d made it perfectly clear he wasn’t a true believer, and I respected that.

I didn’t have a choice in what Destiny planned for me.

The best I could do with my time was fulfill my obligations and make the Eternal proud.

I wasn’t human, and free will didn’t belong to me.

Free will ?—

The stranger had taunted me with the idea of it. Hell, I wasn’t certain what free will even looked like.

“Elias, just focus on the mission.” I sighed, hating how I began imagining a different life. At least it was only in my head, and no one could accuse me of blasphemy. Although, Elias caring for my inevitable ending stunned me; I wasn’t Grace, and therefore, not his problem.

I went to take the lead and create some distance when a hand encircled my wrist. Immediately, the hair on my arms rose, sparks seeming to radiate up from where his fingers held me.

“Ari,” Elias began, angling me to face him. He glanced at his hand but didn’t drop it. “I don’t want…I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me if it’s not what you truly want. I can’t stand the idea of your blood on my hands. I don’t think I could handle more…”

He meant more blood on his hands. He already blamed himself for his father. Likely for his mother, too.

“You knew what would happen when this began.” My tone was soft yet resolute, and I prayed the assurance would comfort him.

Elias’s fingers tightened, his eyes burning into mine. For a heartbeat, time froze. The winds ceased. There was only silence and the man who stared at me with such a fierce intensity that my breath hitched.

“Promise me,” he begged. “Promise me you aren’t lying on my behalf.” It was a plea, the rawness of his voice surprisingly tender. It didn’t change a single thing, though.

My gaze drifted to where he gripped me. My skin burned . I noted Elias stared at his hand as well, watching where we joined.

I sucked in a sharp breath when he abruptly let me go and stepped away. Just as he had before. I had to admit, whenever he touched me, my body responded. Did he experience the same…rush?

“I promise I want this,” I whispered, still on edge.

“I’ve wanted this my entire life, and my choices have nothing to do with you.

” My temper flared when he cast a pitying look my way, like I was some naive child who didn’t know any better.

“I’m my own person, Elias, and I don’t need you pretending as if you care. I don’t need your protection.”

Elias’s lips twisted into a thin line as his face grew slack, emotionless.

That was better. We’d already been alone for longer than preferable. Getting to know someone would only make it harder when I left.