Page 39 of Starfall

Ari

I had no idea where I was headed. The moment we burst through the bakery doors, the streets of Persh devoured me alive.

What transpired in that office felt like a dream. Or a nightmare.

Definitely a nightmare.

Hell, I barely remembered what I’d done. There had only been my instinct guiding me, and I followed it without question, listening to foreign whispers in my head.

My mission in life was to grant wishes, to heal, to provide a miracle. Yet, it wasn’t kindness or faith that powered me in that office; it was a raw fury that scared me?—

And secretly thrilled me.

A hand wrapped around my biceps, and I instinctively raised my fist and spun around.

Elias winced just as I froze, my knuckles inches from his jaw. He didn’t move away, and neither did Liv, who stood at his side.

“You all right, Silver?” Liv asked, hobbling closer. “You’re shaking.” Her wide eyes revealed her sorrow and thanks, the amber pools sparkling with unshed tears. I wanted to laugh. Liv asked if I was all right when she stood there with a black eye, a split lip, and blood smearing her cheek .

“ I’m fine.” I dropped my fist only to raise my palm and cup Liv’s tender face. She flinched at the contact, but no sound left her split lips. Eternal, she was in terrible shape.

Warily, I scanned the streets until I found what I needed.

“Come here.” High off of my lingering adrenaline, I seized Liv’s hand and led her wordlessly through the throng of people, aiming for a secluded alleyway behind a quiet bookshop. What I prepared to do required some semblance of privacy.

Elias hovered at the alleyway’s entrance, his body acting as a shield for any curious onlookers. He twisted his head, worry creasing his forehead, but when I nodded at him, he turned around, trusting me.

That thought boosted my confidence. I can do this . I hold the Eternal’s light, and the Eternal heals.

Not that what I did back in that office was healing . No, that came from somewhere else. Some well of dark magic that belonged to another. An entity I didn’t wish to name.

There wasn’t time to think about that now. Even considering the energy I had commanded that smelled of him made me lightheaded.

Once enfolded between two brick buildings, shadows eating away at the light, I forced down my barriers and faced Liv.

Bile burned my throat as I studied the results of Darren’s barbaric handiwork.

The sickening sight brought an icy tear to my eyes.

It slid down my cheek without warning, my heart unable to hold back any longer.

Perfect.

Liv’s stare narrowed as I scooped the metallic tear and brought it to the wounds marking her skin. She trembled, biting back a hiss, but she held still as my tear seeped into her pores.

Healing her.

The swelling that inflamed her eye abated, the angry flesh turning back to its original shade of golden brown. Liv swayed when the cut on her lip sparked with white light, the fragile skin sewing itself back together, leaving only dried blood behind.

Liv brought her shaking fingertips to her jaw as the enchanted tear stole her pain and mended her injuries .

“I d-didn’t know what t-to believe,” she stammered. “But you…I knew you were magic,” she said, eyeing me through a mess of tears. Liv rushed forward and banded her arms around my waist, squeezing. “Thank you,” she said, voice saturated with awe. “Thank you, Ari.”

Another tear fell from my eyes, landing somewhere between our connected bodies. Appreciation and hope and love engulfed me, my body plummeting into an overwhelming sensation of free fall. I drowned in it, my hold turning fierce as I hugged Liv back.

“We better get a move on,” Elias rumbled from his position at the alley’s entrance, his eyes full of wonder when he caught sight of a healed Liv.

He didn’t question me. “Someone could’ve seen us, and I want to be somewhere safe until we know for certain that your…

that Darren doesn’t follow.” He meant if my abilities worked.

I drew back, bestowing Liv with one last smile before I wrapped my hand around hers. “I assume you won’t tell anyone?” I asked, searching her face for a sign she could be trusted. I already knew the answer.

Liv slipped her hand below the neckline of her simple blue dress. Pulling at a thin, golden chain, she yanked out a pendant. A glimmering diamond sat in the symbol’s center.

A star .

“I know what you are,” she whispered reverently. “You have far more than my trust.”

Elias didn’t talk as we shopped through the marketplace. He didn’t look at me when he collected a few debts for his boss. He spent the rest of the day letting me trail behind him in silence.

I could practically feel his fury waft off him in waves, and while I didn’t understand why he was angry with me, I planned to give him a piece of my mind when we returned to his apartment.

Hours later, when my new boots had blistered my feet, we turned on his street. Elias stomped up the stairs and down his hallway. Opening his door, he ushered me inside .

He spoke for the first time since this morning.

“That was the stupidest thing you ever could’ve done.”

Elias whirled on me the moment the door to his apartment slammed shut.

“Tell me how you truly feel,” I snapped, plopping down into one of the empty seats at his kitchen table. His hulking frame stomped around the room, back and forth, his boots scuffing the wooden planks. He certainly had been repressing his emotions all day.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous Darren is?” he asked, turning to advance on me. “Do you know what could’ve happened if your power didn’t work?” His hands moved to rest on the back of my chair as he caged me in, the look in his eyes akin to a wrathful storm.

This close, I felt the heat of his anger. Could feel the vibrations running down the chair’s back, his hands trembling.

“I would do it again.” I glared. It was the truth. I regretted nothing.

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” he thundered. “Do you have no self-preservation?”

“As you so elegantly put it before, I’m practically going to die anyway, right?” I recalled his disgust in the woods, how the idea of me becoming a star had horrified him.

Truthfully, the thought didn’t bring me as much joy as it had before.

Elias went deathly still mere inches from my face, his warm breath tickling my cheeks. I knew he wanted to argue, to call me stubborn or naive, but for some reason, his words died on his tongue.

“I may be a star maiden. I may die today, tomorrow, or the next for all I know, but I couldn’t walk away.” I pictured Liv there, on the ground, bleeding and terrified. “It would have killed me if I had.”

He released a slow exhale. “I know you couldn’t walk away,” he replied tightly, like it cost him dearly to speak. “I hate that you couldn’t. That you’re?—”

“Like you?” I finished, and the chair creaked where he gripped the wood.

“Yes. Like me. An idiot.”

I lifted my chin. “I’d rather be an idiot than heartless. Only living for yourself isn’t living.”

“You don’t even know what living is!” Elias shoved off the chair and ran a hand through his hair. “You barely even have a chance to experience life. What? Fourteen days?”

He turned around and gripped the edges of the table. He couldn’t look me in the eye. Not when the harshness of truth echoed in the air.

I would die soon. Or…I’d become a star. But I’d never be who I was at that moment.

I wanted to tell him that he was right, that I was scared shitless even thinking about completing the ritual. That I would give anything to stay and see what new places and things I’d enjoy. But what good would that do?

“If I’m going to die, then at least let me live while I’m here,” I said instead, barely above a whisper.

Elias faced me, his features stony. Cold .

In two steps, he towered over me, his hands back on the chair. “You don’t have to die.”

I sighed, turning to the window as an unwanted tear slid down my cheek. “You know there’s only one way out of this for me.”

Save my sisters. Set the balance right again. Ascend.

How could I be so selfish and leave them miserable, trapped Eternal knew where?

My chest rose and fell in time with his, and trapped by his muscled arms, surrounded by his scent, I too, lost all words. There was only us; two strangers who were bound together by a mistake, staring into each other’s eyes. Seeing the truth and refusing to turn away.

I glimpsed him; the kindness he tried to bury beneath a grimace and harsh words. The hope he had yet to smother. The blame he carried for his past. I also saw his anger, his temper, his self-righteousness. His flaws.

None of it mattered. The good and the bad mixed together to create him , and I couldn’t lie to myself and say I wasn’t drawn to him. How his presence sent a thrill of life into my veins whenever he so much as grazed my hand .

While being stuck with him, I’d found myself. Became a person who had secret aspirations and dreams. A desire to be more . Elias made me forget I’d been created as a vessel for the Eternal.

“Can I change my wish?” Elias’s heavy gaze drifted, lowering from my eyes, gliding to my lips. He paused there, and my breath caught in my throat. My mouth grew parched, and I tentatively licked my bottom lip, a shiver wracking my frame when his eyes darkened.

I couldn’t help but look at his lips in return, a fire building in my core.

Kiss me .

The thought came unbidden. An animalistic need urged me to grab his face and pull the stubborn bastard forward and kiss him senseless like he’d kissed me the other night.

Elias dropped to his knees before me, his eyes boring into mine. “Ari?” he asked, his brows knitting together. “Can I change it?”

I wilted beneath that hopeful gaze. “No,” I said. “You can’t. Not after we sealed the wish.”

Elias briefly glanced at his index finger, to where the starburst had appeared after we made our agreement. He knew there was no going back.

“We have to finish this, whether we like it or not. People are counting on me.” I leaned forward and seized his hand. He flinched before squeezing me tightly. Having this powerful man on his knees for me, pleading to find a way to save my existence, brought more wretched tears to my eyes.

Lifting his hand, I brought his palm to my mouth and planted a kiss. “I don’t blame you, Elias. Not ever. This is what my destiny is, and sometimes, we have to accept things as they are.”

He pulled on my hand, urging me to the floor with him. I went easily, sliding into his lap. With such tenderness, he wound his arms around me and held me, his head resting on the top of my hair.

“I wish I’d never met you.” The words struck me like an arrow to the heart. Before I could pull away, he continued. “Then I might have been fine living in my delusions. I wouldn’t feel as if I’m stealing away your life. Which would be great. It would be so great, Ari. You deserve a chance.”

I leaned against his chest and inhaled his woodsy scent, memorizing it.

“Well, I’m happy I met you,” I said. “Even if you still drive me mad sometimes.” He scoffed at that. Shifting in his lap, I took his chin in mine. “We’re going to change your life, Elias. You deserve joy, too, and with the money you earn from the fight, you can start over anywhere you’d like.”

Elias never replied. There wasn’t anything left to say. Even if he’d changed his mind, the Eternal’s magic cemented the wish. Instead, he held me like that for hours, his powerful arms like steel bands around me. He held me together when I felt like shattering.

It was the most intimidate thing I’d ever experienced.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I remembered was a blanket being tucked under my chin. Elias’s blurry shape grabbed a pillow, prepared to sleep on the floor.

I snatched his arm. “Stay.”

I needed him. His warmth. His solidness. The way his presence made me feel as if the world outside didn’t matter. No one had ever had that effect on me, and I wished to revel in him.

He hesitated, the seconds ticking by between us, my pulse thundering in my ears. I sighed in relief when he tossed the pillow back and slipped beneath the covers. Right beside me.

He still didn’t speak when he wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged my back flush to his warm chest. When his bare hand slipped to my abdomen, pressing me even closer.

Safe .

That was what true safety felt like. There. In that bed.

In that moment, I allowed myself to dream—to imagine I had been someone’s wish.

That I would live.

But all of this was just a dream.