Page 65 of Starfall

Ari

T he bells chimed at midnight, the ringing piercing my very soul.

The time had arrived, and Elias was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s not going through with it.” Xavier materialized at my side, handing me a glass of champagne. I eyed it wearily. “I didn’t poison it,” he said with an indignant huff, creases forming on his forehead above his mask as he glared.

Ignoring his offering, I snagged my own flute from the nearest table. Bringing it to my lips, I swallowed it down in one go. The events of a single night destroyed my world. I deserved to indulge.

“Did you hear what I said, little star?” Xavier asked, shifting himself in front of me, making it impossible to look elsewhere. “He just left his precious Grace, and now we’ll have to deal with the consequences. As I assumed, he’s furious?—”

A great shudder rocked the ground beneath my feet.

I swayed with a sharp cry, but two arms banded around my waist, preventing me from toppling over.

Guests screamed as the momentum pushed them to the floor, the tremors growing more powerful.

Elegant tables and drinks crashed and broke into pieces, the once ethereal scene transforming into a nightmare .

“He’s here,” Xavier murmured into my hair.

He stood behind me, his firm body glued to my back, his arms secured around my middle.

I was too stunned to remove him, too frozen by the very thought that his brother—which I still had yet to comprehend—had come to Earth.

All I could do was hold on to Xavier as the tent rocked, the wooden beams that held it in place creaking ominously.

“It’s going to fall!” someone shouted, and the chaos swiftly turned into untamable anarchy. Masks were discarded as people raced for the exits, trampling one another in their haste. The musicians abandoned their instruments, and the servers left their posts.

Everyone fled without direction, and screams pierced the air, so shrill, my eardrums stung.

“Tell me you’ll come with me. Tell me. Now, Ari.”

Xavier whirled me around, grasping each shoulder. “If you don’t come with me, he’ll steal your soul, too. Do you understand that?” He gave me a gentle shake. “Say yes, tell me yes when I ask it of you.”

My lips were frozen, the chandelier above our heads tilting as the tent started to lean. The noise of breaking glass and gutting screams became too much, and I couldn’t seem to make myself speak.

Xavier brought his hands to either cheek and stared deeply into my eyes. “You defied him once before—when you made not one, but two wishes as you Fell. You made one for Elias, yes, but…one for yourself.”

He’d said as much earlier—that I’d chosen myself . Every muscle tensed as he continued.

“You thought about love, Ari. When you Fell, you were thinking of yourself as well as Elias.”

I recalled thinking about Lily and the love we shared. How terrified I had been to lose her and what little life we’d shared…

“Lily talked about you whenever we exchanged correspondence. She said she trusted you implicitly, and when I asked why, she teased that it was because you loved sweets as much as she did. That you both would sneak out after dinner for more desserts.” Xavier’s laugh was weak, sad .

“She always trusted people who were incapable of resisting chocolate. You know how she was about her desserts. But aside from that, she saw something in you. She saw past your devotion and glimpsed your truth. How you wanted your own wish. Your own life. And you tried to make it happen during the night of the Great Fall, even if you didn’t realize it at the time.

And that , the strength you displayed even as you dropped to Earth, speaks of what you could become. What you have the potential to be.”

My heart ceased to beat. Everything stilled. Even the surrounding madness.

“Lily trusted you. She trusted me , and I let her down. Don’t let her death be in vain.” Xavier’s face contorted in panic as the first beam snapped. Time was running out.

“Ari,” he begged. “I will never lie or deceive you again.” He released me, only to stand back.

“I needed him to come here, and I needed this wish to fall apart. He would arrive and wreak havoc, and maybe his viciousness would convince you while it weakens him. It takes great energy to journey to the mortal realm. But I can’t risk you staying here any longer…

I can’t. He will kill you too, just so I don’t have you, and the cycle of death will continue.

” His lips thinned, and a sheen of perspiration shone on his forehead.

He appeared far from the perfect deity in black.

Xavier swallowed thickly, nervously, and held out his arm. I stared at his open hand, at the meaning behind it. The mystery of it all.

…You made not one, but two wishes as you Fell. You made one for Elias, yes, but…one for yourself .

My head spun dangerously, and the walls encroached on all sides.

Xavier’s hold on my face tightened, his golden eyes frantic. “Arina, star maiden of Maldia, do you accept my offer to journey into the Realm of Endings?”

This was it. The moment when I either made the most foolish mistake of my life, or trusted a divine being who’d both saved and tricked me. Who claimed Lily was dead, and that the Eternal was a monster to which I had devoted my life.

The tent rippled, ready to crash any second now.

“If you stay, he will kill you and anyone you care about,” Xavier warned, desperate.

“He needs you to ascend, and he’ll force you to complete the wish and break the connection with your Chosen, all so he can take you.

Elias would be a loose end that he’d need to tie up afterward.

But if the bond is still there, he can’t hurt him.

Not yet.” His golden eyes burned into mine.

“Please, Ari. Please don’t let him win. Don’t let Lily’s sacrifice be for nothing. ”

I lifted my eyes.

Lily and her violet eyes. Her distaste for the Eternal. Her love for the mortals. She’d always been different. I had just made the wrong assumptions.

Now she was dead. And I couldn’t help but feel as if it were my fault.

Because it is .

I couldn’t allow Elias to be punished as well. It would ruin me.

“Ari…” Xavier lifted his eyes to the bedlam before homing in on me. “We can save… him later,” he said, practically spitting out the word.

“You better promise we come back for Elias,” I warned, grimacing. I was about to make a horrible decision.

Xavier gritted his teeth but forced a nod. “You have my word.”

There was only one option, and it pained me to accept. “I will come with you to the Realm of the Endings, Xavier.”

His hand reached for me, his sleeve pulling up to expose a glimpse of dark ink on his wrist…

A tattoo.

Three triangles meeting at a single point. Just like Elias’s tattoo. Just like my mark.

Before I could comprehend what I’d seen, a strapping body I recognized all too well rushed toward me.

“Ari!” Elias screamed, sweat dripping down his temples as he sprinted across the tent. His face twisted with agony, his yellow-green eyes clouded with hurt when he glimpsed Xavier by my side.

There wasn’t a moment to wait. Not enough time to scream that I’d come back for him and that my leaving with Xavier wasn’t what it appeared. He’d think I betrayed him, but I would make it all right. I had to—for Lily .

I held Elias’s stare as a shroud of gold surrounded me on all sides.

I held his stare as the tent finally buckled.

Elias opened his mouth to scream, and the hurt in his eyes pierced me in a place well beyond my soul.

The light engulfed me, and I let go.