Page 8 of Starfall

Elias

A fter double-checking that all the windows were secured and locked, I slid into bed and flung the too-thin covers over my long frame, my feet dangling off the end.

Another reason I couldn’t wait to get back to my apartment in Persh.

It might be a humble flat, located in a rundown quarter of the bustling city, but at least my bed fit properly.

I shut my eyes and grabbed a pillow, willing sleep to steal me away and carry me to a better place.

“ Dreams hold all the truths our hearts don’t dare speak ,” my father often told me as a child.

He’d been right. Before I lost the ability to recall my dreams, I’d existed for nighttime.

There, I would live out the hopes I dared not dwell on during the unforgiving day.

As usual, I couldn’t find the escape I craved. An hour came and passed, and I remained as awake as a rooster at dawn.

Screw this.

Just as I turned over for the fifth time, an unusual heat spread across my abdomen.

The warmth traveled with leisurely care before grazing my ribs and wrapping around my chest. It was slight, like a touch of sunshine tanning my skin, but my brows furrowed, my nerve endings raw.

Something didn’t feel right. Relying on my instincts kept me alive, especially when faced with an unbeatable opponent at Darren’s club. My instincts were screaming at me.

My battered nerves fluttered as the seconds ticked by and the dastardly warmth intensified. No matter what position I rolled into, it wouldn’t dissipate.

I stumbled from the bed, sweat trickling down my forehead, my vision clouding with black spots.

Faltering through the main room like a drunkard, I white-knuckled furniture as I passed.

Sparks of light flared and mingled with the blackness creeping in, and suffocating anxiety spiked my already soaring pulse.

Its riotous beating thundered in my ears, the whooshing of my blood escalating into a deafening roar.

Had death come for me already? At twenty-three, I was young and in the best shape of my life. Death would be unfair. Cruel.

Cursing, I struggled to the front door, praying one of my neighbors might hear my screams. They’d get help, surely. A healer.

This was officially the worst night of my life.

It took me two tries to undo the lock, my clammy hands so damp they slipped on the copper latch.

“Shit!” I lurched onto the porch, seizing the railing before I tumbled face-first onto the gravel path.

Swaying in place, I ground my teeth and attempted to banish the dizzy spell through sheer will alone.

It didn’t work.

I grasped the railing tighter and took the first of three steps.

Another rush of nausea sent me flying down the final two, and only my ironclad grip on the banister prevented me from landing on my ass.

Sweat dripped down my temples and into my eyes, but I didn’t have the energy to wipe it away.

Whatever ailed me wasn’t a typical bout of sickness.

Letting loose a shuddering exhale, I thought of the woman who’d visited me tonight. Though, visited was a rather forgiving word. Maybe she roamed somewhere nearby, maybe she could help?—

Or she’d done this to me. Fuck, why hadn’t I thought of that?

But as her face popped into my thoughts, the heat abated, and the scorching pain became something halfway bearable. I sucked in a panicked breath of cool air. It burned my lungs.

“Help!” I called out, but my voice came out as a garbled mess of noise.

I half-stepped, half-tripped down the path leading from the farmhouse, the ground tilting precariously from beneath my scuffed boots.I pressed on—I wouldn’t let death claim me without a fight.

The stinging morphed into an uncomfortable ache the farther I journeyed from my home. I rested a beat before staggering to a tree, thoroughly out of breath and weak from the short walk. Leaning my weight on the trunk, I clutched at my stomach and allowed the coarse wood to support my wide frame.

“You feel it, too.”

The voice came from everywhere.

“Who’s th-there?”

My body might feel better, but my vision still swam, the ringing torturing my hearing, persistent.Branches shifted on the other side of the path, and I lifted my head, squinting into the gloom.

I immediately regretted wishing she’d come to my rescue.

“It appears as if we’re stuck with each other.”

I pushed off the tree, staggering towards the silver-haired woman—the infuriating creature who refused to leave.

“Hell no.”

“Oh, hell yes ,” she responded with a too-cheery voice. The high-pitch stung my eardrums.

This . This had to be her fault. She was a witch. No way would a divine being—if they existed at all—ever harm a human. Right?

“What did-what did you d-do to me?” I could hardly manage the words. Cotton filled my mouth, and my tongue felt ten times too large. “What?—”

I collapsed onto the gravel, landing flat on my back.I was too out of sorts to feel the sting of the fall.

“And he goes down just as hard as I imagined.” There was an exasperated sigh, and then, “Hold on. I got you, brute.”

The goddess of my nightmares hovered above me for the second time in one night .

“Don’t—don’t touch me.” I might’ve lifted a finger to ward her off, but I couldn’t feel my limbs.

A laugh, one both deep and addicting, chased away the incessant ringing.

Before I could protest, two icy hands scooped me up beneath my arms. My bare feet skirted over the gravel as she hauled me up the path with remarkable ease. Abnormal ease. “Don’t you dare?—”

“Oh, quit your moaning.” She tightened her hold, dragging me none too gently over the gravel. If I didn’t know better, she did her best not to be gentle.

My retort died in my throat as the black spots won out, the strange, silver-haired woman stealing me away into the darkness.

The next morning, I woke with a splitting headache. The new day’s light peeked through the holes in the decades old curtains, the sun blazing in its intensity.

I lay in bed, my body sore all over. With a grunt, I rolled to my side and slowly opened my eyes to scan the familiar space. Nothing appeared touched, nothing stolen. If anything, it looked cleaner than I’d left it last night.

Did she…straighten up?

I clutched at my throbbing temples and hoisted myself into a seated position.

I lingered there for a moment, attempting to regain my nonexistent sense of balance.

It didn’t work—the damned floor swam beneath me.

Gritting my teeth, I gracelessly rose from the bed, my hand shooting out to grasp the dresser’s edge before I tumbled to the ground.

The door swung open.

“Good. You’re finally up. Well, not up , it seems.” My little silver-haired nightmare sauntered into the room as if she owned it. “I didn’t peg you as someone to lounge about in bed all day.”

The pain in my head intensified.

“Seriously?” I roared, more out of surprise than anger. I hoisted my body up, only to trip over my feet and collide against the dresser with a thud, the legs wobbling as I rested my full weight on its surface. “I was hoping you were some cursed dream I’d be rid of.”

“No,” she said with a mischievous grin that made my teeth grind. “So sorry to disappoint.”

The woman in white was truly here, in my room, and in her hands, she held a plate of…eggs?

“Making yourself right at home, are you?”

“You have to eat something.” She shrugged as if all of this was normal. Like we’d done this song and dance before. “Figured you’d be half-starved. I believe it’s nearly noon.” Her eyes drifted to the window, a brilliant smile on her lips.

“Wait…” I shook my head. “Noon?”

No. I missed the train.Darren would kill me. Literally .

I lurched forward, my limbs not knowing which direction to follow, so they moved in all directions at once. With the speed and grace of a hawk, the woman set down the plate of eggs and spun on a heel, dipping to catch me before I knocked my head on the wooden planks.

She sank with me as I collapsed, and my head landed unceremoniously in the warmth of her lap.

A place I should not be.

“Your body took on much more damage than mine, it seems.” A hand rested against my forehead. Fuck. The air in my lungs froze at her gentle caress, my body as taut as a bowstring. “And you’re still burning, but not nearly as hot as last night. I could’ve cooked those eggs on your face if I had to.”

I tilted my chin, the liquor and its effects from last night fully gone, and my senses as clear as they’d ever be. With my head still cradled in her lap, I eyed her in the light of day, a small twinge causing my heart to skip. She was even more radiant than I remembered.

For some reason, the thought didn’t bode well with me—her being so devastatingly beautiful. I growled my disapproval like a beast. The noise earned me a smirk, the woman running a featherlight finger across my brow. My eyes ached to shutter at the sensation .

Her otherworldly presence clearly weakened my body, and I doubted anyone in their right mind would turn her away. But I couldn’t fall prey to her beauty. I refused.

Rising with a grimace, I staggered to my knees and out of her damned lap. Lifting a trembling hand, I aimed for the dresser. Suddenly, it felt ten miles away.

“Stop being so stubborn and let me help you,” she chastised, pushing aside my reaching hand. “We need to talk.”

I missed the dresser by an inch and dropped to the floor. “We agree on that,” I grumbled, feeling like a newborn calf. Control was paramount to my profession, and I’d been thoroughly deprived of it. “Are you some witch like the ones they round up in the town square? Did you put a spell on me?”

When her lips twisted, I continued. “You know, women who practice dark magic? The king’s guards have been hunting you lot down for decades.” My nose turned up in disgust. “Now undo whatever wicked spell you placed on me and leave me alone.”

There was a lengthy pause, and then?—