Page 4 of The Night Is Defying (Nytefall Trilogy #2)

4

A straea

A tug within pulled me out of a peaceful rest but the trickle of familiarity dulled my initial alarm. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes of the thickness of sleep, squinting through the dark like I would find someone. Only the moon highlighted silhouettes of the furniture occupying the room with me.

I couldn’t shake the feeling I wasn’t truly alone.

I slipped out of bed and grabbed a cotton robe as an unexplainable gravity pulled me toward the balcony. My bare feet nipped against the icy floor, but I unlocked the doors regardless. My eyes fixed on the distance. I stepped out, my body tensed, but I became numb to the biting temperature as my sight trained on the roof of the oval library, searching through the dark.

An angel was watching me.

Their silver wings couldn’t hide even in the darkest night, but they were careful, keeping close to a tall piece of the structure, and as long as they didn’t move, no one would suspect the celestial.

My chest beat with wonder.

Bracing hands on the stone rail, I tried not to blink, as though they could disappear.

I wanted them to come closer. If I was dressed, maybe I would have been reckless enough to venture out in the hopes they would reveal themselves to me.

Voices outside my door drew my attention away from the silhouette, but those in the hall passed. When I looked back, the angel had disappeared.

The tension in my body relaxed with disappointment and the cold broke a sharp tremor as I hugged myself. Without the rush of adrenaline, the wind wrapped me tight and I shivered, teeth bashing together now. I quickly shuffled back inside but just as I met the door, I gasped, heart leaping up my throat with the fright that locked me utterly still.

The reflection of a crouched hooded figure and towering silver wings was as breathtaking as it was daunting. My pulse slammed, but my mind threw a block on anything that could reach Nyte, who would arrive to scare them off if he felt my fluctuating emotions.

“Who are you?” I breathed when my throat became tight.

I was too afraid to turn around. My magick hummed and though I didn’t know much of how to use it yet, I was confident I could defend myself long enough to call for help.

“It’s really you,” he said. A deep, low voice that tried to pull a reaction from me. Familiar, maybe?

“Depends who you’re expecting me to be.”

Finally, I squared my shoulders before turning. His hood shadowed a lot of his face but his jaw was lined with short hair and I could just make out his eyes to be a dark brown. I thought I’d seen the likes of his clothing before: leathers with notes of purple and a long blade sheathed at his side.

“Astraea.” The way he said my name once again sparked something dormant in me. I should know who this man was.

He leaped gently off the railing to stand on my balcony, reaching up for his hood. His brown hair was cut to his shoulders, half tied back in a knot but some strands framed his face. He was beautiful. Yet I backed up a step when he advanced forward and I didn’t know where my bubble of unease rose from.

He stopped, assessing me carefully as if one wrong move would cause me to scream.

“I’ve waited so long for you. I can’t believe you’re finally right in front of me and yet… this is not the happy reunion I dreamed we’d have.”

That stumbled in my chest and tightened in my stomach. My hand braced in the frame from the dizzy sweep as I processed who he was, but why was I also calculating how fast I could get inside and lock him out?

“Auster,” I acknowledged.

He gave a single nod and the world didn’t feel so firm anymore. This man was my other Bonded.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said. “If he finds you—”

“I’m not afraid of him. And I won’t leave you for him to further poison your mind any longer than I already have.”

“He hasn’t.” I realized how naive my defense would sound to him.

Nyte was his greatest enemy, and I was a cause for battle waiting to erupt between them.

“Why did you come?” I asked instead.

“For you, of course. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. For five years since you came back.”

“But why tonight? I can’t just run off with you.”

“Why not?”

Auster took a step closer and my body tensed. He seemed to notice, and I almost felt guilty for the disappointment in his eyes. I couldn’t help but compare this with how I’d felt the first time I saw Nyte. Had he offered to run away with me after my dance at Goldfell Manor, would I have gone with him? I didn’t think so, but not for lack of desire, only in terror of Goldfell’s retaliation. Then I shook my head because I knew so much more about myself and the world now, my reservation about Auster despite the safety he should offer was natural. Wasn’t it?

“I don’t expect you to run away with me in the night,” he said. Auster gave a soft but saddened smile. “I just had to see you and hope you would want to see me again.”

I eased at the assurance he wasn’t about to grab me and fly away, or keep pushing to persuade me to go with him. He had memories of us I didn’t harbor anymore but I was trying to listen to my instincts. They were what made Nyte feel safe before I knew who he truly was. When I’d heard about Auster, I couldn’t deny I was daunted by the idea of meeting him. Perhaps I was glad he came unexpectedly when I might have otherwise avoided an invitation in my cowardice.

“You wrote to Nyte,” I said, recalling Nyte’s simmering irritation before he turned the note to smoke. “What did you say?”

Auster’s eyes narrowed a fraction. The feeling toward Nyte was clearly more than mutual.

“Of course he wouldn’t tell you,” he said bitterly. “I asked to see you and he ignored the request. So I came tonight and I hope you won’t speak of it.”

“Why not?”

“If he kept my request a secret from you, he’ll find a way to keep you from seeing me again.”

“A lot happened in the last week; he didn’t want to overwhelm me.”

Auster gave me the type of look that made my body flush in embarrassment. As if I was too sheltered and manipulated to believe Nyte had my best intentions in mind. He didn’t need to say anything and I felt the sting in that silence because maybe I didn’t know if I could trust my judgment either.

I was so exhausted and confused.

“Astraea, will you see me again? There’s so much you need to learn when we didn’t anticipate you’d return without your memories. Find a way to meet me without his knowledge. I lost you once to him; I can’t let him hurt you like that again.”

Auster had drifted close enough to touch. He reached up, and it took everything in me not to recoil as he brushed his fingers along my neck, hooking a strand of my hair. I placed it to guilt. That Nyte was somewhere inside and though I didn’t know what was between us and I was still somewhat angry with him, having another man on my balcony felt wrong.

My eyes were attracted to a glint at his side; my sight fell to discover his left hand was still and made of solid silver. I didn’t know why my brow pulled together and my heart sped faster, like I should know how it happened and the memory was something so dark and terrible.

His fingers tipping my chin up to meet his eyes snapped me out of my reeling thoughts. My nerves tried to calm when his brown eyes were soft and pained.

“I have missed you dearly,” Auster mumbled.

I couldn’t reciprocate, only stand there like a clueless fool, and I was beginning to grow uncomfortable with his closeness.

“Where will I meet you?” I said, more as a distraction when his eyes searched my face and he was seeing someone I wasn’t.

“There’s a woodland just outside the city. Can you meet me there in three nights, time? I’ll find you.”

“I can’t promise. I don’t know when I’ll have an opportunity without him finding out.”

“Then use your key. Five flares to the sky and I’ll come for you. We’ll always be looking for your signal.”

Inside me was an entanglement of nerves, rebellion, and excitement. I nodded in agreement, wondering if I was being reckless. No, this was taking back control and learning to trust myself.

Held by his brown stare I began to appreciate the flecks of hazel in them. They pulled at something inside me.

“Where will you take me?”

“Home, of course. To Althenia.”

My mind brightened with the name. This was my chance to go to the one place Nyte couldn’t take me. Beyond the celestial veil. He’d coaxed me to go there before I ever entered the Libertatem, and now my chest was squeezing with that selflessness that would have condemned him to his prison.

“I don’t have wings yet,” I admitted.

Auster smiled; he wasn’t horrified or judging my lack of progress. I had no reason to be nervous around him, so I trained my body to relax.

“Perhaps being back on celestial land might help you gain them back. You’ll always be held back here.”

Excitement rose in me. This is what I needed. Though I was grateful for all Nyte was trying to do, he had a vampire army to tame. One that planned to claim me before I even had the chance to reclaim myself. I knew what I had to do then, and for the first time I was racing with a new drive of purpose.

My eyes trailed over Auster’s shoulders, and I tried to imagine my own wings. What it would feel like to soar the skies myself. They were made of beautiful silver-toned feathers, but I couldn’t help comparing them to Nyte’s dark wings that allured me more.

“Thank you for coming,” I said.

Auster’s hand lifted again but he seemed to catch himself, realizing it was a habit from the past.

“It’s already killing me to leave you, to not whisk you away right now. But I can be patient.”

My face creased in gratitude. It was all I had. I didn’t know if my memories would return or when, but for now I had to try to rekindle what I could and trust in my intuition that felt pulled from the past.

“I’ll find a way to come as soon as I can,” I said in consolation.

He nodded with a kind smile. “Don’t let him know,” Auster reminded me as he climbed the railing. “We might have recovered from our loss in the war centuries ago, but we can’t risk him sparking it again too soon.”

I didn’t like the way Auster made it sound like Nyte was the cause of all that had gone wrong and ended with my fall. Maybe it was my heart he’d managed to capture in this life before Auster could, and that terrified me more than anything.

“Goodbye for now, Astraea,” he said.

Then he stepped off the balcony, and I watched with a beat of awe as he shot skyward before the night clouds stole him away.

Inside, I locked the door and stood in a trance. Only when my body gave a violent shiver at the cold did I snap back into myself. It felt like a dream, so I replayed the short meeting over and over. Pacing my room, for I was sure I wouldn’t fall asleep again tonight.

I was skipping with giddiness at the thought of getting to see more celestials and beyond the veil that was once a fable to me. It made me think of Cassia with a swell in my chest. My vision blurred but I was smiling—she would be so excited. We would have kept this secret together and she would have snuck away in the night with me, without a doubt or fear in the world.

I wanted to tell Rose about the forbidden, maybe even dangerous, quest. Though my excitement wasn’t without a note of guilt over deceiving Nyte.

The Libertatem had come to an end, but I felt like my trials had only just begun.