The Stars are Dying : (Nytefall: Book 1)

Time blurred while I remained anchored to the moment at hearing those three words that collapsed my world.

Cassia was dying.

I couldn’t remember what I’d said to dismiss Rose after that. Nor how I’d stealthily eluded the castle guards to cross the courtyard. Only when I broke through the darkness of the underground passage below the library did my senses return and I realized where my soul-shattering grief and anger had led me.

I stumbled to a halt in the massive cave as the resonating clank of chains trembled through me.

“What happened?” Nyte asked in a low and deadly growl.

Cool air breezed along my cheeks, but I didn’t sob over a single spilled tear. They just wouldn’t stop falling. My teeth clenched with the bite of my nails into my palms. I walked toward the veil he stood in front of until no more than an arm’s distance remained between us. He studied every inch of me, and I wondered if he was looking for any signs of physical harm that could have caused my pale and ugly appearance.

“I will bind your bargain,” I said, not recognizing the ice-cold detachment of my own voice.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t need to.”

His eyes flexed, and for the first time it was like he didn’t know who he was staring at.

“I will free you, but in exchange I want to know everything about the prince—the one they call Nightsdeath.”

Surprise lifted his brow, but I also watched a dark flare of recognition, which I took as confirmation he had the information I needed.

“Where did you hear that name?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“That’s not how bargains work, Starlight. It’s give-and-take.”

“Fine. Cassia and Rose figured it out, and you’re going to protect her too.”

Nyte gave a single mocking chuckle. I was so fucking far from being able to tolerate his jesting.

“Are you sure you want to keep stacking conditions on your end? How much are you willing to owe me in return?”

“What else do you want?” I didn’t care anymore—whatever it took for him to give us the advantage.

“Careful,” he said, the word teasing down my neck like a caress of shadow. His head tilted as he observed me through molten eyes. “There are many things I could want, and you are too vulnerable right now to agree to something you might regret.”

His prod at my vulnerability only blazed the fire growing inside me. I didn’t want to be weak or thought of as naïve and foolish. Not anymore.

“What. Do. You. Want?” I repeated. I wasn’t in that cage. And when the time came to unleash him, I wouldn’t care for what he could do to me as I would have achieved what I wanted. Cassia’s legacy would be fulfilled if I killed Nightsdeath for her.

For that, I didn’t care if my selfishness damned the world.

“To be freed, of course.”

I waited, watching his contemplation.

“My other request will come after that.”

“That’s not a fair bargain.”

“No one said I played fair.”

“You think I’m desperate enough to agree to owe you?”

“Seems like you are.”

For a second the thought of crossing him passed my mind. I could use him, gain what I needed, and never free him at all.

“Do you think me such a fool as to allow that? No. I’ve gone too long aiding you with no sure return.” He answered my thoughts, and I shook my head, taking a long step back.

“I want to know how to block you completely from my mind,” I snarled.

His mouth curled cruelly. “Your thoughts are frantic right now. You’re practically screaming them at me, and it’s bringing on a headache.”

I glared at him, but he was right. My mind was blaring, but I couldn’t get it to stop.

Pacing away, I tried to calm myself, taking deep, steady breaths to be sure I knew what I was doing. What I wanted. But I could see no other way to ensure both Rose and I survived this. Nyte knew things. He could know how to end the prince, perhaps the king too, and guide me through the remaining trials to see the end.

“Do we have a deal?” he called, a note of song taunting me from the darkness. My spine curved with it. Maybe I even enjoyed the thrill it awoke in me.

“What do I need to do?”

Nyte’s smile showed teeth, revealing two longer pointed ones I’d never noticed before. It made me recall the moment they’d come so close to my throat. What awoke in me at the thought of his bite wasn’t terror, but an unexplainable sinful desire.

Which was even more frightening.

He cast his gaze up and I followed, knowing now what surrounded the circle through which we could see only the sky. He looked through the gap in the cave as if he could see the stars from here, and I watched his eyes map a set pattern like it were a habit the moment his dawn irises touched the sky.

“We should take a walk through many worlds,” he said.

In the library, it felt jarring to walk side by side with Nyte now devastation had been added to his impeccable appearance as I knew the real him was still chained below our feet.

He turned to me halfway down a row of bookcases. “If you keep staring, I’m going to assume this bargain is unnecessary as we already find our desires aligning as one.”

My breath hitched when he closed in some distance. I backed up until my fingers skimmed along the spines, and he leaned in close enough I should feel his warmth. He was cold and still, yet his energy hummed through me, and I closed my eyes to banish him before he could stroke his knuckles along my cheek.

I breathed then clenched my teeth in frustration at his sly attempts at distraction. Storming through several rows of books, my irritation ground that I needed him.

“You’re getting better at knowing how to shut me out. It’s good.” He crept back up to walk side by side with me. I didn’t give him any attention, but I relaxed with the assurance I wasn’t completely at his mercy.

“What are we looking for?”

“Up here.”

I whipped around, blinking with disorientation when his voice suddenly called from so far away. Skipping over to the railing, I looked up to find him three levels higher and cursed the fact I wasn’t an illusion who could appear up there with a thought. Instead my legs were protesting by the time I reached that floor, and I made a note to myself to get back into some regular exercise.

“The Book of Bindings,” he said as I found him gazing at the top of the case. “I would pull over the ladder for you, but…”

My eyes rolled as I gripped the wood, driving it toward where he indicated. I paused with one foot ready to ascend, trying to bite back my wonder when I felt like giving over to my petty side and being silent. I mentally scolded myself. I had poor resistance.

“There were times you did things, passed me things, or—” I couldn’t recall everything, but each time I lingered on a memory I struggled to believe he’d never truly been there.

Stepping down, I turned to him. The flickers of emotion he showed often pinched me within, enlightening me to the fact even dangerous things could feel.

“Everything you thought I did was because you wanted it to be real.” He took a step toward me, always like he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

My fingers curled around the ladder again as my spine curved to the slant of it.

“You have no idea the agony it was. To watch as you did it all craving for someone to help, to be there for you. So no, I didn’t remove your face covering at the manor. I didn’t hand you the glass of water. I didn’t pull your dress ribbon, but, fuck, as enthralling as you are when you stretch, I wanted to unravel every ribbon from you that night so badly it torments me still.”

Stars above. The eruption in my stomach wasn’t a welcome one. The need clenching in places I had to breathe hard to ignore. Nyte was a wicked sin.

“Nor did I do anything else when you believed me to be interacting with physical things. I am limited still. What if I said in all my time locked here, being unable to have your true touch is the one thing fueling my rage to be free beyond sanity?”

My eyes pricked as Nyte leaned over, gripping the step above my head. My heart was slamming in its cage. I didn’t breathe too hard, aware he might feel it against his lips from this perfect angle if I did.

“The lake…” I didn’t yet know how it was possible, but one thing I refused to believe wasn’t real was his warmth then. His real skin against mine. “There or not there?”

Nyte’s jaw flexed. His hand slipped across my neck, his thumb on my chin parted my lips, and for a second I wondered if he would kiss me. “There.”

Even though I’d been sure of it, hearing him confirm it flared something warm and beautiful within me.

“How?”

Nyte shook his head. “I told you that part might come after you free me.”

I didn’t like the unsettling thought he could dangle that explanation over me. But right now, my care for it slipped away.

My fingers loosened on the ladder, unable to stop the impulse to reach for his face. The scar that never failed to draw my attention—not for its beautiful imperfection, but for the unexpected surfacing of my anger to know what had caused it.

Nyte remained utterly still, watching me while I memorized every jagged line. My skin touched his, tracing the raised scar with a faint vibration of energy, but not the real warmth I was growing a frustrating, careless craving for. It spiked my awareness to realize how much I wanted him to be whole and physical. To know what he would feel like since the only recollection I had was hazy with a frozen death.

“How did you get this?”

His phantom hand curled around my wrist, guiding my hand away to snap my wandering thoughts. “Doesn’t matter.”

I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true, that he mattered, but it felt like a dangerous confession that I cared. Needing a moment to collect myself from my reckless thoughts, I banished Nyte from them. He disappeared in my next blink, and the air to my lungs came easier.

Climbing the ladder, I searched all the spines, trying not to get distracted by so many intriguing titles. I didn’t succeed when one in particular caught my attention:

Daughter of Dusk and Dawn.

Taking one extra book wouldn’t do any harm, would it?

I plucked it out, tucking it under my arm as I kept climbing. When I reached the very top I realized Nyte hadn’t been exaggerating about the height.

There it was, in brilliant gold metallic text.

The Book of Bindings.

It took several tugs to pry the heavy tome from its long-forgotten wedged position on the shelf. In my arms the surprising weight shifted my balance, and my heart leaped up my throat, making me clutch the ladder tighter. The fall was sure to hurt, even to break bone if I landed wrong.

Once again, I found myself climbing a few more steps until I was looking over all the tall shelves. Instead of heading back down, I thumped the book on top of them and then braced to lift myself onto the wide width of the bookcase, uncaring of the dust creating dark smudges on my purple dress. My legs dangled over it, and I grinned at the exhilarating vantage point.

“Beautiful.”

Nyte’s silvery voice was barely a whisper that touched my chest. He was nowhere near, sitting opposite me atop the parallel bookcase. When his compliment registered, my cheeks stained pink. I averted my gaze to plant a hand on the book.

“You know, most would find comfort on the ground,” he said, reclining back on his hands.

I shrugged, glancing at the vast expanse of the library. “There’s something peaceful about the height. Private and secret. Not a place to hide, but to explore thoughts without distraction.”

“And what are your thoughts right now?”

I heaved open the heavy book. “You should know. You only exist here because of them.”

“Not entirely true. And I would never violate them,” he said, closer now, and I jumped at his presence beside me. “I would never read your deeper thoughts without consent. If it gives you further peace, you would feel me if I tried. The temptation to answer your loud surface thoughts I can’t deny when it’s like you want me to hear you. Unless I put effort into blocking you, but I’m not that morally bound.”

I didn’t tell him I believed him, instead swallowing over my dry throat. “How do you do that? Creep up on me when I don’t will it at all.”

“Sometimes you do but don’t realize it. But your mind can also bend to my will.” Nyte shifted closer again, until he could drop to a convincing whisper against my ear. “Believe what I want you to believe, and you are oh so willing.”

As though I had something to prove, I reimagined his place, and when I found him once again opposite me his wicked smirk was delighted.

“But there are far more exciting things I would like to watch you bend for me,” he continued.

My mouth dropped open; his deviance only spread wider.

“Once you free me, of course. I’m sure we could both make it convincing like this, but it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying.”

I flipped through the pages fast as if it could fan away the heat crawling up my neck. “I would rather break.”

“Oh, Starlight, that’s the best part.”

I shut the book, loud enough that it resounded for a few beats before I stared Nyte down. “I think I’ve changed my mind about this bargain.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“You’re insufferable in my mind. You’d be intolerable if I couldn’t banish you with a thought.”

“Has anyone ever told you how attractive your anger is?”

I huffed a humorless laugh. “You haven’t seen a fraction of my anger.”

Even from this distance I thought his gold eyes flashed like the first rays of sunlight. He disappeared again, only to reappear by my side, leaning in close, and in my shock I gasped, shifting around until I was reclining, and my back met the wood in an attempt to keep some distance.

Nyte hovered over me, strands of dark hair curling into his eyes. “Show me,” he said in an alluring gravel tone.

“What?” I breathed, bewildered by how sudden and impulsive he could be.

“Your anger. I want to see it.”

“You’re twisted.”

He chuckled, so low and smooth my eyes nearly fluttered. “Perhaps. Because the thought of you beautifully unleashed is driving me wild. Like I said, darkness becomes you.” His golden gaze flashed to the spilled tresses around my head, and he hooked his finger around a strand. “Except this.”

“I quite like it dark.”

“I never said I didn’t. But your glittering silver hair is more befitting.”

“You seem to have an obsession with my hair.”

“I have an obsession with you.”

Clearly. Stars, I was slipping. Losing what had become a game between us.

He added, “Your hair is an alluring attribute. Though you’ve certainly drawn the attention of the prince without it.”

“You sound jealous.”

The darkening of his eyes switched to a swirling gold. “I don’t have to be when you don’t truly return any affection he shows.”

“And with you I do?”

“You tell me.”

“I don’t.”

He leaned down until I couldn’t hold eye contact anymore. My breaths came shallow with the proximity of his lips.

“I still don’t need to read your thoughts to know that’s a lie.”

Suddenly, Nyte’s gaze flicked up with an alertness that cooled the heat flushing my body.

“Stay down and don’t move,” he said.

The groaning of the library doors rattled through me. I could already picture the face that might be walking inside. Though with what I knew about the prince now, this new name he carried, I couldn’t decide if the king would be a slightly lesser threat.

My head tipped further back, but I wouldn’t be able to see, and when I straightened Nyte had eased off me. I was too stunned to order him to hide, but he didn’t need to. Only I was truly there, and that fact would never fail to drop in my gut when I looked at him.

Rolling carefully onto my stomach, I crawled awkwardly to the end of the bookcase to peer over it.

“Do you ever listen to instruction?” Nyte drawled.

I didn’t answer when my words might be heard by the intruder. Tentatively I peeked, and sure enough, Drystan was strolling around the balcony perimeter, heading toward…

“He’s here to see me,” Nyte confirmed.

There was a bookcase that featured a hidden trigger into the passage I had climbed to get here. As Drystan pulled the faux book and dipped away, my eyes widened with realization.

“The ward…”

“It’s likely what brought him here earlier than usual. I wasn’t sure if it would set anything off since you technically didn’t breech it from the outside. The door you came through is just outside its protection. But being in the main library, perhaps he felt something.”

“Seems flawed,” I said.

“The ward is only for common measure. There is a hoard of weapons in here. Knowledge that has been safeguarded for millennia. The ward they keep me behind is entirely personal.” He said the last word with sarcasm.

“So he thinks it’s you?”

Nyte shrugged. He didn’t respond, but I studied the tunneling look on his expression, wondering what Drystan would be saying to cause every flicker and shift. His lips were pinched and his eyes firmed with ire, but before I could ask he was gone.