The Stars are Dying : (Nytefall: Book 1)

“Nightsdeath, commander of the vampire army,” I drawled.

“What made you come to that conclusion?” Nyte asked, leaning against the far wall.

With my back to him I continued flexing my wrist, regaining my strength and remembering I wasn’t helpless anymore. I could hardly recall much of the time that had passed while I’d overcome the worst of my cravings for the Starlight Matter, but though I felt a new will to refuse it, I had to find distraction, otherwise the temptation threatened to creep back in.

“It’s how the king has kept them under control all this time,” I said, reflecting on what I’d gathered so far now I had a face to attach every sin to. “You’ve been amassing an army behind your father’s back, making him believe it was his army. The fae—you capture them and strip them of their memories to switch their enemy from the vampires to the celestials.”

“That was my father’s demand.”

“And you enforced it. Even when you were chained. Why?”

“He would have killed them all instead.”

I barely cast him a glance over my shoulder, only to see if his expression matched the note of irritation I heard. It didn’t. He remained indifferent.

I hated that that only riled my frustration.

“The all-powerful Nightsdeath.” I continued to toy with the name.

“You flatter me.”

“Your ego is incredible.”

“Yet if I deny what I’m capable of I’m a coward.”

I turned to him then. He kept enough distance between us that I wouldn’t be able to reach him through the bars. Lines of moonlight cut his face, which yielded flickers of something at my prodding.

“You don’t need to deny anything to be that.”

“Is that what you think of me?”

“I think a lot of things of you.”

“Anything of endearment?”

“All of them.” My fist flexed. “Like how I would love for you to open that damn door so I can stab you.”

The bastard smiled. “I shouldn’t find that attractive.”

I had to take a pause for sanity. “Rainyte.” I didn’t take pleasure in the wince he tried to disguise with the tilt of his head. “You must have a family name.”

“Why do you ask?”

“You said no more secrets.”

“That’s the exception,” he said, showing the first flicker of warning toward me.

Good.

I shook my head, taunting him. “What would it uncover about you?”

“Nothing of interest to you.”

“What would you know of my interests?” I purposely recited his words from the night we met. It brought him closer, the tension between us toeing the line between anger and desire.

“You have no idea,” he said, low and with a gravel that felt enticing over my skin.

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“What are you trying to do, Starlight?”

I leaned my forehead to the cool metal. “Let me out.”

“We just want to be sure—”

“Why couldn’t I have been in my rooms?” I cut him off. My emotions were so volatile, still tiring me out despite all the time I’d spent asleep. Or pacing the floors. Scratching my nails along the walls just to feel something. Talking aloud.

I couldn’t stay in here a moment longer.

“For this reason. You would have found an escape, and trust me, you would never have forgiven the person who would have done anything to find more of the same drug I destroyed.”

My teeth ground. I knew this. I’d run through so many murderous thoughts, even hallucinated I was living them at some points. “I’m fine now.”

“Almost—”

My fist slammed the harsh stone. Warmth tricked down as I caught a jagged edge. Nyte’s gaze flashed, and his jaw worked. So I did it again.

“Stop.”

And again.

“Astraea.”

My next try was halted with a grip around my wrist. I breathed hard in a deadly stare-off with his molten eyes. His fingers laced through mine, slicking both our skin with my blood.

“You are the most stunning, volatile, and fair thing,” he said, inciting war within me through a mere look as his other hand cupped my neck and jaw, forcing me to angle my head for him. “And it’s about time you showed yourself.”

His lips crashed to mine, and I wasn’t prepared for how wholly it would consume me when I wanted to hate him. It didn’t erase that feeling; instead it entangled it with an explosive passion. Being pressed to his warmth and tasting him threw a blanket of insignificance over the world around us.

Just him and me, and this battle that was far from over between us. It almost distracted me completely from what I’d goaded him in here for.

My other hand reached out, feeling as though it had been dipped into a pool of sparkling water with the tingles over my skin. My fist closed tight. I didn’t hesitate. I’d spent so long deciding on this moment.

We both gasped, barely breaking apart with the firm but slick pressure of my stormstone dagger lodging in his chest. As we shared breath his hand tightened with pain in mine, his other wrapping around me as we stumbled until his back met the wall.

Then he kissed me harder.

I whimpered against his mouth. My blood soared with yearning and resentment—a dangerous release despite his faltering.

Nyte lowered himself slowly and I went with him, my hand still wrapped around the hilt of the blade. I straddled him when he sat, and then he wasn’t holding me so firmly anymore. His kiss turned labored; his skin paled. He said nothing. His hand on my nape became limp, and he kissed me one final time before his head lost balance too.

I couldn’t believe what I’d done. I held him for a few heartbeats in the aftermath.

His face between my palms…he appeared so peaceful I thought the blade was lodged in me for the tearing I didn’t want to feel. This was Nyte. Not any other name. And for him I pressed my forehead to his as if to release some of my regret.

Then I remembered everything else that lived and lied beneath his guise. I slipped my hand into his pocket for the cell key and left with my heart slowing its beats until it became stone.