Page 31 of Born of Starlight
“I am not allowed friends but having them seems pleasant.” The tea had taken hold of her.
I swallowed the second sip of tea harder than the first—that raw, unfiltered statement left my heart bruised. To be condemned to loneliness for what I did was one thing, but to be lonely for the sake of some stupidOrderjust seemed cruel.I motioned for us to sit on the sofa.
She sat, pitched forward and inclined toward the fire with her still-wet dark waves over her shoulder. Out of the braid, her hair hung impossibly long—nearly to her waist.
What would it feel like to run my fingers through those locks?
The boy Commander stayed seated at the table, cautiously allowing us privacy as he began to clean his weapons.
I opened my mouth to speak.
“So, Fenris.” She didn’t let me get a question in. “How long have you been bound to these woods?”
“Four centuries.”
Her eyes widened, but I spoke before she could ask more.
“Why is it that you have never left your tower?”
She glanced over my shoulder at Emmerick before returning her attention to the fire.
“I do leave my tower. I can travel to the other towers, and I’m here, aren’t I?”
I chuckled quietly—she wasn’t going to make this easy. “You know what I mean. Until now, why didn’t you leave?”
“None of my Sisters leave the towers unless the rulers of their Corridor request it. Mine never requested it. The others frequent the courts more regularly—a few times a year. I am not missing much. I’m told.”
“Your Sisters, they know you are here?”
With a spotted history with a certain enchantress, I needed to know where her allegiance lay. I couldn’t risk falling into the wrong hands—couldn’t riskVanfalling into the wrong hands.
She shook her head. “No. I could be cast out for my actions. But the prophecy spoke to me alone. It told me not to share it with them.”
Her attention turned from the fire to sear me with a narrow-eyed gaze. “You speak of them as though you know them. How do you know my Sisters?”
My teeth ground—how could I answer that honestly?
“I have old friends and old enemies in those towers. Don’t you enjoy your work? Why risk your position of power?”
Lines etched into her forehead as if she had just realized something.
“I don’t enjoy it.” Her fingers raised to her mouth as though the words could somehow be put back. “But enjoyment isn’t important. I must keep the Corridors safe. Luz and the Central Corridor are mine to protect—I serve the realm, and I won’t stand by and let innocent people die. If it makes me a traitor in the end…so be it.”
Then, she asked what I knew I couldn’t answer. “Why are you bound to these woods?”
My mind warred to tell her the truth.Fenris the Destroyer. Fenris and his Beast.I’d put a stain of darkness on the Old World so big it couldn’t be erased. That darkness seemed to have spread its poisoned veins through the lands if magic was truly gone.
“My actions warranted exile. My hands have the blood of many on them, and I deserve worse than this fate.” My admission seemed to surprise her, but she said nothing, not pressing me.
Instead, Asterie nodded and combed her fingers through her still-damp hair. She pulled her knees to herself on the sofa and smoothed her skirts down around them. She was so hard to read. I’d spent years philandering through the Courts of Brennax and Phynx, dallying with women who wore every thought on their faces. Women who swooned. I’d pay good coin to see her swoon.
I asked, “Does that scare you?” I’m unsure why that mattered to me.
“A little.”
Her lips downturned ever so slightly—good.Sheshouldfear me. “It seems you have power of your own—that little show of blue light. Which Source do they say your magic is from?”
“The Stars. I feel my strongest whenever the moon rises.”
