Page 53 of This Shattered Star

My hands still trembled, expecting Darion and his friends to come crashing through behind us demanding blood and retribution. “Tell me what happened back there. Now.”

Theia gawked at the alcove and the lack of guards surrounding it. “The king gave you permission to go outside during the Starlight Trials,” she said in wonder.

I moved to block her field of vision, forcing her to look at me. “Are you a witch?”

She went preternaturally still. Even the wind blowing through the ivy at her back slowed. “No.”

Leaning forward, I scrutinized every detail of her face for the tell-tale signs of deceit. Every blink, every muscle twitch, was crucial. Her expression remained frustratingly blank, smoother than a slab of marble. “I don’t care if you are. It’s not like I’d turn you in.”

Her gaze bore steadily into mine. She blinked once. “I am not a witch.”

“Teach me how to channel.”Magic.The idea preyed upon me like a wolf, turning endless circles around me. Waiting for the right moment to pounce. “It would help us win.Wecould win. If you teach me, we could outsmart everyone here, we could win inseconds—”

“I am not a witch.”

I paused. There was agitation there, which was normal. Frustration. But sadness seeped into the vehemence of her denial. Her spine remained straight. Hands loose at her sides. She wasn’t lying.

But she was hiding something.

“Fine.” Tensely, I kicked at stray blades of grass. “Now’s your chance to go back and tell Kodhan about this.” At least I’d have time to prepare. There were countless weapons I could steal from the night markets.

Gone then was that cold smoothness, replaced by a look that crossed somewhere between pity and sorrow. “I won’t tell him.”

Perhaps she wouldn’tnow,but nothing stopped her from telling him later. It didn’t matter. We’d made it out.

It felt like I could breathe properly for the first time in days. The openness of the Dome didn’t count. A cage didn’t need to have bars to suffocate the one trapped inside.

“Here’s how this will go,” I said, the twinkling lights of the night markets beckoning to me from below the rolling hills. “You need to do exactly as I say, or we’ll get caught. Wecannotget caught. Maverick will have my head for it, hints or no. He’ll do even worse to you. And then you will tell me what you did to them in that corridor.”

“I will. I promise.”

I repressed a sigh. Yet another promise.

“All those promises will come back to bite you one day,” I scolded as we began our trek downwards.

We just needed to keep to the shadows. I passed through the markets every time Diana gave me a slip of paper, their alleys and streets engrained in the deepest parts of my memory. Although people filled the streets to the brim, everyone was too busy to notice one cloaked woman, too focused on either earning extra coin, or on spending it. Anything needed buying could belocated in the eastern parts of Aedreath, where the markets kept their lights open at all hours of the night—thrived in it—hence the name.

A perfect escape from daily troubles, endless stands filled with trinkets and baubles distracted even the most poisoned heart for a short period of time. Performers wove their way through the thralls overtop of it all, desperate for money or jewels.

There was a woman whose earth magic allowed her to decorate entire streets with blooming flowers of every shape and color. She coated the walls of buildings with them, creating masterpieces with the petals as if she had painted them with an actual brush. Sometimes, they changed colors mid-bloom, giving the impression that her flowery portraitsmoved.Like the images were real, living things. I could never get enough of it. She was the only person I came back to watch, time and time again.

“They won’t if I uphold all of them,” Theia answered after some time. Her certainty would’ve been admirable, had it not been incredibly naïve.

Picking up my pace, I asked, “And have you? Upheld all of them.”

“So far, yes.”

“Sounds like a lot of unnecessary work.” All promises were meant to be broken eventually.

“It sounds like unnecessary work because you’re not used to people actually keeping their promises to you.”

We reached a flat clearing, a short distance beyond the first street that led to the markets. Voices fluttered towards us already. And yet, I stopped dead in my tracks, brows narrowing at her. “Excuse me?”

“Forgive me. I have a habit of being blunt sometimes.” She shook her head. “But I mean it. You would see things differently if it weren’t for the company you keep.”

I scoffed. “And you think I actually have a choice in who I spend my time with?”

“There’s always a choice.” The solemness of her tone almost convinced me that she was right.