Page 121 of Starside

That name in your head. What a dangerous name. What a curious name …

The look on my face must show I have no idea what he’s talking about, because he speaks it right into my mind, carving it like a knife.

Vander Evren.

The name Stellan whispered as he was bleeding out onto the floorboards. The immortal I’m supposed to find.

He must be able to feel or see the hope surging within me, because he begins to chuckle, the sound raking through my thoughts. Summoning Vander Evren would be a death sentence for you …

“Summoning?” I manage to get out. “How would I summon him?” Can I summon him now is my real question, but of course, the immortal ignores me, moving on, studying me.

Curious little human, stumbles into my mists …

Unprepared. Naïve. Soul dripping rage and regret …

Each word slices into my brain. He says it like a poem. Like a joke. Like I am simply a plaything in his long, immortal life.

“What do you want?” I gasp out, tears slipping down my cheeks.

At once, he’s right in front of me.

To feast on your flesh, to lick your bones clean, to swallow your soul, he says.

I take a shaking breath. I wait for those teeth to sink into me, but all he does is circle again, the mists spinning around him. “Do you like to play with your food before you eat?” I bite out, turning on my knees, refusing to give him my back. I lift my sword. I won’t test it, but if he lunges at me, I will strike. Even if it’s the last thing I do.

No. I’m so very hungry, I eat everything that enters the mists before they even have a chance to see me … The woods must be fed …

But the depths of your emotions … of your anguish … It makes me remember …

He trails off, as if he has been snared by another place and time completely.

Then, in a flash, his bottomless eyes are on me again.

Today is peculiar. So very peculiar …

He looks at me, and I can imagine how weak and insignificant I look to this ancient presence, but I don’t drop my gaze. I don’t cower. My eyes remain locked on his. His next words are just the slightest bit gentler, the claws of his voice not sinking in as deeply as before.

I want to know why a starving girl has more courage than even immortal heirs.

I bark out a silent laugh. He can’t be serious.

But he doesn’t chuckle. His expression is firm. You plan to face the gods, when even immortals have remained silent and complacent for centuries.

So, he has seen in my mind. He has seen … everything.

And he still hasn’t killed me.

Is he against the gods? Does he want to see them fall? Maybe I can convince him to let me go, to finish my quest. I answer honestly. “I don’t have anything to lose. Everything I loved, I have lost already.”

He hums, the sound rattling through my mind. Yes … that loss … those memories …

He turns his head with a crack. His night-torn eyes seem to ripple. I swallow. You want to leave? You want to escape?

I nod.

I want one.

I blink. “You—”