Page 57 of Wings of Starlight

She could not force the words out. She did not want to even say it, nor did she want to ask him the questions fear had sparked within her.

Do you think it’s true?

Do you harbor the same resentment the first warden did?

Clarion watched his expression fill with certainty, slowly, then all at once; he looked as though he’d at last pieced together something that had been puzzling him. “You worry that it might be true,” he said. There was no accusation in his voice, only a resigned sort of understanding.

Guilt pierced through her. How could she believe that, when he and his people had been nothing but kind to her? She clasped her hands together to keep herself from reaching for him. “Only to the extent that I worry for you. You’ve never given me a reason to doubt you.”

He frowned as confusion overtook him once more. “I have never seen a Nightmare hold any power over someone who was still awake. I don’t think it’s possible.”

“That’s a relief,” she murmured. “Surely, there would be some sort of sign. You haven’t noticed anything…?”

Milori shifted on his feet, his gaze skirting away from hers again. “I haven’t slept well in days. Other than that, no.”

Dread pooled within her. “You don’t think—”

“It isn’t Nightmares that keep me awake, Clarion.”

His voice was impossibly gentle—and so soft, for a moment, she thought she had misheard him. When he turned his eyes back to her, the intensity and earnestness she found there made her ears warm. The sense memory of their kiss awakened, skipping across her skin in heated trails and stoking her glow to a rose-colored blaze. There had been something like devotion in the way he’d cradled her face, an oath sworn in every brush of his lips against hers. Oh, she had been such a fool to believe a sparrow man like Milori would do a single thing without the intention of committing himself fully.

“Oh.” It was a bare exhalation of sound.

“You didn’t come back.” Equal parts pain and relief suffused his every word. “At first, I worried that something had happened. Then, I convinced myself that you regretted it.”

“No,” Clarion said, through a humorless laugh. “I didn’t regret it at all. I only regret that I panicked—and that my fear has given you cause to worry.”

That was what frightened her the most: the feeling that her heart now beat outside her chest. He stood before her, close enough to touch. And yet, it wasn’t close enough. Clarion feared she might never be satisfied until they could truly share in one another’s worlds. And now that she knew Elvina’s plan…It terrified her, to think that the two of them could be separated forever.

She could not avoid telling him what she’d learned any longer.

“There is much more to say, I know.” She took a step closer to him, until she could feel Winter’s cool caress her face. She closed her fingers around his forearm and squeezed gently. “But that isn’t everything Elvina told me.”

As he drank her in, the hope faded from his eyes. “What is it?”

“Elvina is close to putting her plan into motion. We have until the summer solstice before the bridges between Winter and the warm seasons are destroyed.”

All the color drained from his face. When he recovered enough to speak, he said, “I didn’t think it was possible.”

The despair in his voice chilled her. “I didn’t, either. But we still have daylight left. I’m ready to try again.”

If she failed…

No, it hardly bore thinking about. She would not fail a second time.

Gathering her nerve, she said, “I think you and I were meant to do this together—to solve the problem of the Nightmares for good.”

“You and I,” he echoed, as solemn as a vow.

Perhaps it was a bold declaration. But what they’d found felt a little like destiny—especially when the space between them crackled with possibility.

“If we seal the prison before the sun fully sets, none of them will have a chance to leave for the night.” She canted her chin, hoping to project more confidence than she felt. Milori watched her through hooded eyes, some of his initial resistance giving way to something like…admiration? Clarion continued before she could lose her nerve. “After that, everyone under the Nightmares’ spell should awaken, just like when the dream-talents first sealed the Nightmares away.”

“Very well,” he said, with only a touch of reluctance. “But if we’re going to make it to the prison before sundown, we’ll need to fly.”

At that, Clarion’s façade faltered. “You mean with Noctua.”

“Of course, we don’t have to,” Milori said, with the tiniest of smirks playing on the corner of his mouth. “However, we would need to reconvene tomorrow and begin hiking much earlier in the day.”