Page 124 of This Shattered Star

I had to tell him. Even if the dragon could return at any moment. I owed it to him. I couldn’t exactly hide it anymore.

“Ever since the beginning of the Starlight Trials, shadows have been looming over my shoulder.” I clenched my trembling fingers in my lap. Refused to look at them. “Darkness brought to life. They’ve been… following me. Like they have a consciousness. Slowly eating away at my mind, working in ways I cannot begin to comprehend. They’ve gotten progressively worse with time.” A shallow breath. “I deduced they were attached to my curse, and I was right. They’re fighting back now.” More tears slid down my cheeks, plopping onto my wrists. Still, I did not look at them. “It’s only a matter of time before they grow to consume me entirely.”

He looked at me for a long moment. Something like regret swirled in his eyes. “Eloise,” he ground out, before sighing. He let go of my chin, curling his arms loosely around me instead. “I haven’t been entirely forthright with you.”

“Of course not. I’m not daft, Kodhan. I know very well you’ve been hiding things from me. It’s only natural, with your father’s position. I knew the others were hiding things from me, too.” I could still see the outlines of their figures as I fell from the lookout. “Did you know she would push me?” I asked, softly. “Did they speak to you, mind to mind, before they died?”

Questions I hadn’t been able to ask back in my rooms. Back when the dam still had a fighting chance.

But it was destroyed now. Leaving my heart to drown in the ocean of pain and sorrow it had been holding back.

Kodhan took a breath. Rested his chin on my head. It was almost like he was avoiding my gaze. “I’m going to tell you the truth now, alright?”

“You can tell me anything you want. It won’t change anything.”

His arms tightened around me. “It will.”

“The truth won’t bring back the dead.” Finally, I peered down at my hands. Shadows still swirled around them like mist.“And it won’t change the fact that we’re here, at the Temple of Borealis, and I still managed to fail.”

“Theia and Brannon are not dead. And there was never anything for you to fail.”

My spine went rod straight. “I thought you said you were going to speak the truth.”

He sighed again. “There’s a lot to explain. And Iwillexplain, all of it, I promise. But we need to leave.”

My voice was as cold as the ice that coated my veins. “Spin whatever tale you want. But I am not going anywhere until I break my curse.”

“I’m not spinning tales—”

“I saw Theia and Brannon die. I saw the way that dragon destroyed the watchtower, after Theiapushedme out of it so that I’d live. Neither of them made it out of that wreckage, or even the dragon’s jaw for that matter. And there’s no story that can counter this.” I lifted my hands in emphasis.

He did look at me then. With a tenderness that made my bleeding heart stutter. Then took my hands in his own, shadows and all. “They did not die in that watchtower. They’re waiting for us as we speak. But I can’t explain anything else, not here. This place isn’t safe.”

Wingbeats filled the air, giving substance to his warning.

Two dragons hovered high above, their hulking bodies blending into the night sky.

Kodhan wasn’t fast enough to stop me from shooting out of his lap. “They can’t hurt us if we’re inside. Once you get your portion of power that’s down there, you can kill them,” I urged.

He merely watched as they circled above. “I’m not going to kill the dragons. And we’re not going back into that temple.”

“You would rather die out here? Without a fight? How very unbecoming for the Son of the Second.”

“Promise me that you’ll believe what I tell you.”

“I promise nothing.”

I inched up two steps. Three.

“Brannon and Theia never died. They’re right up there, waiting for us. And you were never cursed by the gods.”

My breath seized in my throat.

“You are wing and scale, wind and starlight. Just as they are. Just as I am. I made a vow to bring you home.” He bridged the distance between us, climbing up the same three steps. His hand slowly reached to cup the side of my face. “But I never planned for it to take this long. I can only hope you’ll forgive me, someday.” My body instinctively melted into his touch. Even though my mind was reeling. Even though my heart threatened to burst.

“Please,” he begged, pressing his forehead to mine. “Come home.”

I wrenched away from him. Climbed up three more steps. It wasn’t far, and yet, between us split a yawning, vicious chasm.