When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

There it is. I should have expected the blow. I should have been prepared for how bad it hurts, but I'm not.

Dad continues, “I understand why you have the instinct to protect her.”

But he doesn't. Not really. Because I don't.

“Forget that this is against the Order—what could you possibly know about someone you met a month ago?”

It's not like I'm marrying her. I'm learning her. I might not know the material things—roses or lilies or no flowers at all. Favorite music, movies or books, but I know she loves the stars and wants to be an astrophysicist—all inspired by the love she has for her poppa. I know she grieves for him deeply, that if she lost anyone else, she would shatter. I want to protect her from that because Anora might be the Eurydice, but she grew up human, and is human, and even Valryn cannot escape pain.

Greater things connect us—horror and struggle and fear and love. I might never learn her in other ways, but I'll know her in the ways that count.

“Dad...I can't have this conversation right now.”

He doesn't press, and I'm relieved. I feel like we have a truce, and I don't want it to end so soon, even knowing at some point, he's going to want to have that conversation with me. The one where he tells me I can't see Anora.

Right now, I'm hoping he won't tell me that.

“Where is she?”

“She'll go before the Order s

oon.”

“Dad, she has a life outside of this place, outside of being the Eurydice. Keeping her here would be kidnapping her—”

Dad reaches out and I flinch. He hesitates but decides to place his hand on my shoulder anyway.

“Mistrusting one part of the Order doesn't mean you should mistrust all of it.”

“Then let the Order prove me wrong.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE – ANORA & THE ORDER

I wake up stuffed inside covers, blankets are tucked under my shoulders, arms and legs. The feel of them against my skin is like being restrained. I shove them aside, thrashing to release my limbs. Once I'm free, I lay there breathing hard. My mind picks up where it left off before everything went dark—Lily coming to life and feral, Jake, lifeless, looking like something out of a horror movie, Jacobi landing on his head, unmoving, and Shy, Natalie, the Hellhounds, all arriving too late.

Because even after they were all assembled, they couldn't kill Lily.

So, I did.

But at what price?

Lily's soul shattered.

That's what happens when you use powers you don't understand. Thane's words echo in my mind. Why does he have to be right all the time?

I start to clench my fist, but pain prevents me. When I look at my hand, I find something metal molded around my palm. Prongs dig into the top of my hand, like a diamond set in a mount, except there's nothing pretty about this contraption.

Hysterical, I sit up, trying to pry the thing from my hand, but I only make it worse. The prongs dig into my skin and bleed. A wave of dizziness washes over me and I stop, focusing instead on my cage.

I can see nothing, save a large glass door that opens into a hallway flooded with sterile light. I start to rise from the bed and go to it when a voice erupts from the darkness.

“Comfortable?”

I spin to face the sound.

“Who the hell are you?” I demand.

A laugh and then lights. Dim, ugly lights that illuminate the cell and a creature—a Valryn with a pretty face, dark eyes, and a devastating, infuriating smile. His body is long and lean, and his muscles are contoured by his skin-tight suit. Weapons are arranged strategically on his body: a knife at his thigh, blades crisscrossed on his back. He's haloed by large, iridescent-black wings.