When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

“They told me you were a good fighter, Eurydice. No one said you let your hounds fight for you.” I clench my fist, and his eyes narrow on my hand. “What are you going to do? Steal my soul and call it self-defense?”

“Stay,” I command my hounds and they whine in protest. I step forward, and the Knight smiles, slicing at me with his scythe. I dodge, landing on the ground. As he approaches, I tangle my feet with his, and he trips. I roll out of the way before he can fall on me, and once he’s on the ground, I strike, digging my knee into his back and swiping the blade from his hand. I’m on my feet again, armed. The Knight stands, breathing hard.

“Bitch!” he charges toward me, but stops short when the Hound he stabbed pounces. The Knight’s screams fill the air as his body is mauled. Then someone grabs my hand and for a moment, I think it’s another Knight, but when I turn, I come face-to-face with Thane.

“Come on!”

He drags me from the hounds and the body of the Knight, toward the parking lot.

He opens the passenger side door and shoves me inside the car. “Tell your hounds to go so they don’t draw attention to you. Stay here until I get back!”

Then he disappears. My hounds pace outside the car, prowling, but I do as Thane says and ask them to leave. They obey.

I’m shaking and the car is stuffy and oddly quiet. The silence presses against my ears like my head’s been placed between a vice, then I start to hear a muffled beep. I look in the console that separates me from the driver’s side and then the glove compartment. That’s where I find it—Lily’s phone. The color and warmth drain from my body. What is it doing in his car?

I fumble, hurrying to turn on the device. The screen is slow to start, which makes my heart beat harder in my chest. When it finally loads, I look through Lily’s messages. At the very top—the last person she texted—was Thane.

He said: Come to the train yard.

She responded: Be there soon.

She’d trusted Thane.

And he killed her.

I look up in time to see Thane coming into view.

Damn. And I sent my hounds away.

I shove the glove compartment closed and slip the phone in my pocket, but I can’t school my features fast enough to put on a show for Thane, because as soon as he gets into the driver’s seat of his car, he asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say too fast. “You know, I’m just going to go….”

As my hand lands on the handle, the locks click into place. I turn to face Thane.

“I’m sorry, Anora,” he says, but there’s something superficial about his apology and a darkness to his gaze I recognize: Influence. “I can’t let you leave.”

I don’t have a lot of room to fight, and I don’t want to use the thread on Thane. Still, I give it my best and fling my left arm out, toward his face. It’s more of a distraction than anything. My right goes for his stomach. The blow lands, and he grunts, but it doesn’t keep him from wrapping an arm around my neck and crushing me against him. His hand claps over my mouth and nose, and the only thing I become aware of is the pressure around my neck, the raw pain of having my body starved of oxygen. My vision blurs with hot tears and saliva seeps into my throat and out of my mouth.

The sensation builds until it feels like his bones are cutting into mine, slicing through the arteries, detaching my head from my body.

And then there’s nothing.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN – SHY & THE ABOMINATION

I know the moment Anora steps on the field because the thread connecting us makes my chest ache. I have to clench my fists just to have something else to focus on. I could solve this easy if I’d just go stand by her, but I’m still angry about earlier—even angrier when I glance in her direction and see she’s standing with Thane. Why does she keep hanging out with him? He

gave her answers but I did, too, and without putting her in danger.

She trusts him more than you.

If Chase were still alive, I might kill him myself for making the Eurydice afraid of the only people who can protect her.

But it’s not just Chase, it’s Lennon, too.

She’d given Anora that story about her mom being killed by the Order. I still can’t find any evidence that it’s true, though I’m more willing to believe something like that considering Lennon’s an Abomination and I’m not ignorant. I know the Order does some shady stuff. They’re a government.

But Anora blamed me.