Light of Stars [2]

Chapter Seventeen

♕ The C̶u̶r̶s̶e̶d̶ Blessed ♕

He had not wanted to ask more questions. Had not wanted to step out of line, over whatever line Skylar may have. Had not wanted to push his luck as the two walked off into the stone cold road that led towards the Bay. There were horses there, already saddled, waiting for them in the edge of the snow blocked road. He had stared at them, wondering who they were, why did they rescue him. But Skylar's eyes had been focused on one thing only, and it had not been him.

Once they started riding, he realized just how much the streets of Blackstone had been emptied. The darkness Nerezza had wanted to summit the world into making it easier for both of them to hide from the view of passing guards and few onlookers. The shackles around his ankles cut through his skin, made him slower, but at least there were no chains attached to them that they had to take care of. Asher pushed himself through the lack of breath, through his lungs begging him to stop moving, to collapse on the middle of the road, the cold was too much for him to handle now. Skylar had barely said a word, they had simply slowed down the pace, as if understanding the journey was harder for him than it would be for them, no matter that they had both spent their night on a jail cell.

Asher had not thought the world could get colder. But he had been wrong.

Really wrong.

The road to Luna Bay was what he thought his personal hell would feel like. The ice made his skin itch, the tips of his hair freezing as snow fell on top of it. He tried to hide as much of his face inside his torn up clothes, but the wind made it impossible for him to remain frozen in one position.

"You look like you're going to pass out" Skylar said. Not showing any signs of distress on their face.

"Aren't you cold at all?" Asher dared asked. Out of all the questions he had, that was one of the easier ones to say out loud.

Skylar shrugged. "I've been in way worse."

"Worse?"

"Never been up north boy?" Asher glared at their eyes until they looked away. "Geez, you cant even take a joke." Sky muttered.

"I can barely keep track of my thoughts" Asher said suddenly defensive. No, he had never been up north, and even if he had, he would have had the protection of the sun running in his veins, snow would have felt like the caress of a mid-fall wind on his skin.

"Boys" Skylar muttered under their breath, rolling their eyes.

Asher stared as Sky kept the pace of both their horses steady, rushing through the road like Blackstone's most disastrous army were behind them both. He doubted Nerezza had woken up by now, or woken up soberly enough to notice his absence. But when she did... A chill ran down his spine making his teeth chatter.

"Are you going to tell me who you are now?" Asher finally said. Exhausted of acting as if he had any idea of what was going on.

"I'm someone, no one, help" they said.

"Help?"

They nodded.

"But I thought.."

"That we blindly followed and believed what the queen says?" Skylar laughed bitterly. "No. Not after the princess burned The Corvus and the queen's guards tried their hardest to retrieve anything left of it" their expression changed, the lightness fading from their eyes.

"The princess?" Asher said, his heart beat dropping. "The princess is at Luna Bay?"

"Of course not." Skylar said, as if it was the most ridiculous thing they'd ever heard. "But she was like three or four moons ago, around mourning moon"