Light of Stars [2]

Chapter Twenty

♕ Ghost Mist ♕

There was something in her mind flashing repeatedly.

There was warmth and the memory of ice but nothing that made her shiver, or froze her limbs tying her soul back onto the blankets and pillows. Nothing that made her teeth chatter against each other. Nothing that made her want to crawl back down into the void of her soul.

Her sadness was somehow lighter too. There was music in the silence, and the singing of birds in her ears. When she closed her eyes, she could only see stars. Stars that had come from inside her, that had poured from her soul into the air as golden specks of dust and only had faded away as her mind had slipped away too.

She opened the palm of her hand, staring, trying, expecting to feel the unbearable burning against her skin but there was nothing left. No pain, or hurt. Just endless silence. The same way ice had felt once. Mellowed down into a soft caress that she could reach to were she willing to look deep enough.

There was something in her mind flashing repeatedly.

The memory of a forgotten dream, the voice of a siren. Far enough into her mind, for it to be only a piece of a broken past.

Aubrette swallowed down the knot on her throat and stood, her hair falling down over her shoulder all the way down to her waist, for once she did not look away. The color reminded her of Goldcrest's sunsets, a faded more tamed version of them, of the soft rose color of waves as they'd mirrored the color of the sky above.

She pushed it back, catching her breath, erasing the memories from her mind. She did not care how many times her hair changed, her eyes changed, none of it belonged to her. Not truly.

Her room was cleaner than usual, the ship swaying back and fort with the push from the sea. She peaked outside her window, soft rays of silver lightning almost hidden behind the horizon line. Despite the faint silver light, she could tell the sky had already succumbed to nightfall.

Her room was cleaner but it felt suffocating.

She wanted air, needed to see the night sky again without the constant burning of the sun inside her. She wondered if this time it would feel normal again, the same way it had before. She wondered if the diminishing of the heat would make the moon want to speak to her again. If she would dare to close her eyes and pray, risk not being listened. Aubrette blinked crushing the hope inside her chest before it rippled across her body.

She stepped out into the hall and halted as she was met with darkness. Not one candle had been left burning. Not one speck of light surrounding the halls. Her heart flipped as she looked to the furthest corner, close to where Mason and Izabella's rooms where.

Something purred at her form inside it, Aubrette kept her breath steady as she stared directly into the dark, almost being able to picture a pair of stone black eyes watching her every move. Claws and fangs and blood flashing in her mind, as if the darkness itself tempted her to come closer.

She took a step forward, feeling as it wrapped around her, slowly at first and then all at once, wrapping itself around the scar on her wrist from where her mother had ripped her blessing away from her. Aubrette fell to her knees. But refused to make a sound. She knew how screams and signs of terror only led to one thing. Death. Punishment. She would never again be the cause of her own downfall.

There were shadows around her, touching her as they travelled around the hall, taking over everything bit by bit. She stopped and waited and let herself breathe.

Was this another one of her dreams? It felt like one.

The shadows seemed to slipped in two, creating new faces in the shapes of her worst nightmares. She stared right into their eyes, saw her face reflected on them.