Light of Stars [2]

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Boy Who Moved Stars

He first saw it drawn in the lies of the stars. He saw written in between its light the image of someone lost in the crowd of the world. He knew he wasn't supposed to. Had gotten in so much trouble before for pushing others into darkness. But it was right there. Well, their star was there, the star he had once believed to be a moon in a sky of darkness, and he could feel the fire of ice in his veins begging him to push it into the darkness of the universe.

He stepped into the middle of it all, pushed up and the little twinkling star disappeared from his view. He expected it to return in a moment. As it always did. They always returned. But this one had not. It had disappeared from its point of the sky and reappeared behind him.

When he spotted it again he felt his hands shake in terror. Had he moved a star? He did not think that's how his blessing worked.

No. Thats not the way it worked at all. And he hadn't been the one who'd moved the star at all. He avoided blinking for the longest time, watching as the star disappeared and appeared in different spots of the sky for hours until finally it returned to its original place.

Dorian felt relief. That he hadn't make it fade away into oblivion. A young star it was. Not even nine years old yet. Three years younger than him.

Dorian walked around the hall with a grin of mischief in his face, wondering what would've happened if he had made it disappear before it had done it all by its own. He dreamed of it, pictured himself and the star playing chase in the ground of infernum for hours, until one of them unavoidably won.

Every night after, Dorian stared into the sky and tried to get a hold of the star, but it always moved out of his grasp, jumping from one side of the world to another. Until it didn't. And Dorian had never felt such despair from watching the light of a star fade away, had never felt so helpless. He sat and wondered who exactly was this person, and why had they decided to stop moving, stop their star from glowing.

☆

Dorian had his eyes close she realized, and she could not tell, if he too could see his past before his eyes the way Aubrette could, the way Aubrette was. She tried to fight it, tried to conceal it, but her mind was tired and weak, and the river was far too strong, swallowing them both inside it.

☆

Dorian walked up to her mother, her long blond hair almost reaching her knees in intricate braids, that had been adorned with jewels of the blackest material. She was sitting beside his father with a bored look on her face, one of those expressions that told him he must be on his best behavior. He reached the stairs and waited for her sister to enter the hall first, she was their heir after all, the most important among their family, she'd be the next warrior, the next general to lead infernum into great things. Things not even Jackel had been able to achieve.

Dorian made his entrance, and not even a pair of eyes looked at his slender figure, he was glad of it, it made him invisible to the eyes of the court, made him be greater than any spy hidden amongst the crowds and pillars.

The night was boring and long and filled with people fighting each other. Dorian had not heard any news about anyone that was remotely interesting or worth anything. He was tired and would've rather been upstairs watching over his moonlight, practicing, or pretending to play hide and seek with those who weren't even aware they were playing. He sat on his chair beside his mother and closed his eyes, for a second...

A noise woke him up, the crown of his father was laying on the floor with drops of blood staining it. He was fighting, and Phoenix was watching him fight as was his mother, not even a hint of empathy or fear in their eyes. Dorian stood from his chair, and took a step forward just to be pulled back by her mother.