Light of Stars [2]

Chapter Thirty-Six

♕ One Less Second ♕

Neither Sybilla or Izabella had left their rooms all day, and as much as Aubrette liked staring into the diamond constellations engraved into the walls, and the occasional shadow of Stella and Cora as they walked from one castle to the other by the time the sun had settled behind Gloas and Lynx she was in desperate need of something to do. Something that wasn't feeling trapped inside the lonely walls of a stranger's bedroom.

Standing on the crystal bridge, her eyes couldn't stop looking towards the hidden stairs at the side of Gloas, all of them slowly tempting her to step up the mountain. She looked up, a faint glow of lights had been lit, bright enough for her to know someone was sitting there, watching Starhaven fading into the distance.

Aubrette took a deep breath as she traced her steps back, the same way she had that day, overly conscious of how close the trail was to the empty air beside her. How easily it would be to fall into the river once more. She watched her steps carefully, placing her hand at Gloas's side, letting the wind guide her up back at the cliffside.

The top of the mountain was not as she had remembered. In her mind, there was cloudiness and dirt and trees. But now, now she could see the hidden lights adorning the trunks of the trees, the path leading to a safer spot than the edge of the mountain she had decided to sit that first time, the sky glimmering above her head.

She saw him first than anything else. And before he noticed her, she wondered if she could just turn back around, never have to face him after what he'd seen. What she had seen. But Dorian's eyes found hers before she could even take a second breath.

"Hey" he whispered, his voice low as he lowered his head back to the ground.

Aubrette took a step forward clearing her throat. "Hey" she said. "I thought you might be someone else" Dorian shook his head.

"Sorry to disappoint" he said almost smiling.

"I'll get out of your way" she said, already searching for other places she could spend the night staring up at the sky.

"No, come on, stay" he said shifting to the side. Aubrette looked at the spot beside him, wondering if it'd be worth it. She doubted she'd find a better place to star gaze than this one. "Look, I know you don't trust me, and I don't either, but seeing as we now both know much more about each other than we'd like why don't we just try and be friends?"

"Friends?" She said and almost laughed.

"Friendly at least?" He shrugged.

"Okay fine." Aubrette nodded, walking to sit by his side. Hoping the both could just stay in silence for a while, staring up into the night sky as she'd hope she could. The night grew increasingly quieter, and Aubrette found herself overwhelmed by the vast sky, the beauty of it all. If there was one thing she could be grateful for her moonless blessing was that she could now see it all in a different light. And that at least, was something she would never regret experiencing. Even if she missed how things had been before.

"Why were you up here?" He suddenly asked. Although his eyes remained in the stars, concentrated enough in them all that Aubrette knew he could read them, somehow. "Before, when we met. What were you doing?"

"I.." Aubrette swallowed down her words. "Favian told me to stay here because Morte..."

"No" Dorian said, shifting her eyes towards her. "The real reason."

"Why do you want to know?"

He did not speak. Shifting his eyes back to the sky, a frown settled in her forehead.