A Dark and Starless Night

Chapter Forty-Two

Eve awoke into a dream with a feeling of weightlessness and heaviness warring for dominance inside her. Each step echoed through it, water – not deep – under foot as she moved towards a bend where white light spilled out.

She frowned as she walked towards that space, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, the space opened up before her. The pyramid of marble sparkled in the centre and at the base of it, a familiar man .

"Althian," she said by way of greeting, but there was no warmth in her voice.

"You remember me so quickly this time," he said, smiling.

"I don't want to dream here anymore. I don't want to dream about you."

He frowned, looking sour, but no shadows clung to him. He looked for all the world normal, but she couldn't get the memory of how he'd looked when she'd been meditating. Of what little she could remember from her dream. How he had tried to kill his brother's wife and her unborn child.

"You're getting it all wrong, Eve," he said, as if he could read her thoughts. "I had to defend myself. Eleen was the real villain, that witch. She stole my brothers from me. And now I am bound her by her blood, by her sisters' blood. By my own brothers' blood. I am the victim."

"What are you talking about?" Eve asked, her voice breathless. "Star eaters were the ones who tried to kill Eleen. The princes, the brothers... they fought with her."

"Reduced to not even a memory. They all but stripped me from history, buried any mention of me in that cursed library. But I was the victim, Evelyn," he said, eyes frantic as he reached her, grabbing her arms. "You can see that, can't you?"

She jerked out of his grip. What kind of dream was this? Where her heart thundered and she felt sick. Her imagination had truly run away with itself. A fourth prince. The real villain.

"I AM NOT THE VILLAIN," he shrieked, reaching for her again.

She didn't think. She ran. Back into the darkness, hoping that she could leave the dream behind. She ran and ran and ran, the echo of her footsteps on the water the only sound she could hear beyond her ragged breath. When she could no longer see the dim glow of the cavern, she stopped, looking around into pitch black.

She was standing stock still, and yet a rhythmic and measured gait got louder and louder with each step. There was something sickeningly familiar about that gait. As if she'd heard it before.

"Leave me alone, Althian," she said, her voice shaky. She had a sinking feeling that it wasn't him. That it was someone – something else.

"Here you are," a voice devoid of warmth said. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I hope you enjoyed the message my apprentice shared."

She felt him reach for her, so she ran. She staggered across the slippery surface, finding the depth of the water growing with each step she took. She could barely hear the sounds of her pursuer as she thundered through the water, her pace becoming impossible to maintain. She was knee deep when he spoke again.

"You won't escape me here," he said, his voice close as the water climbed towards her waist. "The place between life and death is mine to walk freely. Here, I can take my time with you. It will be a shame to waste your death, but there are so many more stars in this city."

He reached her, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her from the water. When he threw her down, she met hard ground, the air being knocked from her. She struggled to get away, but he stepped on her wrist. The sickening crunch reached her ears before pain tore through her and a scream burst out of her. He ran what felt like a blade down her cheek, not piercing skin, tracing the trail of her tears as if he could see in the pitch black.