A WAR AMONGST THE STARS

CHAPTER TEN

I'm panicking. My heart pounds beneath my chest, the light within running haywire in connection to feeling my own anxiety and fear.

I attempt to free myself from his hold, lowering my legs and pushing on his chest to separate us. "Let me go."

His brows purse with worry and confusion. "Why? What is wrong?"

"Zurhen. You need to let me go. Right now!" I demand. I'm not stable when I'm like this. I'm not in control, and when I'm not, that's when she finds a way to slip through the broken parts of me and thatcannothappen. The last thing I want is for her to emerge and hurt more. Especially him.

He releases me and I immediately step back.

His light blue eyes turn hazy, glossy. His bottom lip trembles. "Serena. What did I do? What did I say?"

I don't answer but instead bend to grab my clothes.

While taking quick note of the double doors behind him, I dress in haste, ready to escape, ready to run as I have always done before. And then I look to him, a part of that wrath I have long suppressed simmering at a dangerous level. "My light belongs tome. No longer will I be the breeder of magic. Not again. Not ever again."

Confusion casts upon his squinched face. "Breeder of magic? What? What does that mean? What are you talking about?" Yet instead of answering, I storm off. I make a run for it, pushing the double doors open with an unexpected, invisible force I did not know I could conjure. "Serena!" I hear him desperately call from behind.

I suddenly halt, not by his voice but by an unforeseen howling gust of wind.

One glance over my shoulder is enough to have me turn fully around. There, a swirling tycoon of blue wind and in the middle of its wrath, my giant alien. "How are you doing that?"

With arms spread, he gazes upon his palms, then at the force of power that swirls around him.

"Zurhen," I speak in awe. "How are you doing that?" I repeat myself.

His wide, perplexed eyes meet mine and in the short moment we stare, the twister begins to fade, its air wisping away like a hand swiping through the fog. "Serena," his somber voice speaks.

"Go to him," The Star urges.

"No. I can't."

"Go to him," she presses.

My vision blurs, tears clouding my eyes."I am so sorry, Zurhen. I'm so sorry." With that, I turn, taking off fast.

Thanks to the awakening star and her healing power to restore me to our immortal state, my now fully functional legs move swiftly.

I'm off, sprinting past other beings and down many unknown halls. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am going. I'm lost, but I don't care. No, I keep running. Running until I may find a place of peace. A place where my aching soul may find some ounce of comfort.

With blurry, watery eyes, I think of Zurhen and how I left him. Confused and hurt, I abandoned him, storming off instead of speaking the truth of how I felt.

"You did the same to Steve. You abandoned him,"The Star reminds.

"Shut up! What happened to Steve... it wasn't my fault," I cry.I don't want to think of Steve. I can't think of him. Not yet. Not now.

She speaks."Zurhen would have understood."

"He wanted to out me. He wanted me to restore magic upon his land. You of all beings know better than anyone how horrible that worked out the last time," I remind.