𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐔𝐒

XVII: Mortal Consequences

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

MALIGNANT CREATURES ECLIPSED IN the thickest mist of ebony stepped onto the cobble streets of Grimshade, lineations rippling, and pooling into the swell of darkness as though shadows belonged to their flesh, and bone; like tendons stretched to a fray- a navel cord tried, and forgotten.

Like hounds, they circled Regulus Winters, and Lilith Crowe, hooves silently clicking against the stone. A muted click, click that echoed far, and deep in the darkness. Instantly, Lilith tensed, shattered breaths rattling from her lungs. Her jaw trembled under the weight of dread, and anticipation, and distantly, she felt Regulus's fingers press into her chin. But the comfort was minimal.The footsteps dragged in the witch's ears like the edge of a scythe.

Death had returned.

Death had come back- for her.

The sudden thought broke Liltth into a frenzied panic. The witch forced her chin out from Regulus's grasp, heart trembling under a spell of horrific instinct. She could not trust Winters. Could not trust a demon. But as she pulled further away, she felt the air break, and whirl, Regulus's arm grasping for her.

"No," he growled, fingers curling over her arm, draping over the scar.

In that exact moment, like a fuse, each torch ignited with astonishing swiftness. At the first break of light, Lilith managed a glimpse of Regulus, his wrist in the air, cobalt eyes on her. He hadn't looked away from her, she realized. Hadn't spared an ounce of concentration beyond her. And yet, the fire he'd created burned exceptionally bright, and hot. He'd done it without so much of a delay. Without so much of a thought. Fire blazed in his veins, violent, and hot, waiting to ruin.

To protect.

Vaguely, Lilith felt a pang of unease. She remembered the daggers, hidden in the cloak, waiting to be used. A dangerous place, her voice echoed. A place that commanded violence for survival. And deafeningly, Regulus's warning; his promise to kill. Naturally, Lilith knew to be scared. Knew to fear what loomed behind them, and what was to unfold in front of her. Her body reacted accordingly, mastered, and dominated by fear...and yet, it was not enough to possess her entirely. It was not enough to mask his presence. She felt him, everywhere; his promise lingering in the warmth, in the floodlight that came like a shockwave.

Like thunder, it had come quickly, and unexpectedly- a surge of vibrant orange. It drove into Lilith's corneas like a thousand blistering spears, and lashed at her skin like a blazing whip. The intensity forced her feet back, almost in warning, though she knew she was not the target. There had been a waiting hand at her back. A brace to keep her from falling back.

Lilith quickly blinked the pain from her eyes, and pulled cobalt into focus, expecting vexation, and finding none. Hollow concern echoed in the iris, pulsing like a subtle alarm, before withdrawing to a state of calm- though Lilith couldn't be certain as the light around them settled, and flickered into place. It could have been a trick of light, she theorized, strangely torn by the idea. Her stomach bubbled with both disappointment, and relief. His voice had not yet faded from the coils of her cerebrum; stay curled around her skull like a wisp of smoke.

Faintly terrified, the witch jolted away from his touch, neglecting the loss. Hastily, she averted her gaze, snapping it to the torchlights behind his shoulders. The fire around them burned impossibly bright, and hot. Lilith squinted against it, feeling her mind turn with vague remembrance: herself, slumped over in the school's corridor, paralyzed with cold, and then, a shocking wave of heat, slicing through the ice in her ribs, and lungs, breathing her into existence.