Destiny's Blood (The First Star Book 1) by Marie Bilodeau

Author:Marie Bilodeau [Bilodeau, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: S&G Publishing
Published: 2021-02-08T06:00:00+00:00

The blade of the knife reflected the few remaining lights as it twirled up, spinning suspended for a moment in the air before falling back down, caught in a lazy motion.

“Do you always flip knives when you’re bored?” the Berganda asked from the other end of the bridge.

“Shouldn’t you be rooting somewhere?” Avienne asked. The knife vanished in one swift motion.

Josmere shrugged. “Gardens are airless and Layela wants to be alone.”

Avienne raised an eyebrow. “So you’re hanging here with me, instead?”

Josmere’s slender shoulders rose again. “It’s the only other place I know here, except the docks, which are overrun now.”

The smuggler girl sighed and leaned back against her seat, the old metal moaning in protest as she stretched back, her hands behind her head, gazing up at the barely lit ceiling, as dim as the future seemed.

The fleet of Mirial pretty much ran the Destiny now, repairing her. In under an hour that would change, when Layela and the Mirialers would leave them in peace. For now, the bridge was the only place free of them — Cailan had forbidden them access.

Avienne’s eyes ran the length of the nebula displayed clearly through the view screens. It was a beauty. Purple reflected down to its core, as thin as fairy dust from here, but Avienne knew it was quite thick up close. Lights shimmered at the edges of it, made visible by Destiny’s ultraviolet and infrared eye. At the centre of the spherical beast lay a faded light, presumably the sun named Mirial, from which many old men had recently claimed to come.

“Now that’s hard to believe,” Avienne mumbled. She leaned forward again, her skin tingling with anticipation. A place to call home.

“What’s hard to believe? That someone would willingly hang out with you?”

“That we come from there,” Avienne responded, ignoring the Berganda’s sweet smile. “And that we want to go back. It’s a planetary nebula. What could still be alive in there?”

“Ah, how you enlighten me with your wisdom, my smuggling friend.”

“Don’t you know anything about space?” Avienne shot Josmere an annoyed look.

“Plant. Like planets and fresh earth.”

“A planetary nebula,” Avienne said, leaning back again, “means the star burped, shed its top layer, effectively destroyed its star system, and is now dying a slow, meaningless death.”

“Cheerful,” Josmere mumbled, her eyes trained on the nebula. “But I can still see the star.”

“It’s dying, not dead.”

Josmere sat back in her chair, her eyes still on the star. “Do you really believe that?”

“Believe what?”

“That the First Star could be dying? That Layela could save it?”

“Why do you care? No offence, but aside from your two little friends — my sympathies, by the way — you don’t exactly seem like the, ah, heroic type to me.”

Josmere shot her a crooked smile. “Takes one to know one?”

Avienne smiled back. Protect your own and let the rest rot, had always been her motto.

The Berganda shook her head, still gazing out at the star. “It’s just, why would they take such a risky journey, and why would

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