The Night Is Defying by Chloe C. Peñaranda

Author:Chloe C. Peñaranda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

29

Astraea

I spent the next hour looking for Rose and Zath but found no sight of them, nor did my inquiries to passing guards produce answers. Beginning to grow anxious, I turned the next corner and found Calix heading toward me.

My relief at finding a friendly face turned to tension when I looked over his uniform.

“You’re staying?” I asked.

“I had a change of heart,” he said, but it was distant. Emotionless. “The reigning lord sent me for you.”

“You said you wouldn’t be able to live in this place with the constant reminder of her,” I accused him.

Something didn’t feel right.

“This is her home. It’s the best place to keep her memory alive.”

I couldn’t figure out what might have changed his mind so suddenly. When we’d arrived he looked ready to leave. He could hardly stand to look around the keep.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

“Why would Reihan send you for me?”

“He’s requested you join him for dinner.”

That should be harmless enough. I would be able to ask him what he knew about the celestials and it might lead to an explanation about the wings in his office. Yet as I walked with Calix, I couldn’t banish the unsettling feeling in my gut.

“Have you seen Rose or Zath?” I asked him.

“No.”

I slipped a look up to him at that short answer. He wouldn’t look at me and my walk slowed a little.

Your intuition has never led you astray.

“I’m not actually hungry,” I said. “Can you tell him I retired for the night?”

Calix hooked my elbow when I tried to turn back. My pulse slammed.

I ripped my arm free as I spun to him, hovering my hand over the key at my hip as I took backward paces.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

As I stepped under the open archways, the snow fell around me in the small open courtyard. Memories of Cassia’s last training session flooded me from this space.

Calix didn’t answer, merely waited with a steely expression before glancing around me. I chilled at the sight of the guards surrounding the archways.

“Astraea—” Calix said my name like a hint of a plea but he was interrupted by a voice I wished wasn’t responsible for whatever the fuck was happening.

“You have no idea how long you spent here as a blood supply,” Reihan said as he crept out from a shadow cover.

I didn’t recognize him. The demeanor. The cruel smile foreign to his kind face.

“Why are you doing this?”

I didn’t know what his intentions were, but from the armed guards blocking every escape around me, I knew he meant to capture me, at least.

“You’ll find out soon enough, maiden. Now, do you want to come easily or is this going to be difficult?”

My answer pulsed warmly in my hand when the key expanded to a glowing staff and I firmed my stance.

“You don’t want to do this,” I warned him. Even though betrayal was stabbing in my back, I didn’t want to hurt him. “He’ll come for me. And he is not merciful.”

I shuddered to think what Nyte would do.

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