His too-thin fingers wove through mine, and we were flying again, stars streaking past us. I clung to him as our surroundings shifted, as we fell back toward Earth, my face tucked against his neck, his arms tight against my back. The farther we moved from the stars, the more whole he became, filling out, solidifying, until he was the only real thing around me. An anchor in the gaping expanse of space.
Our deal had been my protection for his guidance. And yet he had risked his safety, his life, to make me happy. He was more than kind. He was inspiring. Loyal, thoughtful, mysterious.
I clung to him as the Earth rushed up to meet us, never once doubting that we would land whole. Because I did want him. He had promised I would never be alone, not while he existed, and I wanted to believe it—and was terrified it might be a trick that would break me. For Ristriel was a godling I did not yet understand, and although I wasn’t wholly mortal, I carried in me the fears of one.
But one thing was becoming certain: the thought of Ristriel leaving me behind, in Nediah or elsewhere, roused a misery in me I did not think I could face.
CHAPTER 14
We landed in the shadows behind the barn; a long strip of clouds had covered the moon. In my mind, I heard the distant galloping of otherly creatures coming for us, a sound like a bad taste on the back of my tongue. It was something I was sure I would have missed, had I been wholly mortal.
They were coming for him.
“Get your things, quickly,” Ristriel urged.
“But the moon will come out soon.” I gestured to our right, away from the barn. “You can conceal yourself in my pocket again.”
He hesitated half a heartbeat. “If they are the same hunters, they will find it odd that they’ve crossed your path a second time. You might be putting yourself in danger.”
I swallowed. “But I’m a star mother.”
Grabbing my hand, Ristriel twisted my ring so the amber stripe shone again. “And the Sun is not here.”
I looked at our entwined hands. At my ring. At his strained expression.
Throwing my skirt over my arm, I ran into the barn and scaled the ladder to the loft.
I shoved my tapestry supplies into the lighter bag and practically jumped back down. Ristriel was there, looking out the barn window.
“This would have worked better if I were a horse,” he mumbled before turning his back to me and crouching, “but let me carry you. We’ll go faster.”
“But the moonlight—”
“I will not drop you.”
Taking a deep breath, I secured my bags across my shoulders, stepped behind him, and put my arms around his neck. Where Sun was hot and fiery and all encompassing, Ristriel was cool and firm and steady. Hands grabbing my thighs, he stood, jerking upward once to situate me above his hips. I flushed, both from the touch and the embarrassment of being carried like a little girl.
When he turned to speak to me, I kissed his cheek.
“Thank you for taking me,” I whispered.
He had tensed when my lips touched his skin, but his rigidity fell away at my words. “Hold on tightly.”
I did, and he ran.
Ristriel moved faster than a mortal man could, though not quite as swiftly as he had when fighting off those godlings. Godlings who, I was sure, fought for the day. I wonder how Sun would have taken it, had they killed the woman He’d propositioned. I wondered, too, if He had tried to find me again during the week Ristriel and I had skipped. Or if He’d tried to come when I’d turned the ring to black, and Ristriel had taken me from Earth entirely.
Would he stop Ristriel’s pursuers if I asked, or was that, too, bound by some complex law?
Ristriel dashed in a roundabout way until a cloud passed over the moon. Under the cover of darkness, he soared in a straight line, and I had to close my eyes against the wind that repelled us. We came upon a wood, and he angled toward it, perhaps to avoid his captors, or to gain cover from the moon, or both. I held tightly to him, legs and arms, focused on staying as calm as I could manage, for surely Ristriel would be forced to break his promise and drop me were my starlight to rise.
But what sort of creature could not withstand starlight? Was it not what powered the universe itself? Was it not so important that mortal women died for it? Was it not good?
Did that make Ristriel . . . ?
I gritted my teeth and pushed my forehead into his neck. There was nothing I could do about it now, short of let go. And had he not just taken me to see Surril, despite the harm that came to him?
The clambering of our otherworldly pursuers grew louder, and Ristriel zipped east and west so suddenly I nearly lost my grip, but he never once loosened his hold on me. Gradually, the sound of the chase lessened, though Ristriel ran on even after it had faded, running for his freedom wherever the shadows would let him.