Page 143 of Heavenly Bodies

He was twirling the sharp blade of duskglass, its black surface glistening in the candlelight.

‘Careful you don’t cut yourself,’ she said, her tone lazy.

Enzo turned to her, a slow smile creeping on his face. ‘I have to say, Elara, I’m a little wounded that you’re not more distraught. I expected to find you on your knees.’

Elara snorted. ‘You always rated yourself too highly.’

Enzo’s smile curled venomously.

‘You know, I’ve been wondering why you have that.’ She pointed to the blade in his hand. ‘Why you bothered creatingit with me if you were working with Ariete,’ she said, examining her fingernails.

Enzo narrowed his eyes, but no answer came.

‘A blade to kill a Star,’ she continued. ‘What a weapon indeed.’

‘I’d watch how you talk, lest you find yourself in the Deadlands tomorrow.’

Elara chuckled. ‘Oh no, I don’t think so. You see, Ariete cannot kill me, remember?’ She stood. ‘So perhaps it’s you who’ll meet the Deadlands soon.’

She blinked, and the first illusion she had been working—that of a weaponless, defenceless Elara—vanished, a blade now visible, holstered upon her right thigh. Quick as a flash, she pulled it forth, its wicked glass gleaming onyx black. Enzo staggered back against the wall, the exact same dagger held in his hand as he looked in confusion and fear to hers and then his. She approached him slowly.

‘What was it you said to me? “You’re not the only one good at illusions.” ’ She clicked her fingers, and the blade in Enzo’s hand turned into Sofia’s dagger, as Elara waved theveryreal duskglass blade in her own. The blade she had kept the whole time. And with a smile, she plunged it into his chest.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

Enzo lay gasping in a pool of his own blood, his hands shaking as he tried to staunch the flow seeping from his chest. The colour of it began to shift, glittering. Elara looked over him, her face devoid of feeling.

‘A little advice from an angel,’ she said, crouching down before him. ‘Call it woman’s intuition.’

She ran her finger over the protruding knife sticking out from his chest as he panted. ‘You hid the truth from us for all these years. The ways we could destroy you.’ She looked in disdain to the colour leaching from Enzo’s face, his eyes. ‘Isn’t that true, Enzo?’

She paused, raising a hand to her lips in mock apology.

‘Or should I say—Gem?’

A snarl painted white lips as Enzo’s image slowly transformed into the pale Star, her white hair soaked with her glittering blood, her colourless eyes filled with hatred as she convulsed.

‘How did you know?’ she gritted out.

‘Your mind games are sloppy,’ Elara sighed. ‘Star of trickery, and you can’t even get that right. I’ll admit you had mefooled at first. And after Celine warned me to keep the duskglass blade, I knew I had to hide it in an illusion. But there was something that nagged away at me, a feeling I couldn’t shake about the wrongness of it all. You see, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why I kept smelling godslilies. And then when you walked back in, it clicked.’ She grinned to Gem. ‘Details are important, and I’d memorized every one of Enzo’s. No freckle. No frown. And your earring was silver, not gold.’

She sighed, standing up, and looked pitifully down at Gem. ‘The blade didn’t touch your heart, I made sure of that. I can spare your life if you tell me where he is.’

Gem laughed weakly. ‘Not a chance.’

Elara’s face turned solemn. ‘I give you my word, Gem, that you will leave here free if you tell me where you’re keeping Enzo.’

Gem’s eyes narrowed as she coughed, wheezing. ‘Why would you help me?’ She grimaced. ‘After what I did to you?’

‘Because I am not like you.’

Gem observed her a moment. ‘Fine,’ she hissed.

Elara pulled the blade free and Gem cried in pain. ‘He’s being held in Idris’slucirium.I charmed the guards there,’ she panted.

Elara smiled coldly, flexing her fingers around the Starkiller’s hilt. ‘You helped kill Sofia. I want you to know that I would have made your death agony for that—let alone for what you did to me.’

Her shadows lunged, billowing down Gem’s throat. Gem’s eyes widened as Elara plunged the blade back in, this time right through the Star’s heart.