Page 38 of Fallen Stars
Her feet tripped on the uneven cobbles, helping her fall swiftly out of her reverie. As she slowed, she realised she’d reached Morpheus’s Opiates. Her mouth suddenly went dry, the familiar heady scent of the hypnom den wafting out to her. She took a step towards the building, hearing the moans and bedframe banging above of the pleasure house latched onto it. She reached the door. Her hand wavered over the doorknob. Just a smoke wouldn’t hurt. Enough to take the edge off the revelations of the eve. But she had her first lesson with Eli in the morning. And a harsh voice rang through her head. “What would Enzo say if he knew what you were doing?” Merissa’s words stopped her short.
And with a grit of teeth and a filthy curse, she backed away from the door, veering left as she began her slow ascent back to the inn.
Chapter Thirteen
Eli did not sleep that night. It was not that he didn’t want to. Gods, he would sell his soul again to get a restful night. But alas, the curse of his charm. Thoughts never ceased, his mind constantly whirring, others’ thoughts chattering around him. It was incessant.
Immortality wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Not only did sleep evade him, but so did the other pleasures that life had to offer. To not be able to sate one’s self was a personal kind of hell. The thirst, the hunger, theemptiness.He’d gotten so used to sheer lack of it all that when Elara had swanned in, looking like death herself, it had felt like a lightning shock to feel….Intrigue?If that’s what he could call it—the way she had commanded the room and bargained with a god over another’s fate as though she was taking afternoon tea. Even the priestess with Ariete the other night hadn’t piqued his interest like that, no matter how naked and willing she’d been.
He rolled over in bed, stilling as he heard the sheets rustle. Ah, yes. He’d forgotten for a second about her.Herbecause he couldn’t recall her name after the devotee had draped herself over him in The Ruby once he’d left Elara.
He got out of the bed he hadn’t slept in, moving as silently as a wraith to his bathing rooms to freshen up. Gods, life was monotonous. Even fucking felt the same, moving through the motions, pleasure always a hair’s breadth away from him. He supposed it was his gifts that made him feel so jaded. Being able to enter someone’s mind with such ease certainly made one feel pessimistic of humanity. It also left little to be surprised by.
Eli was never surprised, never interested. Mortals were so predictable. He thought back to the night before and the woman now in his bed. He’d had to enter her mind of course, charm her into thinking they’d really slept together—he had a reputation to keep up after all. The woman he’d ‘bedded’ was arguably stunning, good at what she did too. He’d entered her mind with no resistance, no shields in place from her as he’d conjured up her fantasy for her, all the while sitting in another room.Yes, she liked his tongue like that. No, she wanted him to move slower. Yes, she worshipped the ground he walked on, would do anything for him.Sometimes, Eli wondered if immortality was really a curse that the Dark had bestowed on him, rather than the gift she’d painted it to be.
He let out a sigh, splashing his face with cold water as a clock tower chimed nine. Elara would be here soon, and the two had work to do.
“Morning, your holiness,” the woman in his bed said, a bright smile on her face. Eli resisted the urge to roll his eyes, opening his room’s doors.
“I have an appointment to keep,” he said roughly. The devotee’s face fell as she stood, sinful naked curves displayed in the grey trickling Castor light that would set any man’s cock straining in his britches just to look at. But Eli was no man; he was a Star.
She quickly shrugged on her gown from the evening before. He couldn’t stand to see her flurry of thoughts floating around her.Last night was fun. I wonder if he enjoyed it. I hope he’ll ask me back.
“Will I hear from you, my lord?” she asked, hurrying after him as he walked through his spacious living room to the front door of his city apartment. The hope in her eyes almost made him feel bad. Almost.
“Not likely,” he said, closing the door behind her.
Smoothing his hair back in place with a hand, Eli whistled a carriage to a stop. Of course, it stopped instantly before him—being patron Star of the kingdom had its perks. He nodded, settling into the backseat of the carriage as it took him from the heights of his Pollux Quarter apartment to the depths of the Castorian underworld. Ah, The Remains, the place that teemed with thieves, drug lords, whores, and the most illicit of society. It had been the first place he’d gone to all those centuries ago when he had landed in Castor, the first place he’d opened his club. So to see the dethronedQueen of the Cosmoswalk through it had put the closest thing to a smile on Eli’s face that he would ever experience.
He wondered as he adjusted the three silver pendants hanging from his neck if Elara would ever regain a memory for who she’d been before she’d been trapped in a mortal body. She was so different to the Moon he knew. Softer, more human, but equally as terrifying. And he had yet to see if he could trust her the way he had the titan.
He knew he’d been a prick to her with nearly every encounter between them, but it was better that than show his hand if Elara’s mortal traits would end up with him dead and the world still in Ariete’s clutches.
He rolled a cigarette as he wondered if she or Enzo would ever remember their lives before—would remember him.
The carriage slowed to a stop, the footman running hastily out of his driver’s seat to open the door. Eli waved off the blessings and prayers the man bestowed on him as he stepped from the carriage, flicking a midan to him. He strolled down the cobbled side street until he reached The Tempest. The seven-foot Castorian doorman stationed outside nodded. “Alright, boss.”
Stefan was perfect for the job. A wind wielder, the man could choke air out of another’s lungs with barely a blink. It certainly helped keep the clientele that frequented The Tempest in check. Eli didn’t possess any elemental affinity. He was a Star. Telepathy was enough for him.
He gave a half smile, tipping a finger to him. “Hello Stefan. Any trouble after I left?”
“None.” The doorman shrugged, adjusting his suit lapel. “Apart from that dark haired woman who beat you at cards last night. Mika was on the door last night; said she nearly made him piss himself the way she looked at him when he wouldn’t let her in.”
Eli chuckled, the sound surprising even himself. “Yes, that sounds like her all right. I’m expecting her again soon. Let her straight in.”
Stefan nodded, resuming his post outside as Eli made his way down to the office. He was dying for another smoke. The Star had only just settled in his bottle green backed chair with his unlit cigarette before he heard a prim knock the door.
Sighing, he took the smoke from his lips. “Come in,” he called.
The door opened slowly as Elara walked in. She was dressed again in black from head to toe, a lace gown buttoned high and skimming the ground as she walked, her hair pin straight and loose. The woman had a haunted look in her silver eyes, something sharp and honed that he hadn’t seen when he’d helped her in Ariete’s cell all those months ago. He supposed she was missing her lover, and one look at the fading purple under her eyes told him she’d been frequenting herself with more than just his club during her stay in Castor.
He gestured to the seat in front of him before reaching his mind out to Stefan. “Have Cynthia fetch us afternoon tea.”
The doorman responded through his mind moments later. “On it, boss.”
“Good morning,” Elara said finally, her voice low and throaty as she sank into the armchair across his desk.
Eli decided resolutely in that moment to proceed with caution. No matter how well he used to know the Moon, this wasn’t her. This was Elara, a person who had lived a life of her own—who didn’t even remember him. He knew he was being cold, knew he was being a prick…but that was second nature to him at this point.