Home / Fantasy / The Grace of a Thousand Stars / Chapter 1 - A Voice to Remember

Share

The Grace of a Thousand Stars
The Grace of a Thousand Stars
Author: B Zahin

Chapter 1 - A Voice to Remember

Author: B Zahin
last update Last Updated: 2025-03-05 07:54:52

--Alaric POV--

She came to the world like an unexpected storm. With no warning, she surprised everyone with her voice, enchanting everyone that listened like a siren from the myths. And according to the rumours, her voice wasn't the only enchanting thing about her since she looked like a seductress straight out of a dream.

That woman was both thrust into the media's face and sheltered away from it like a sort of prize. Even amongst celebrities she was a celebrity, one that we could always see but never touch

And somehow, my existence became intertwined with her intriguing self.

"Cut! Good job everyone, that was the last scene for today!" I stood up, dropping the fake smile off my face as I nodded at my co-worker, shaking her hand before turning to leave the stage.

"Good job, Alaric. You can change out of those wet clothes now, and then go home for the day, we'll see you tomorrow." The director said as my manager came to hand me a towel to dry off, and on my way to my dressing room, I received a handful of other 'Good job's' from people.

My role in this movie wasn't difficult to play; It's a heart-warming story about a cold man scarred by his abusive past growing to become his own person with the help of his friendly boss, a woman who always has a smile on her face, it's a love story between them, with the perfect amount of angst, cuteness, and romance.

The main male, me, was a cold man that always held a stoic expression on his face, he didn't look like someone with a broken past, and apparently, that made me the perfect person for this role, according to the director.

"That's it for today, right?" I asked.

"Yes, other than this shoot and the interview in the morning, there was nothing else on today's schedule so you can go home early for once." Ezra, my manager, explained, following me into the room as I stripped down to change into my own clothes.

"This movie was the main thing on your agenda, but it's almost wrapped up in filming so you should start deciding on your next project, any ideas?" Releasing a tired sigh, I slouched down on the couch as the make-up artist stepped into the room to clean me up.

"I don't know. I'll have to look through the scripts first," I closed my eyes as she ran the cotton pad soaked in micellar water over my face.

"Why not that fantasy movie that'll be directed by Kyle Douglas? You'll play the handsome, young, and talented wizard? Your fans are sure to go wild when they see you with long hair." He suggested, looking to be more excited than any of the said fans.

I'm an actor, having made my debut more than 10 years ago now which has led to many opportunities to test my acting skills; I've played a number of different roles in my career, each role being vastly different from the other, but I've recently come to the realisation that maybe I worked too hard? I've played so many different people that I don't remember my own personality anymore, I've somehow lost myself.

I got into acting thanks to my mother who was a renowned actress herself in her time, but she's retired now, living her lavish life back home in Spain which is fast becoming nothing but a memory for me. And I'm stuck here in the USA, working day-by-day, and earning more money than I know what to do with.

"Hello? Alaric?" Ezra called when I didn't answer his question.

"I'll think about it," I said, having phased out whatever it was that he had said. And as I finished speaking, someone knocked on the dressing room door, waiting for Ezra to reply before opening it up with a smile on their face.

"What is it?" I asked her, Sandra Levine, the female lead of the movie I was currently shooting. She's older than me in both real life and the movie, being 37 in both, while I was 28 in the movie and 30 in real life. Although, she looked to be in her twenties with her blonde hair, tall, hourglass frame and so on and so forth.

"We're going out for drinks, come with?" She grinned.

"No thanks. I'm tired."

"Oh, come on. You're always tired; You're one of the highest-paid A-List actors out there, but you hate hanging out with people. As a successful human, you should have more of a life!" I didn't sign up for this lecture when I woke up this morning, and I'm so tired of replying to the same lecture with the same words every single time.

"You would think that as a successful human, I would have more time to myself. But, clearly not," I grumbled, sitting up as I slipped into my jacket that Ezra so kindly handed to me, and catching a glance at my reflection in the mirror to make sure I was presentable, I slipped a black sunhat on before picking up my sunglasses for extra coverage.

"I'm taking this as a yes?" Sandra grinned up at me.

"One drink. And then I'm out."

"Please, I'm just happy you even said yes." She laughed, leading the way as I went to follow, but paused to quickly turn and look at my manager.

"Can you buy me some food, anything light will do, and then come pick me up from the bar?" He nodded as I quickly thanked him before turning to follow the blonde woman, praying that no drama happens at today's meet-up. After the last situation that I'd been dragged into, Sandra made her way onto my list of people to avoid when drunk.

And this time didn't change anything.

Less than an hour later, and the said woman was on the counter, a drink in one hand as she waved her hips, dancing to a KPOP song that she had requested the bartender to play, and instead of telling her to get off the counter like a responsible person, the other's followed in her footsteps instead.

All I could do was wait for the song to end in hopes that it'll calm all these drunkards down at least a little bit. At the very least, I was mildly grateful that they picked a private bar to come to, so there wasn't the big worry of paparazzi or crazy fans slipping through.

Taking a sip of my scotch, I rubbed my temples, tired from all the noise and wanting to simply go to sleep, but it all felt like nothing but a pipe dream at this moment.

And when the loud party music finally came to an end, I thought I had finally found peace, but the calming song that came on after made me question exactly what peace was.

When the sudden calmness that followed my thoughts swept through the whole bar, I blinked my eyes open, wondering for a split second if I had fallen asleep at the bar and was currently dreaming, but I knew better when I saw Sandra still stood on the counter.

Somehow, she looked calm now, a distinct difference from her wild dancing persona a second ago, and slowly, she got off the counter, coming to sit back down on the bar stool beside me, taking a sip of her drink as she stared into space.

I didn't want to say that a single song had the power to change her mood that quickly, but I somehow knew otherwise.

"What is it?" I curiously asked her dissociated self.

"This song, I've listened to it once before, and the feelings it instils in people still scares me," She mumbled, going to take another sip. "As if it she knows all the thoughts that goes on in my head and she's finding a solution to each and every one of them with her voice." 

I didn't reply for a while, simply tuned in to listen to the song while turning to look at the TV screen hanging on the wall where the music video for the song was playing. It was a simple music video, taken from the point of view of a young woman walking through nature, nothing dramatic, and yet somehow, it made the song so much more emotional.

I wasn't one that listened to much music, and this is a singer whom I'd never had the pleasure of seeing nor hearing. The voice made me curious to know what kind of face could be put on such a sad voice, I couldn't picture it.

"Who is it?" I asked.

Sandra shot her head to look at me, surprised.

"Are you living under a rock?" I glared. Was this singer really that famous for me to have to hear such an insult at not being able to recognise her voice?

"It's Ines Agua. People call her a siren purely based off how emotional her voice is, she's able to enchant anyone with only a few notes of her voice. But she's trouble, apparently."

"Trouble?"

"There's always some sort of rumour linked to her. Dating, mostly, and there's no surprise there, she's so beautiful that no one would dare call her a liar if she were to reveal that she's a siren." I hummed, keeping my thoughts on how that sounded a bit dramatic to myself.

"But still, she's a bit problematic. As a celebrity, we're always fearful of paparazzi crawling around us, but she doesn't seem to care about that, always pictured with a different guy; She's too confident so no one really likes her. If not for her voice, she'd have been abandoned by her company by now, that's for sure,"

I've been in this industry long enough to know to keep my nose out of others' businesses, so I didn't say anything to either agree or disagree with Sandra's words. I admit, this Ines Agua had a unique, almost unreal voice, but whatever she chooses to do with her life hasn't got anything to do with me. So, I simply don't care.

"You've seriously never heard her music before?" She curiously asked.

"No, I don't listen to music much. I don't have time," She was the one humming in disbelief this time, but I didn't say anything back, simply continued to sip on my scotch as the song continued to play in the back.

I've never heard such a clear voice in my life, I didn't think it was possible for a human to sound like that, it somehow makes the siren accusations believable, and it only raised my curiosity of what this woman looked like. It was as though it was her voice that drew the emotions out of people rather than the lyrics of the song itself.

But the song ended too soon for me to delve any deeper into my thoughts, and seemingly just in time as I caught sight of Ezra stepping into the bar. Taking my card out, I paid for everyone that I came with before turning to leave, ignoring the chorus of cheers that followed me.

"I got you sushi," He explained as we left the bar, going to sit in the car where I saw the said food waiting in a white bag for me to eat. "And some noodles in case you wanted that instead." He added, putting the car into drive.

"This is fine, thanks," I ate the food on the drive home to my penthouse which felt much longer than it was, and it was only when I began drifting off to sleep that we reached the destination.

"Get some rest. I'll come to pick you up at 7 so be ready by then," Nodding, I half-heartedly waved him goodbye until he eventually drove off, and spinning on my heels, I went to go to my penthouse, pausing in my steps when running feet were heard approaching me from the side.

And before I could turn to see who it was, the small figure of a woman bumped into me.

That was how we first met.

The innocent mermaid that was terrified of this world, and me, the man who hopelessly fell in love with her curious self. It was a relationship bound for disaster. But despite the inevitable threat of the said disaster looming over us, I couldn't let her go.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, grabbing her by the shoulders to help her stand upright. She jumped, my voice surprising her as she shot her head up to look at me, wide-eyed. 

And now it was my turn to be surprised.

Those eyes; They weren't human.

Those blue eyes, they were unlike any human one's that I'd ever seen, a royal blue shade that reminded me of the depths of the ocean- No, it wasn't a reminder, it was more like I could both hear and see the very ocean in her eyes, from the crashing waves to the very feeling of drowning, I saw all that in her eyes.

"You..." My breath was lost in my throat, my eyes glazing over the serene beauty that was her face. Even in the darkness of the night, she was unreal. Both the moonlight and the dimly lit streets gave off enough light to illuminate the beauty that was her; She, who looked like the object of every man's desires.

She was short, barely coming up passed my chest, with raven black hair hanging in wild ringlets around her small, round face, a warm ivory skin tone and pink cheeks that gave her breathlessness away; She'd been running...

"Ines!" An angry voice shouted from the distance, confirming my thoughts.

A desperate hand latched onto my arm, a voice begging for help followed a second later.

"Please... Hide me." And her voice confirmed it, giving her away on who she was. Barely an hour ago, I had learnt of her existence for the first time, and I've been graced with her presence right after that.

"Ines!" As the voice grew both closer and angrier, she desperately looked around the area, giving up hope on my help as she turned to run around me, but before she could get too far, I grabbed her arm.

"Let go-" She cut herself off when she saw me raise a finger to place on top of my lips in a sign that told her to hush, and she instantly listened, confusion marring her face as I nudged my head towards the building in front of us.

Moving my hand down her forearm, I held her hand in mine, pulling her along with me as I led us into the building, the automatic doors slowly sliding shut behind us as I caught the elevator a moment too late as the voice raged right behind us.

"Ines! Get your ass here right this second!" She jumped, a scared hiccup escaping her throat as she stepped behind me, grabbing onto the material of my shirt while I quickly pressed the close buttons on the elevator, praying for it to hurry up and shut before the man caught up to us.

From the few seconds I had to look at him, nothing familiar called out to me. Brown hair and beige skin, brown eyes glowering with a rage that didn't faze me in the least, but he was dressed in a designer black suit, giving away that whoever this man was, he may have been important.

But who he was is the least of my problems right now. With the elevator doors finally sliding shut before he even had the chance to properly step into the building, we were riding up to the top floor where my penthouse was located, a place where only me and a select few people whom I allowed were given access, he was not one of those people.

But with the reality of my situation suddenly befalling me, I released a quiet sigh, running a hand down my face as I looked behind me over my shoulder to where the said woman was stood, still tightly clutching onto my shirt, her forehead resting on my back, and eyes squeezed shut in fear.

What an odd situation I've found myself to be in.

Nevertheless, a small smile crept onto my face as I stared at her, somehow knowing that this little coincidental meeting of ours was only the beginning of an entertaining story.

...

Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App

Latest chapter

  • The Grace of a Thousand Stars   Chapter 25 - Safety of Heaven

    --Ines POV--"...What?""There's an ongoing investigation, and the police are looking for him, but he's nowhere to be found for now. It seems that he's tucked his tail and ran, talk about pathetic." Alaric replied with an eyeroll as he came to sit beside me on his sofa."He wouldn't just run though," I mumbled, heartbeat picking up as I thought about exactly what Malachi could have been attempting right now.I've been stuck with him for 5 years, and he's got too much pride to just run away; He wouldn't go anywhere without a fight, and he knew that I knew that. What is he planning?"Yeah, I was surprised to hear it too. But I don't think we have to worry." His voice assured me, the fast beating of my heart quickly calming down as he wrapped his arms around my waist, dragging me over to sit on his knees."Why not?" I asked, hands placed on his shoulder where I played with the soft locks of his hair, and he smiled at the

  • The Grace of a Thousand Stars   Chapter 24 - The Broken Curse

    --Alaric POV--All I could see was her. All I could feel was her. And all I could hear was her.Her quietly embarrassed self as I stripped her body of its clothes, the tinge of red staining her cheeks like the toppings on a desert. The feel of her soft, supple skin moulding against mine, quivering under my hold as I did things to her that she never would have imagined being done to her. And the sounds that left her lips, the melodious breaths of air, the trembling moans as she called my name.It was all so perfect."Rick..." She breathed out, black locks of hair sprawled out around her as she lay in bed, looking up at me through hooded blue eyes filled with desire, her hands outstretched towards me, calling for me.And how could I ignore that?"You like that?" I groaned and she gasped, head reeling back as she squeezed her eyes shut, hands going to grip onto the bed sheets, but I caught hold of them before they could, intert

  • The Grace of a Thousand Stars   Chapter 23 - The Lost Confession

    --Ines POV--"Father is raging, Silvia." I've not heard that name for so long, I'd almost forgot what it sounded like to hear someone call me by it.We were in Alaric's home, and I stood by the window to look out at the view of the city with my brother sitting on the sofa, his eyes unmoving from me as he filled me in on everything that's happened in our home since my disappearance. Alaric himself was nowhere to be found, but he said something about Maxwell coming to visit, and went out to get him."...I know.""You know? How?" He asked."I could hear you in my dreams, all of you. But I couldn't reply to you, I felt helpless, and desperate. But

  • The Grace of a Thousand Stars   Chapter 22 - People We Found

    --Alaric POV--With the end of the interview, I found myself strapping myself into the driver's seat of one of my favourite cars, and without much thought, I had driven over to where her interview had taken place where, to no surprise of my own, it was overflowing with reporters, fans, and haters."This is not going to end well." I muttered, parking my car close to the curb as I leaned back on my seat, eyes pinned forward to where Ines should be exiting from.And I watched as she walked through the glass doors, a small smile plastered on her face while she tried to keep her nerves at bay, but that proved to be quite difficult, it would have been for anyone when strangers threw questions at you, and shoved their fat cameras in your face, I could practically feel her suffocation from where I was.And not wanting to feel it any longer, I stepped out of my car, going to approach her, but came to a skidding halt when she did the same, my eyes slightly widening at the sight of a hater throw

  • The Grace of a Thousand Stars   Chapter 21 - People We Lost

    --Ines POV--I had no idea what Maxwell was planning when he arranged this interview for me, but it quickly became obvious as I truthfully answered all the questions the interviewer had for me. And it wasn't just the audience that were surprised, but me too.Things I thought were normal ended up not being normal, and not to mention the fact that Malachi had gone around telling the world that I was an orphan, the audacity of that man never fails to enrage me. I was going through everything for the sole reason to return to my said family, but he'd killed them all off in his story.The cameras all quickly cut off as Lousie had instructed them to do, and the audience members were all filled in a pin-drop silence as though they were immobile statues with Lousie holding my hands in hers, worry masking her face.Did I go too far in acting naive?I admit, not everything was unexpected. I played naive at certain times and honest in others, like the fact that I didn't own a phone, I already kne

  • The Grace of a Thousand Stars   Chapter 20 - The Beginning of the End

    --Malachi POV--Pacing back and forth in my office, my eyes kept looking down at the ring on my pinkie finger, the crack seeming to grow larger every time I saw it, and with every time I saw it, my anger and fear would spike at the reality that I didn't want to believe.The curse was breaking.One way or another, somehow, the curse was breaking. And she was going to leave me without looking back even once.What would I do if the curse broke? I put so much into it with the belief that it's an unbreakable curse, but clearly, I was wrong. How is it breaking? How could she reclaim something that can't be reclaimed?With a tired sigh, I went to sit on my seat, looking at my computer screen where my brows furrowed at the sight of the trending searches.Ines Agua Interview.What interview? She's supposed to be at home, working on lyrics today. I said goodbye to her before I left, and Maxwell was watching over her to make sure she didn't try running away... Maxwell. I knew it. Groaning, my fi

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status