Beneath The Stars Emily Mcintire Novels & Stories

The sliding glass door was cracked open. Cold air drifted inside. And beneath it Meghan. She sat curled into one of the old balcony chairs. Wrapped in a blanket she'd stolen from the couch. Her knees pulled to her chest. Hair a complete mess. Staring up at the sky. She looked up at the sound of the door opening. And my stomach dropped. Her eyes were wide. Not with fear of me. Fear of herself. "Ollie." Her voice shook. I was beside her before she could say anything else.

The final star disappeared. For several seconds, Emily stood perfectly still, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. The sky above the First Kingdom had been filled with thousands of stars only moments before, yet now there was nothing but darkness. Not ordinary night, but an emptiness so complete that it seemed to swallow even the moonlight. Kael's fingers tightened around hers. "Emily." "I see it." "Something is out there." "I know." The little girl who had once been the Hunger clung to Emily's side. She was trembling so badly that Emily could feel it through her hand.

I was about to speak when I heard my stomach growled. I laughed awkwardly; right I haven’t eaten anything since last night. Orlene sighed at me, “Get up,” She stopped as she saw me standing up, slowly. “Hurry up and eat!” She said. After I stood up, I looked at Dalikamata. She’s looking at the sun. Maybe embracing its beauty, maybe she’s waiting for it to set. Amansinaya’s also with her. They’re both looking at the beautiful skies. Without any minute, they both turned their heads onto us

Almost whole. That evening, long after the others had settled in, Celeste found herself on Silas’s balcony. The sky was painted in shades of blue and lavender, stars peeking through the winter clouds. She leaned on the railing, arms folded, the fabric of her coat still smelling faintly of perfume and fresh wool. Silas joined her without a word, his presence like gravity. Wrapping himself around her. "Long day?" he asked softly. Celeste smiled. "Victoria tried on a veil that could have doubled as a tent."

The fires had burned low, and the earth still steamed with blood. The battle was over, but the stillness that followed felt like a held breath—not relief, not yet. Just silence. Dense. Waiting. I stood just beyond the circle of tents, where the pines opened into a moonlit hollow. The stars had finally returned to the sky, faint but clear, peeking out from behind drifting clouds like they'd been waiting for permission to shine again. My armor was gone. My hands still shook.

The questions gnaw at me, relentless. I fumbled with the door, finally letting myself out into the hushed hallway. The silence pressed in around me, amplifying the solitude of my home, where I lived alone while the others were tucked away in their cabins. I knew Jake was only a few feet away from mine, but that thought barely registered as I limped into the kitchen. There she was, Amelia—draped in a loose robe, her blond hair hastily twisted into a chaotic ponytail. She was striking in her vulnerability, those piercing green eyes narrowing as they met mine, a stark reminder of the twisted history between her, Jake, and now Luna.

"The dead are gone, Your Highness. You must take care of yourself. Though the prince consort and the young lord have passed, this great residence still needs you to hold it together." Mother's eyes lost focus. She smiled bitterly. "What residence? Gideon and Eli are gone. What use do I have for such a large estate alone?" Her face turned ashen. She clutched her head, drowning in guilt and collapse. Only when the physician began packing his things did Mother's gaze land on the bloodstains on the floor. Her voice came out hoarse. "Doctor Harlow, your skill is known throughout the army. Why have you returned to the capital?"

It was the monster under her bed that had finally grown a face. She reached under her pillow and felt the rough fabric of the small denim jacket she had tucked there. She thought about the red stitches: *Sari*. "I'm not going to be a nobody forever, Sari," Lina whispered into the dark. "He thinks he erased you. He thinks the darkness swallowed you whole. But he forgot that you left a light behind."

and with that he walked out of the house, closing the door behind him. I hissed. That was totally unnecessary I you ask me, but who am I kidding, Desmond is an asshole… I don’t think that I can overemphasize that enough. Hours passed and I was getting fucking bored. I mean I had done everything, binge watched all the twilight movies and now here I was scrolling through I*******m, before I came across Judith’s I*******m story. Why on earth was I still following her? But I could not get it out of my head what I was looking at.

His arm wrapped around my shoulders, warm and steady. "You were incredible tonight." He murmured against my hair. "We were incredible." I corrected. "Together." He smiled, and nodded shortly. "Together." We stood there as the sun rose over Duskwind, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink and the first pale silver of a new day. Behind us, in a quiet cabin at the edge of the compound, Morwen closed her eyes for the last time. Her thread, thin and golden, pulsed once. Then it faded into the web, woven into