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I hesitated, watching a glint of gold through the thick forestry It wasn’t a blinding glow or even a substantial light, it was the di tilow of a Star

That ray haze was of the Fallen

And they atching us

But that didn’t make sense because a Star wouldn’t be with the Fallen unless they were in battle And the Fallen wouldn’t just watch as Seth and I destroyed so e us Or run

I had to have iined it

I turned my head back to Seth as he finished off the last of the Shadows near hi sticky piles of sli from this world to be banished to hell for the rest of eternity

"Did you see the the Darkness completely retreat Seth and I were finally alone

"See what?" Seth asked, clearly having noticed the us Maybe Fallen There was soht, but I saw it," I explained, hoping he believedthe distance between us Up close I could see the splatter of thick, black blood across his chest and shoulder blades His hands were coated in the heavy sludge, and his sell doused But he looked relatively unharmed and his eyes flashed with the pride of victory "We should find your parents and Jupiter immediately I’m sure they ant to knohat happened"

I nodded weakly

Seth took another step forward as if unsure of hiood, Stella," he whispered proudly inthe first tiood"

I tried to speak but winced instead fromy sweater away from my body I wanted to feel embarrassed, but my back felt co on The backs of s, too, felt like they had been sliced by thousands of razor blades fro et you home," Seth said seriously and my stomach clenched at the level of concern in his voice

"Is it that bad?" I asked, ready for the truth

"What the stench? Oh yeah, it’s pretty bad," he sross; I can’t even tell what color your hair is anyht need to be looked at"

I forced a smile, thankful for his candid nature He smiled back, but the apprehension was still obvious in his eyes

"Were you this bad in your first fight?" I winced, hoping for sootten a scratch," his sth left I would have punched hier weapons than your little baby sword"

"It’s the only thing that would fit underout unstably I sucked in a sharp breath when I let ainst my torn apart skin was aler sword," Seth er skirt"

Chapter Nine

"You need to go to the high council," Jupiter argued frorownups heated and ht’s events froation ihter’s life is at stake… the future of this planet is at stake!"

I cringed, hating that iven They weren’t staying on planet to putnear me to protect me until I could efficiently protecttheir perspective; the possibility of a traitor hiding aument down the middle

Butthey could do and no need to argue I couldn’t offer h since I had been ordered to stay in bed, healing salve applied to each wound and sore I bithter, but heavenly orders came first Every Star and Warrior understood that our response to this call that was greater than us, greater than our fa orders was our first priority

Except what if our "call" had been co from the traitor…?

"I have already sent word For noe cannot leave Stella alone!" my father answered Jupiter’s demands with a raised voice, completely out of character for hi patience for you And if you were part of the Darkness… well, then you usually didn’t last long enough to see his te end of a deadly Warrior who had lost his patience

"Sending word is no longer good enough!" Jupiter argued "You need to make sure, no… you need to stand over theoing to continue to put Stella and Seth in danger They are… they are… what is that phrase… they are standing turkeys until we do soo there myself if it didn’t mean I had to die first!"