The Trouble with Twelfth Grave (Charley Davidson #12)(41)

She became known throughout all dimensions as the Benevolent One, the Sentinel, the Star Eater.

But then came her downfall. She fell in love with one of her prey, the Dark Star, the most beautiful star in all the heavens. The most beautiful and the deadliest.

He’d been born with a very specific purpose: to use his darkness to create realms with no windows so that those cast inside could never again see the light the heavens had to offer. They would live in eternal darkness and damnation.

But over the millennia, he had grown too dark. His immeasurable power uncontrollable. He became a threat to those benevolent stars who would rule their kingdoms with kindness and tolerance.

And so, the Dark Star’s Brother, Jehovahn, summoned the Star Eater.

The Dark Star, upon hearing this, grew enraged at the betrayal and ravaged Jehovahn’s kingdom and its people.

Yet inside he grew anxious. Impatient, even. He’d heard stories for centuries about the First Star. He longed to meet her. Hungered to battle her. Despite his immense power, she was stronger. Her strength surpassed any star’s from any kingdom in the known universe, and he wanted nothing more than to devour her whole.

But she made a show of truce. She met him among the rings of Saturn, stood before him in all her glory, so bright she nearly blinded him, and offered the Dark Star mercy if he surrendered to her demands.

He declined her offer with a shadowy grin, and what would later become known as the Battle of a Hundred Years began.

The harder he fought, the more ground he lost. She was his equal in every way.

With each new battle, with each new blow, she begged him to surrender. Promised him quarter. But he wouldn’t hear of it.

When it became clear, however, that he could not beat her, a thought came to him. He could make use of the beauty he was famous for. He could make her fall in love with him.

And so, during the next days of battle, he purposely let her get closer than was comfortable, for she could easily devour him whenever she chose. But he worked to earn her affection. He touched her face. Pressed against her. Brushed his mouth across hers. With each lingering touch, he courted her. Enticed her. Invited her to love him. Not realizing he had unshielded his own heart in the process.

His efforts were for naught, however, for the First Star had loved him always. Had longed for him always. Which was why he was still alive.

“Are you sure these are children’s books?” Cookie asked after a while.

“I was just wondering the same thing.”

We eyed each other a moment, then went back to reading.

At night, the Dark Star worked hard to create a kingdom within a kingdom just for her. A lightless realm within another galaxy far, far away from her own. One where she would live out eternity alone and miserable. Slowly going insane.

“A lightless realm?” I said aloud. “A hell dimension? Did the author mean a hell dimension?”

“What?” Cookie asked, absorbed in her own book.

“In the book, the Dark Star creates a lightless realm to capture the First Star. Does he mean a hell dimension?”

Cookie thought a moment, then nodded. “Think about it. What is hell but a place of torment? And how tormenting would it be disconnected from all light? Men have created tortures with that very thing in mind.”

“True.”

We went back to reading again.

When the realm was finished, when the constructs were in place, he pretended to surrender. Pretended to be in love with her. Pretended to swear his fealty.

She dropped her guard for only a second, but it was long enough for the Dark Star to cast her inside, lock the gate, and destroy the key.

He had won. At last.

The victory that had been so far from his grasp was suddenly his. But for some reason, he didn’t celebrate. He grew even more disenchanted with the world and even more tortured than he had been. Darker than he had been. For he realized too late that his love had not been a pretense.

And she was gone. The kingdom he’d created was impregnable. No way in and no way out. Thus, the Dark Star raged against all creation for centuries. Until he had another idea.

Beneath his Brother Jehovahn’s kingdom lay a lightless realm with fire so hot, it would melt anything it touched. But the Dark Star knew all the secrets of the realm, for he had created it. He knew how to handle the fire. And, more importantly, he knew how to steal it.

So, in a moment of desperation, he stole into the lightless realm and took the fire it held so dear. Without thought, he used it to melt the gates of the kingdom he’d created and release the First Star.

But she had been imprisoned for so long, the First Star’s mind had been compromised. She ran and hid among the other stars in the heavens, wondering if her mind was playing tricks.

Jehovahn had grown so angry at His little brother’s actions, He came up with a ruse of His own. He commissioned the Dark Star to create his best lightless realm, one that was even more inescapable than his last.

The Dark Star wanted to go after the First to explain, but Jehovahn told him He needed the realm immediately for a malevolent ruler that, because of the Dark Star’s imprisonment of the Star Eater, the only sentinel in the heavens, had become too callous. Too brutal.

So, the Dark Star created a lightless realm even worse than the last and encased it in Star Glass. He gave it to his Brother, explained how to open and close the gate, then went in search of the Star Eater. Went in search of his true love.