STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

"Get a grip," he muttered, voice barely above a whisper.

But the words felt hollow. His fingers curled around the porcelain, his knuckles white. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror but refused to meet his own eyes. Not after what he’d seen earlier.

He shut off the water. The silence rushing back, thick and suffocating.

Lucien made his way back to the bedroom, slipping under the covers, but the warmth of the bed did nothing to ease the cold knot in his mind. He stared at the ceiling, his thoughts tangled in the pull—an invisible force thrumming beneath his skin, vibrating in his ribs, whispering at the edges of his consciousness.

What’s this?

A sensation unlike anything he ’d ever felt started moving inside him.

It started in his chest, a ripple spreading outward in slow, rolling waves. His breath caught, muscles locking as the force deepened, swelling into something vast and unknowable. A weightlessness overtook him, his body dissolving into the pull, as if he were being drawn into something bigger than himself, something endless—

Stars.

They rushed past in a blur, their brilliance searing, overwhelming. Faster than light. A current of pure energy wrapped around him, dragging him toward something unseen, something waiting —

A jolt.

Lucien gasped, his body lurching violently as he was slammed back into himself. His eyes flew open, his lungs heaving for air. The bedroom swam into focus, too sharp, too real.

He couldn ’t move. His entire body tingled, his limbs caught between numbness and hypersensitivity.

Beside him, Lyra stirred. She rolled onto her back, blinking up at him groggily.

"Lucien?" Her voice was thick with sleep, but there was an edge of concern beneath it.

He didn ’t answer right away, still reeling, his mind scrambling to process what had happened.

Lyra pushed herself up on one elbow, eyes sharpening as she took in his expression. "What’s wrong?"

Lucien turned to her, throat tight. "I..." He faltered. How could he explain something he didn ’t understand himself?

Lyra studied him, and when she spoke, her voice was calm. "You ’re

233