Chapter 66
Zeth sat with Astrys up in the forest clearing. She lay on her back, gazing at the stars, as he sat nearby, leaning against a tree trunk.
“Do you remember the exact time I was summoned?” she asked, that signature inscrutable look on her face betraying no emotion.
“...No, unfortunately I don’t,” he responded. “But it was around this time. I guess we just wait. And if you disappear…”
She nodded. “...Then I disappear.”
He stared at her. “How do you deal with it?”
“With what?”
“This. All of this. I mean, you’re facing your mortality, right? You might die soon. Don’t you have unfinished business? Stuff you wish you did? And you’ve basically been imprisoned here with me for the past twenty-four hours while you’re forced to grapple with all of that. How come you aren’t freaking out?”
She looked up into the sky for a moment, but eventually, she said, “This little period of time that I’ve spent stuck in your realm…I didn’t see it as a prison. It was more of a vacation.”
He scoffed, smiling slightly. “Y’know, I always wondered why other demons haven’t felt that same way, actually. It certainly sounds a lot worse where you’re from.”