A hand grasped her ankle, and StarLaughter shrieked and tried to jerk herself free.
The hand tightened, and StarLaughter gave in to an instant of uncontrolled panic.
Only for an instant, as she realised who held her.
"WolfStar," she cried, almost unable to grasp her good fortune. This was a sign from the Stars themselves!
Wolf Star completely missed the momentary joy that swept
across StarLaughter's face. His fingers tightened fractionally about her ankle. "I can feel your heartbeat thudding through your veins," he whispered. "Did I surprise you?"
She pulled herself free — she would allow no-one to bind her again, not even WolfStar — and stepped back. Her husband was a mess; his body was covered in bruises, abrasions and weeping scabs.
Clotting blood besmeared his chest and belly, and streaked his face and hands. StarLaughter thought he should at least make the attempt to wipe it off.
Almost as if he'd read her mind, WolfStar absently wiped a hand across his chest, and flicked some of the blood away.
It made no difference.
"Why are you still here?" StarLaughter said. "I thought you might have made good your escape by now."
But she knew why he was still here, didn't she? Destiny had meant him to find her. One of her hands twitched, half-extended itself towards WolfStar, then dropped.
"Who is it?" he hissed, making an unsuccessful grab at the hem of her tattered gown.
"What?" Surely he recognised her!
"Who still controls the enchantment in this Star-forsaken land?" WolfStar said. " Why is there still enchantment about?"
StarLaughter chewed her lip, wondering if WolfStar's experiences had left him slightly deranged.
"Tell me!" WolfStar shouted, managing to grab her ankle again and pull her over.
She fell atop him, puzzlement replaced with anger, and drove her fist into his belly.
WolfStar cried out and let her go, curling up into a ball and sobbing with agony.
"You are a fool!" StarLaughter said, finally understanding what WolfStar was on about. She scrabbled back to her feet, making sure that this time she retreated to a non-grabbable distance. "You backed Caelum, didn't you? You thought he was the one to defeat Qeteb, didn't you? Ha! He was not the StarSon."
"What?" WolfStar said, rolling over and staring at her. "Who is?"
She smirked, revelling in the knowledge that WolfStar needed her. "Think I am going to tell you? I
—"
"Who?"
Something howled far to the north, and StarLaughter looked toward Spiredore anxiously. "The Demons will be back soon," she said. "We must be gone by then."
WolfStar gave a harsh bark of laughter. "Have you fallen out with them, my beloved? Have they not given you what you wanted? Have —"
Exasperated, StarLaughter threw caution to the wind and stepped close, leaning down to grab WolfStar by the hair. She gave his head a wrench.
"Shut up! Do you want to live? Do you want to stop the Demons?"
"Are you trying to tell me" WolfStar whispered, "that their destruction is what you want?"
She stared flatly at him. "They betrayed me," she said.
"Goodness," he said. "How utterly surprising."
StarLaughter pursed her lips, but let his sarcasm pass. "If you come with me," she said, "I will tell you who the true StarSon is, who controls the enchantment left in this land, and I will tell you where he is."
And for all this, she thought, you will love me and aid me. StarLaughter's face softened at the thought, and she half-smiled.
WolfStar's only response was a raised eyebrow. The bitch was mad!
"You bastard," StarLaughter said. "Would you lie there until the Demons ride their beasts over you? Would you lie here until the north winds finally rob your desiccated flesh of its last drop of moisture? Would you lie here until —"
"It seems," he said, "that at the very least I must lie here until you purge yourself of every last stored curse of the last four thousand years."
She threw his head back until his skull cracked on the cold-baked earth. "You are worse than a fool, WolfStar." She took a deep breath, then leaned down and grabbed his hair again. "Praise every star that exists that the Demons have not yet thought to rob me of the scrap of power they condescended to give me."
And she began to haul WolfStar effortlessly towards Spiredore, WolfStar howling with rage and frustration and agony the entire way.
StarLaughter paused in the atrium of Spiredore and looked carefully about. Then she cocked her head and listened.
Nothing.
