When Stars Die (The Stars Trilogy) Read Online Free Page A

burden that Nathaniel suffers through. Mother Aurelia once told me he is an isolated boy, so removed from the social sphere of Cathedral Reims that it’s not normal. Being a witch, I’m certain, has something to do with that.
    Mother Aurelia finishes with Sister Colette. My stomach lurches as she moves away from her and toward me. Yet, while she moves toward me, she does not move behind me. Rather, she stands in front of me.
    She claps her hands. “All right, girls. Stand and place yourselves against the walls, palms flat on the bricks, if you please. This will purify your souls.”
    On unsteady legs, I stand. Pinpricks shoot through my legs from having been frozen in the same position for so long. I feel like a newborn as I toddle to the wall and press my palms against it. The rest of the girls meander to their respective bricks as well.
    Mother Aurelia approaches me and removes a metal box from her habit, probably kept tied against her waist the entire time. Only dear Deus knows. She opens the box. Inside are squirming leeches, sluggish beasts with terrible mouths full of terrible teeth. My stomach threatens to implode at the sight of the monsters. She removes one of the writhing things and grabs my arm with cold, bony fingers. Her mouth in that characteristic perpetual grimace, she lets the leech latch on, and she presses my hand back against the wall. Right when the creature sinks its tiny fangs, I begin to question if I am going to be able to survive this. The leech squirms too much, is too hideous, and I can actually feel my blood being drawn from my veins. I’ve always been peculiar about my veins. Even someone checking my pulse makes me queasy.
    The leech starts to fatten from my blood. Mother Aurelia pulls it off. Before she can even put another one on, a gasp escapes my lips. A long line of blood trails down my arm, but that isn’t what sends the heaviness of an impending faint through me. It’s the puckered flesh where the leech was, and the vein bulging through my skin.
    I look at Sash and Asch one last time. They’re engaged in deep conversation, looking from us to each other. They look alarmed. A black curtain slowly falls over my eyes, and before I faint the last thing I see is Sash pointing. At whom, I’m not certain.
     
    #
     
    We sisters are in the infirmary, a dull room with bare walls, cheerless windows that show fallow fields beyond the outskirts of Malva, old beds, and the constant scent of disease that presses on our lungs. Candles illuminate our faces. Some faces are streaked with tears, some with frowns, the rest with indifference. We’re all on beds, wrapped in fleece blankets, nursing hot cups of tea. I suppose Cathedral Reims doesn’t want us to die after all, though we could all stand to use a fire in here. The tea at least warms my insides but does nothing to dispel the humiliation of being the only one who fainted.
    I’m not going to be professed. I fainted and woke up at the end of the bloodletting session. Fainting means I’m too weak, not devoted enough to Deus, not strong enough to handle the rigors of being a professed nun. I slump, my face downcast, my feet turned inward, and my hands resting dejectedly on my lap. At least Sash and Asch aren’t in here. I don’t know where they disappeared to, but I don’t care now.
    Colette sits on my bed and sips from her own cup of hot tea. She makes a face at the blandness, which surprises me. She can handle all manner of abuse, but a little hot tea makes her grimace?
    “I think you did great,” she says.
    Even through the welts creeping upon her shoulders and the puckered flesh from the leeches on her forearms, she’s still a beautiful lily. “You don’t have to lie to make me feel better. You’re the one Mother Aurelia’s probably going to profess first before anyone else.”
    “I just wanted to scream the whole time, honestly. It was so brutal.”
    My hand grabs for a candle that isn’t even near. It just meets air. I want to