When Stars Die (The Stars Trilogy) by Amber Skye Forbes Page B

Amelia. It’ll be all right.” We stop at the entrance to the stairwell that leads all the way to the roof. The door is ajar, indicating Nathaniel did come this way, likely after our fight in the cloister. Oliver squeezes my hand and pulls me up into the darkness, our only guidance being his hand that feels our way to the top. “Everything will be all right, Amelia. We’ll talk to him. We’ll find out what’s going on. Don’t blame yourself, all right?”
    I give a tight nod, biting my bottom lip and praying Nathaniel hasn’t done anything stupid. Oliver yanks the door open, subdued light from snow clouds pouring into the dark stairwell. Across from us, Nathaniel sits behind the speared finial gate bordering the top of the south transept that overlooks an endless field of white. To the left are the barns, dormitories, green house, bloodletting room, and other buildings all coated in snow. Above us loom two towers that soar hundreds of feet above the nave whose pointed roof I can make out between the space of the towers. I should be grateful Nathaniel didn’t decide to climb on one of those, but he could still break his neck, even though this transept is half the height of the nave.
    Oliver and I step out on to the concrete landing, a shudder wracking my body as the late winter chill caresses my skin with sharp, icy fingers. Oliver seems to notice my shivering, for he peels off the outer coat of his white robes and wraps the wool material around me. I smile at him and cross over to Nathaniel. My heels dig into the concrete in an abrupt stop when I see smoke curling in front of Nathaniel. Eyes widening, I stomp over to him and yank the cigarette out of his small hand, my little brother coughing in the process.
    He looks up at me, his eyes widening. “A-Amelia…”
    “Nathaniel Gareth!” I stamp out the cigarette, then throw the nasty beast into the field of endless white. Any sympathy I had mustered to confront him disappears. There is a tin of cigarettes sitting beside him. Who would give a child a tin of cigarettes? “What do you think you’re doing up here? I was worried to death about you when Oliver told me, and here you are smoking, of all the things you could be doing! Why?”
    Oliver comes up behind me and rubs my shoulders, his voice a cool whisper in my ear. “Calm down, Amelia. Think about why he’s up here in the first place.”
    I pull in a deep breath, letting the wintry air settle in my lungs. Oliver is right. He’s always right. He’s the only person in the world who can bring me back to rationality. “All right.” My eyes turn gentle as they settle on Nathaniel’s eyes. His are rimmed with red. I bend down to his level and put my hands on his shoulders. “Nat, what’s wrong? Why are you up here?”
    His eyes water. He covers the cigarette tin, his cheeks burning.
    “Give that to me,” I say gently.
    He nods, handing the tin to me. I take it from him and put it in Oliver’s coat. “I-I’m sorry,” he says, rubbing his eyes.
    “Is this about our fight earlier?” I ask.
    He shakes his head.
    “Then what is it?”
    I’m about to take his hand like an affectionate sister, when I spy a single diamond dangling from a silver bracelet clutched in his fist. I blink a few times to make certain I’m not imaging this piece of expensive jewelry that clearly does not belong to him. Smoking and stealing--not two things I would have expected from my brother. “Nathaniel…” I grab his hand and pry his fingers off the bracelet. “Where did you get this? Be honest with me.”
    He shrinks away from me. “No…”
    “You know you can tell me anything, Nat, no matter how silly it sounds.”
    Oliver bends down beside me, ruffling Nathaniel’s hair. “Go on, Natty. She’s not going to bite your head off, I promise.” He winks, bringing a small smile from Nathaniel.
    “You promise you won’t laugh?” Nathaniel asks.
    Oliver smiles. “Now why would we?”
    Nathaniel starts picking at his