The pit in my stomach still hadn't filled itself after talking to Astral. I still felt so horribly hollow. He had never betrayed me before. Astral and I had always been so solid in our friendship, and it killed me, he chose the time of his ultimate betrayal to profess his love to me. I had waited for so long to hear those words from him, but it was so ruined. Everything was ruined.

Astral tried getting me out of bed but was massively unsuccessful. He'd leave the room to do whatever and then come back to sleep with me. He'd tell me of his day with Venus, how they practised using The Sight, how he could control it. It all sounded very good for him. I was happy for him, but the pit in my stomach wouldn't really let me... Be... Anything but this.

"Come on," Astral murmured and gently pulled on my shoulder, getting me on my back. "Venus has prepared a lovely dinner and I know you must be starving."

"I'm not hungry."

"That's a boldfaced lie. Come on, Mars. You can't hide in here forever and I know you're angry with me, but you can't starve yourself. I won't have it."

He pulled me up in a seated position and I slumped forward. I was so tired and exhausted and hurting. I was just hurting so bad.

"Let's get a shirt on you, yeah?" Astral said and left me in the bed for a minute before returning with a fresh shirt. "You know how much I love it when you're shirtless, but I also reckon you don't wanna attend dinner like this."

Tears filled my eyes and almost immediately flooded over. Astral gently wiped them away before buttoning my shirt.

"There. And now I'll brush your hair so it's all shiny. You'll look so pretty."

A sob rocked through my body. Astral simply kissed my forehead and wiped my cheeks again. Then he moved behind me, standing on his knees and gently ran the comb through my hair. He was so gentle, and it felt so nice. It was heart breaking. I loved this dumb boy so much and at the same time, I was so angry.

He stopped brushing and then took up the top of half of it, styling it like he styled his own. He used a leather string to keep it in place and then he came back around, facing me.

"There. Now you're all pretty."

"I'm not. You're just saying that," I muttered through a sob.

"Would I lie to you?" he asked, and I sent him a look. "Uhm, I... I wouldn't lie about this. I would never lie about how I feel about you, nor how beautiful I find you."

I nodded a bit.

"And I won't let you starve yourself over something I did to you. I'm going to spend eternity making up for this. I promise." He gently took my face in his hands. "I love you and... I don't know what else to say. I'm so bad with words-"

I leaned in and kissed him just to shut him up. I hadn't forgiven him, but I was working on it and so was he. Him complimenting me wasn't it. I couldn't exactly explain what had pushed me toward the first step. Maybe it was time, maybe it was the fact that he refused to give up.

And maybe I was having second thoughts about it all. Being angry while asleep was a lot easier when Astral wasn't trying to make it up to me. He was right when he had said we were co-dependent. We had a hard time functioning without each other and I was seeing the plain evidence of that. His betrayal had sent me spiralling into this and my anger had solidified it.

If I were to work on forgiving him, I couldn't sleep all the time. I couldn't run away from this.

There had never been a time where I wanted to die. I hated dying, but I was thinking I hated this more. Sitting here, pretending to be friends with Venus. Pretending to be nice. I hated being nice to people who didn't deserve it. She and Astral were talking about visions, and the only thing I could think about how much I hated that freckle under Venus' eye. Hated how she did her hair in intricate hairdos, that still showed off how long it was. And it was so lush and shiny and looked really great, and I hated her for having great hair. It was probably really soft and thick as well, and I wanted that thick hair. It wasn't that mine was thin or anything, but it was fine. Astral liked it. Once he told me it was like fairy-hair. I never understood what he meant, but he just kept saying it. We were ten and he had been playing with it.

I snapped out of my line of thinking and glanced at Astral. He had always tried to build confidence in me. Ever since we were kids, he'd point out I was taller than the other kids, so I didn't have to take anything from them. I was prettier than them, so I didn't have to listen to them mock me. And I had him, so he'd beat them all up if they ever laid another hand on me. He promised back then, he'd always protect me and now it made me wonder if he had known he would find a way to become immortal. I mean, we were eight years old back then, but he had promised many times that he'd always protect me.

Venus laughed at something probably really charming Astral had said. He could be so charming to people when he wanted to. Problem was, he usually didn't want to.

"I think it's time we leave," I said, interrupting their conversation.

Venus arched one of her perfect brows at me. "Leave? How come?"

"Because we have a thesis to finish. A degree to finish. A life to live." I shrugged sarcastically and paired it with a toxic smile.

"Right, I had preferred it wouldn't come to this, but Astral has a debt to pay." She tilted her head to the side, that dumb smile still on her perfectly painted red lips.

"A debt?" Astral asked and frowned.

"Did you think I hand out immortality out of the goodness of my heart, Astral? Do you think all these people living within my walls are here for the greatness of my company?"

I opened and closed my mouth. I wasn't sure what to say to that. I hadn't thought about it? And I felt so terribly dumb for not thinking about it. How had we not thought about what she'd ask in return.

"Why didn't you say something before we did all this?" Astral growled.

"Why didn't you ask?" Venus retorted and smirked at him. "You're both too smart for your own good. Being too smart leads to being dumb. Never assume you're the smartest person in the room, Astral. That'll be one of my many lessons for you."

I rose so quickly from the table, the chair tipped over with a loud crash behind me. "We're leaving."

"No, Mars. You're not." She barely moved her hand. I didn't catch the movement properly, but in seconds delicate silver chains snaked their way around my wrists and my throat. They looked beautiful and I didn't get it. I said I was leaving, and she gave me jewellery?

That's when they started burning. They turned bright orange and immediately seared my skin. I screamed and dropped to my knees, trying to wrestle the delicate chains off me. Astral hurried to my side but then the chains appeared around his neck and wrists too, immediately burning him.

"Try and leave, boys, and it won't be pleasant," Venus said calmly from the table.

The burning stopped and it was if I could finally breathe again. Astral moved in front of me, spreading his arms out.

"You don't get to hurt him," he growled through his pants. His wrists were scorched. The chains had almost grown into his skin and it looked so painful.

"I'm not planning on it, but as you can see, sometimes we've all got to do something we don't want to do. Don't force me. Go back to your room. You both look awfully tired."

We both stared at her for a good while until I snapped out of it and grabbed Astral's shirt. "Astral, come on." Terror tore through me as I got back on my feet, hauling Astral with me.