Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Another layer of fire spread through me. “No, I don’t. He infuriates me. He’s an arrogant prick who expects everyone to fall to their knees before him, and his respect for anyone else doesn’t exist. So no, Cole, I don’t like him. I like you.”

He searched my eyes. “Then how come you’ve been straightening the same four papers since he left?”

I shot him a glare. “It’s been five seconds, you absolute dick. It takes longer than that to get a stack of papers straightened.”

He smiled, and I knew what he was doing. Goading me. He was a goader.

Cole leaned back, smiling, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s unhealthy.”

“You’re unhealthy,”I spat back. I know that. I knew that more than he did. I didn’t need him telling me how unhealthy it was because Iknew.

He chuckled lightly. “How did you put all of that stuff together?”

I set the stack of papers down randomly. “I wrote a book about her once.” I straightened, studying himcarefully, watching the way his wings moved with his spine. After another few seconds, I gestured at him. “Can I study you?” I asked, picking up my journal of the Fallen.

His brows rose. “Study me?”

I nodded and gestured to his wings. “I’ve yet to study them. I’d like to draw them out, write down some information. May I?” I might as well get something out of this horrendous day.

He glanced back at his own wings and then turned back to me. “Sure thing.” He pushed himself to a stand and walked around the table.

I took a few steps back and tracked him as he walked to the center of the room and carefully spread his wings out, his back facing me.

I quickly drew out a sketch of one of them before walking over. “Two and a half your height, right? And you can use them to shield yourself?” I asked, running my fingers over the edge of them. Gods, they were so soft. I couldn’t imagine being wrapped up in them. How comfortable that would be. “They can deflect almost anything, right? Except for obsidian and dragon magic?” I asked, finding his eyes.

“Yeah,” he replied, taken aback. “Where did you find that out?”

I shrugged, gently bending it ever so slightly, watching the feathers easily glide over each other. “Some of the Fae have wings and so do the dragons. I know they’re all slightly different, but it’s the same essential idea. The Fae can use their wings as shields against anything except for iron, obviously, iron being theirweakness. They don’t have wings as big as yours, but they don’t need them. Dragon wings aren’t exactly two and a half times their length, some are, but not all.”

I walked over to his spine, running my fingers over where the wings connected to his back, slits torn into his shirt, probably his king’s doing. “The dragon wings are beautiful too. More like bat wings than the Fae are to bee-wings. Some are feathered though. The membranes are thin, but incredibly strong. You can see sunlight through them, and the only thing that can tear through them is either an Angelic weapon, dragon talons, or a blast from magic darker than they have. Forbidden Magic, for example.” I paused, my hand flat against the space between his wings, his heartbeat strong. “Your High King’s magic, I would think, but I don’t know much about it.”

Cole glanced back, raising a brow.

I needed to know more about it. “No offense, but dragon wings will always be superior,” I smiled, finding his eyes.

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “I take great offense.”

I smirked, taking note of how they moved. “They’re connected to your spine, right? Because of how you were built?”

Cole nodded, tightening them with ease. “Directly. If you press your hand down a little more, you’ll feel the bones.”

So I did. I added just a little bit of pressure to my fingers, moving them around until I could finally feel where the bones attached to his spine. “Fascinating. What happens if you break something right here?” I asked, pressing against the joint that connected to his spine.

“It can be dangerous. Either you can’t fly for about a week while you heal, or you lose the ability to fly and possibly even walk altogether. It depends on the break, but it hasn’t happened to me that I can recall.”

“It would take a great amount of force,” I agreed. “The Fae have a thin layer of magic shielding their wings. Kind of like the layer on birds’ wings that allow them to get wet for a short amount of time. Do you have that?”

Amusement danced in his eyes. “We do. For a girl who didn’t have access to that much information about us, you sure know a lot.”

I shrugged, stepping back. “It’s all about the questions.” I scrawled down a few more things as he turned back to me, my mind drifting back to the street, to the people who had given me that information.

I chewed on my lip, and found his eyes. Maybe it was time to show him the street. Just give him an inch of trust. Trick already knew about it, but he hadn’t asked about it yet. Maybe Cole could help me figure out why it was there or where it came from. Maybe it would help him figure out why his magic wasn’t working. And I definitely needed something to distract me after today.

Even as the thought graced my mind, Cole’s wings disappeared from view, and I frowned, fighting the eyeroll because I didn’t need Cole giving me shit about Trick being in my head along with everything else.“I don’t need your permission.”

A chuckle fell across my shoulders.“No, but you can’tvery well take him if his wings are visible.”

I sneered as Cole glanced from his shoulders to me in question. “That was strange.”