Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Kyra

I sprinted for the cottage, the jar of Asilos Root thumping against my thigh. My head was pounding, my left eye pulsing from the punishment I had gotten from being home too late last night, but I had bigger things on my mind.

Much bigger things.

Mark had questioned why I had been in such a rush this morning.“Because winter is coming, little fox.”

In truth, I had stayed up all night thinking about what Talaroe had said. The Fallen were a mystery to me. Far more than any other species. I hadn’t even known about the High King’s name until yesterday.

Trick Michael.

His name somehow fit the very few stories I had heard.

Rape, murder, torture. Kidnapping people from different courts and taking them back to Oridian to do with what they pleased. Some of the Nightwalkers had even gone into detail about what the Fallen did to their victims, and it was enough to give even me nightmares.

If anyone went missing in any court, it was their doing. That’s what the stories claimed. I still remembered the stories my mother had told me when I had been a babe of the Fallen creeping in the shadows, stealing souls, limbs, tongues. It was one of the main reasons why Raphael implemented the curfew. It was to protect his people.

It didn’t surprise me that he had killed a village of hisown for this stone, but why? What was he planning? Why didn’t I recognize the name?

Eye of Orion.

I knew about weapons. The Archangels each had a weapon of power. Michael and his sword, Gabriel and his bow, Enoch and his shield, all lost when the gods and goddesses perished in the War of Ruin.

The Staff of Elder, which had aided in creating each species, was a powerful weapon that the Goddess of the Stars had created after the gods and goddesses had requested to create something for themselves. It hadn’t been made as a weapon, but the witches had altered that during the first war.

But Orion? She had been one of the three goddesses of the Nephilim, a species that had been eradicated, along with the dragons, during the Fall. They had no powerful weapons. None that I had ever heard about.

Seraphane, Akira, and Orion. The latter had represented the Fates in the Order.

An Order which was now represented by the Kings and Queens of each species.

Lia Seeker, High Queen of the Pixies.

Raphael Gerodia, High King of the Humans.

Penny Rain, High Queen of the Fae.

Satarmore Irsch, High King of the Warlocks.

Belgart, High King of the Vampires.

Tyler Marshal, who was currently missing, High King of the wolves.

And finally, Trick Michael, High King of the Fallen.

There was another species, the witches, but they were supposed to be under the reign of Satarmore,so there was no official High Queen. If there was a title available, it would belong to Evanora Fairshield.

The Fall happened 1,212 years ago, bringing an end to two amazing species, the dragons and the Nephilim. 648 years ago, the War of Ruin brought the end to the gods and goddesses along with separating Caduto, the largest continent in the world, which had contained each territory. It had broken into nine continents, each of which held a territory owned by one of the royals.

In the aftermath of the War of Ruin, the High Queens and High Kings appointed themselves as the new Order.

After the Nephilim died, it was rumored that the Fates slipped into a permanent silence to mourn the loss of their people. They disappeared, walking the world like wraiths. Had they left a powerful object lying around out of neglect? Had the loss of their species made them uncaring of the others?

And why had I never stumbled across the information? Not one person had mentioned it? It seemed highly unlikely.

I jogged into the cottage, panting. I tossed my things onto the table and hit my knees in front of the stacks I had on the Nephilim, searching for my book on the gods.

It took me seconds to find it. A handwritten journal about the Fates and all the information I had been able to find on them.