Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

The bow clattered to the counter, causing Cole to look back, and I quickly pulled my hand to my chest, giving him a reassuring smile.

He studied me for a moment longer before turning back to Talaroe. Once his eyes were off me, I looked down, lifting my hand just enough to see the burns that covered the entire underside of it.

I gaped, gripping it back against my chest. What the hell?

“Astraea,” Madam Levine warned.

I swallowed, thinking back to when I could have possibly burned my hand but there was nothing between going to the castle and now that would have caused this.

Perhaps it was a side-effect of the Forbidden Magic. Yeah, that had to be it. It had to be. Nothing else would make sense.

“Astraea,” she warned again.

I flinched, forcing my hand against my thigh while reaching for my veil with the other.

“Hmm, bruises on top of bruises then.” She started grinding up the correct amount of berries for what she saw. “Any fractures? Breaks?”

“No,” I answered, trying not to reveal thesudden aching pain in my hand. “Do you know what their relationship is?” I asked, if only to distract myself. The only bruises I should have had was the one Evanora had given me, and the few on my arms where Mom had grabbed me a little too hard. Other than that, it had been a decent week. I was fine this time around.

“Hmm,” she said again, glancing up to the duo. “Not a good one if they have one,” she answered, a metal strainer appearing out of seemingly nowhere. “Most people within the High Courts have very little amicability. It’s the cost of politics.”

“Who is he in the High Court?”

She strained the Mersine berries into a glass on the counter. “Satarmore’s little brother,” she replied, earning a wide-eyed look from me. “Although, from what I know of the relationship, there isn’t one. I did wonder why he sent his brother rather than someone else, but I’ve heard he doesn’t actually have a High Court.” She paused and eyed me. “Does he?”

There was no record of Satarmore having any sort of family. “Boris Percy is his High General, other than that, I haven’t found the information, and the warlocks here are testy here.”

Madam Levine chuckled. “Ah, yes, they’re all a bunch of grumps. She held out the cup. “Drink. All of it.”

I gave her a soft smile and took the glass. “Thank you,” I said before tipping it back, remembering the moment when Trick had forced it down my throat. I could feel his hand around my jaw, his body pressed against mine, pinning me to the sink—

I shut thethoughts off, shaking them away as I finished the glass. No. Carissa was right. This is what they did, Trick Michael was only playing an impossible game.

Madam Levine took the cup. “So, how did you come across the High General, hmm?”

“By being reckless,” I replied, wiping my hand across my mouth. “He was getting into trouble. I had to do something about it.”

“Oh,” she beamed. “Something worthy of bragging. Here,” she handed me a cup of cold water. “Drink.”

I gulped it down thankfully, leaving enough so that she wouldn’t take the cup back. I subtly wrapped both hands around it, the relief on my left hand nearly overwhelming. I studied Cole’s back, wondering what the two were talking about. “Did you hear about the attack?” I dared, turning back to Madam Levine. It had been a few weeks, so I was sure she had to have heard about it by now.

A weight settled on her shoulders, darkness in her eyes. “Hmm. We all did. The vampires went out that night, long after curfew, the town square was clean, but they overheard Evanora speaking of what had happened. How successful it was,” she seethed.

Sorrow filled me, but also interest. Vampires must have had the type of magic that wasn’t affected by whatever was affecting everyone else. I’d have to remember to write that down later. “I’m sorry,” I apologized, despite there being nothing I could have actually done to prevent it.

“There was nothing you could have done, dear, as much as you might wish you could, some things justcan’t be stopped.”

I searched her old eyes, centuries of pointless knowledge falling through me in waves. “Sometimes the tongue is sharper than the sword,” I explained. “I’m by no means a fighter, and I couldn’t hold a sword to save my life, but I’d like to think I know things that may make a difference, even if that difference is just in my brother.”

“You have good intentions, but talking cannot stop death.”

I shrugged. “Maybe not, but it can postpone it if done right. Death will always come, wearing different colored cloaks and wider smiles, but that doesn’t mean we should just give up.”

“Sometimes the threat is not worth fighting for.

“And sometimes there is an old wolf in a creepy shop who decides to treat you with kindness despite your species. And sometimes there’s a cocky Fallen High General who loves to make people laugh. It’s not about the greater presence, it’s about those grains of sand who refuse to give up.”

Madam Levine smiled, her eyes shining. She leaned in, mischief in her eyes. “And sometimes there is a troublesome little human girl who shouts out truths in the middle of the street surrounded by people who could kill her without trying, hmm?”