Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Penny glanced towards my shadows as they darkened, my shoulders tensing. “Does that mean you’re angry?”

My spine cracked under my skin, the Eye searing into my chest. In that moment, I was grateful I decided to wear it full time. Grateful I had put it on before I sought out the shard of Obelisk. “Be not afraid, little Fae Queen, it’s not you who’ve angered me. Not this time.”

She pressed her lips together. “Aeron’s eyes do the same thing when he gets angry. It’s strange seeing it reflected in your magic just as it is in his.”

She meant unsettling. “Your answers will suffice.”

Her back straightened. “You’re welcome.”

I Jumped, landing outside her bedroom door. It was the first time I had allowed myself in the same home as her brother, but I couldn’t ignore the cries of my Angel.

I simmered through the narrow bedroom door into a room half the size of the one in the cottage.

Her quiet sobbing filled the space, filled my mind, as my eyes found her. She was sitting on a pile of scraps, her knees pulled up to her chest, her body shaking as she sobbed into her wadded-up cloak, trying to muffle the sound.

Her beautiful chocolate hair curtained her, blood staining several strands, the smell coating the inside of my nose.

Another bone cracked.

“That’s it,”my magic purred, pacing under my skinlike a panther.“Let me in. Let me take over. I will give these filthy rodents exactly what they deserve.”

It took every ounce of strength I had to ignore it. All I had to do was hold on for a few more minutes, then it could have me, but my Angel needed me, and that was worth the pain of fighting back.

I walked over, crouching down before her. This. I had never seen this before. She was defiant, challenging, fierce, insatiable, but this? I had read about the horrors in her mind, but watching them overcome her, it broke something deep within me seeing her like this.

“Angel,” I said, fingers itching to touch her, comfort her as her shadow drifted around her, trying to do the same. “You are not alone.”

She would never know it, never hear it, but her shadow was weeping for her, with her, just as my shadows began to hum the song of the stars for her.

This room was not worthy of her. Why was she staying here if she had such a beautiful little home in the woods, surrounded by the things she loved? Why did she remain?

I lifted my hand, watching as my shadows drifted around my fingers, the song as comforting as my mother’s voice. “The amazing thing about shadows is that no matter how far you go or how lost you are, they will always be with you.”

Kyra inhaled sharply, her choked sobs painful as she leaned back, her head falling against the wall, heart racing, breathing labored.

There it was again, that quiet rage, my magic whispering through me, begging me to let it take over. Not tohelp her, but to do what it did best; destroy.

It was worse than before. A split and swollen lip. A broken nose, bruised jaw, a cut just under her hairline where the blood soaked into her hair and dripped down her face. Even her teeth were red with blood. She must have taken a chunk out of her tongue.

I felt that shift roar through me, bones cracking, teeth grinding, skin tearing. I snarled under my breath, using my hand to balance myself as I tried to fight against it. “Shit,” I muttered as the sweat soaked my clothes.

“What do I do?”

My eyes lifted, my body straining, the Eye setting fire to my skin.

Kyra was looking up, tears falling, her voice hoarse, nose plugged. Her shadow drifted around her neck, across her cheek, trying to comfort her. Whispering to her of that collar, trying to remind her that I was around if she needed me. “Please,” she begged, nose dripping with blood and snot. “Please, just tell me what to do. Someone.” She was quiet for a moment as she turned back to her room, seeing right through me, searching. “Anyone.”

I wanted so badly to reveal myself, but my body was shaking, distorted as my bones continued to grow and snap. I stood and stumbled back a step, waving into existence a cup of Mersine Berry juice, a bowl of prepared Asilos Root, and a piece of Allure Antler.

Kyra sniffed as she looked over to the corner of her room where the things now sat, her eyes widening, her body shaking in fear. “No,” she whispered, her shadowdrifting towards the ingredients. “You told him? Why would you tell him? Everything is fine,I’mfine.”

The shadow shook its head, but I couldn’t remain any longer. I Jumped to the Island only a millisecond before I exploded.

~~~

Kyra

I found myself walking down the alley to my Impossible Street, my bow in my right hand, satchel and quiver slung across my chest.