Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

I stood back and watched until he took off, back to the skies. Maybe it was just something demons did. I couldn’t be sure, I had never seen it happen before, but then again, I had never befriended one outside of the nargs.

I hadn’t seen Cole in a week, but I saw the smoke leaving the chimney that he was still there. I’d need to adjust the vent I had put up there to disperse the smoke enough not to pull attention.

My tendril of shadow appeared before me, watching me carefully. Waiting as if it knew what I needed.

I inhaled deeply, looking back to the woods. If he had ignored me earlier, I doubted he would listen to me via shadow, but I had no choice, not when I needed to speak with the other magical being I was friends with. “Show him what we saw,” I told her, finding her again. “I can’t be sure what they were, but something in mygut tells me they aren’t human.”

She nodded once and darted North, in the direction of the Fallen Court.

I watched after her long after she disappeared before finally turning towards the cottage.

Cole was watching the door when I walked in. He was leaning back against the counter, hair down, the fire the only source of light besides the moon he was blocking behind him.

He reminded me of the father I never had, ready to scold me for staying out so late.

I shut the door, his eyes nearly black in the light. “His name is Letak,” I said, remaining where I was.

Cole studied me for a moment before pushing away from the counter. “You both looked happy.”

I shrugged, glancing towards the wall next to the fireplace where my drawings of demons hung. “Are you angry?” I had drawn zalins before, but I wanted to draw him too. Letak specifically. The look in his eyes was different than the others.

“You looked defeated before you disappeared for a week, and when you do return, it’s on the back of a flying demon and you’re smiling. A real smile. How can I be angry?”

I pulled my veil from my neck. “You look upset.”

“I was worried,” he confessed. “Trick’s been missing for the last week, you never came back after revealing to me a secret you’ve kept for your entire life. I thought they had killed you until I went to the street, and they said they hadn’t seen you either. I went to the city every day looking for you, but,” he shrugged. “You’re aprofessional at disappearing.”

Years of practice. My heart stuttered in a strange way as the other words clicked into place. “Missing? The war—”

“We’re not going there yet, but it’s something we’re used to, something we’ll deal with.” He walked around the table, gesturing to the couch. “It’s after sunset. You were out past curfew.”

I would never admit out loud the way my heart thudded at never seeing that man again, but my chest did ache.

I took a seat on the couch as he pulled over the chair. “I needed to ask him a question.” Would the shadow tendril find him? She had to. She was his magic, she had to find him. “I thought he would…” I rolled my eyes. “I thought he’d come when I called.” It sounded so stupid when I said it out loud. I had tried to get the attention of a crazy man who was obsessed with me and then I was upset when it didn’t happen. Gods, maybeIwas the crazy one.

But what if he was gone because of the threat of war? Would he truly abandon his people for a third time? Even if there was a possibility of Evanora going after him next, she would just go after his Court if he couldn’t be found.

“Must have been something really important for you to willingly call him.”

I pushed my hair back and started chewing on my lip, hearing Mark sob into my shoulder until he finally fell asleep. “Yeah, when he didn’t come, I came here. You know him better than anyone, and I just…I need the truth.”

My eyes found Cole’s again. Deeper than the night sky, watching me without judgment, without impatience.

“I don’t think anyone truly knows him,” Cole confessed, but a moment later, he loosed a breath. “About what?”

I swallowed, pulling at my fingers, my heart picking up. “A bargain with a witch, it’s worse than a bargain with a warlock, isn’t it?”

His brows pulled together, that worry turning hard. “Did you bargain with Evanora? Kyra why—”

“Mark’s Raphael’s son,” I spit out, forcing my expression, my emotions, to remain neutral. The only way to get the true answer was to give him a truth, I knew that. He needed the whole story, so that’s what I gave him.

He froze, shock twisting his expression. “What?”

I nodded, looking to my wrapped hands, picking at my nails. “The day Evanora slapped me, I was going back to tell Raphael that he could have him, but something changed. Raphael started to say something, but we were interrupted by Evanora.”

Cole leaned over his knees, trying to catch my gaze. “Raphael has a son, Talons, why does he need your brother?”

I shrugged. “Because Raymond isn’t right for the throne,” I half-laughed. “That’s what he told me. I had made the decision, you know, but then I changed my mind, and they said that if I didn’t turn him over, they’d hunt us down and take him. Some irrational part of me was fine with that, butthen I started doubting again. Back and forth, but while I was gone today, Mom told Mark the truth.”