Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

She shook her head. “As far as I can tell, the only reason they would want to come after us is if they actually want Trick dead. It’s not confirmed, but since there’s a high possibility that that’s the case, I’m considering it accurate. However, he’s no longer the High King and once they find thatout, they’ll leave our species be.”

I gripped the back of the chair, my magic sparking under my skin. “You’d abandon your own brother?” I hated him, but even I knew that was cold. We didn’t abandon our people, not even the monsters that lived among us.

“He abandoned us the moment he revoked the crown.”

I shoved away from the chair and turned away from her, rubbing my hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe this. Why would Meeria and Nick agree to this? It wasn’t like them.

“You seem torn up over this decision. I thought you hated him. I thought you claimed he was a monster and there was no hope for him.”

I turned back to her, eyes wide. “He’s done some fucked up shit,” I began angrily, “somehorriblethings, but at the end of the day, he is still our family.Yourblood. If Evanora is going after him, we owe it to him, to Rose, to help him.”

I hated this. I hated situations like this because up until this moment, I wanted nothing more than to leave him to fend for himself. But I guess deep down, the truth was that he was still family. He was a dick, arrogant, a psychopath, a stalker, a murderer, a torturer, but he was still family.

He was still Rose’s brother.

“A changed tune,” Lora mused. “What changed your mind?”

I threw my hands up. “I’m just as psychopathic as he is, I guess,” I all but shouted. “Do you really not care about the other species’?”

“There can’t be a war if no one fights,” she said evenly. “They’ll take Trick, do whatever they need to do with him, and we’ll be safe from yet another war that would very well cripple us into oblivion this time.”

“And if they kill him?”

There was no emotion in her eyes as she stood, tightening her wings behind her. “Then I’ll be glad my crown was earned via him revoking it rather than him dying because of it. Have fun with the girl while you can because soon, you’ll be busy. We’ve still got our own battles to deal with. Like Karious and his precious followers.”

Despite my rage, my opinion on this entire subject, I lifted my chin. “What followers?”

“You really thought Karious was the end of it?” She scoffed. “We’ve got an entire rebellion on our hands, and where is Trick? Gone. Again. Like he always is. So go. Spend time with your pet. Fuck her enough to fill up your quota, and then come back for good. We’re dropping the witches and we’re focusing on our own species from here on out.”

She Jumped before I could get in another word.

I snarled, my magic sparking at my fingertips. I couldn’t ignore the witches. I wouldn’t. Not when Mark was being targeted. I may hate Trick, but Lora? She was making an incredibly poor decision and I had to tell him about it. He had to know.

~~~

“And then the Vigil howled at the stars,” Kyra said, her soft voice drifting into the living area. “She sang hersong of thanks, grateful that they had listened, that they had sent her this mighty warrior to help her find her family. The stars, in response, folded that song within the depths of their souls and every year, on that very night, the wind carried that Vigil’s song across the world for all to hear.”

“Why?” Mark asked around a yawn.

“Because sometimes people lose hope,” she told him, “and that’s a terrifying place to be. Hearing the song of the Vigil thanking the stars for their answers could reignite hope in some hearts. Maybe not all, but some.”

I leaned back against the edge of the table, watching Mark’s cracked door, the sound of shifting blankets meeting my ears.

“Do you have hope?”

She was quiet for a beat too long. “I have you,” she answered instead, causing my shoulders to fall. “Be kind always, my little fox, be brave in the face of fear, and always help when you can. Fear doesn’t have to make you weak, fear can make yousostrong.”

“Is that why you’re so strong? Because you were afraid?”

She thought about it. “I was strong because I had someone to be strong for,” she finally decided.

“Kyra?” he asked around another big yawn.

The bed creaked as she stood. “Hmm?”

“Thank you for keeping your promise.”

She paused then. “What promise?”