Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…I guess I just want them to know that Mark’s life isn’t theirs for the taking. I know that a human is nothing to any of you, but I can’t just stand back and let them do whatever it is they’re trying to do without a fight.”

Trick was quiet a long time, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. “Have you considered how quick the death will be if they decide you’re of nouse to them? How long they could make it.”

I nodded, pulling at my fingers. “Aniya will find you and then Cole will take Mark to Phaidras. He’ll be fine.”

“No, he won’t be.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t do that,” he stated, the coldness of his voice pulling my attention back to him. “He’s your little brother, Kyra,” Trick went on, his eyes burning into mine. “It doesn’t matter how little you think you’ve done for him, even if all you did over these last 11 years was talk to him, you’d still be his hero. Considering everything you’ve sacrificed for him, everything you’ve given him. Losing you would destroy that boy. It would destroy him in a way you will never fully understand.”

I could see it in his eyes, and I wondered how deeply the loss of his sister had affected him. I wondered if he and Cole had ever spoken about it. The loss of a lover, the loss of a sister.

I cleared my throat and shook my head, turning away from him. “It doesn’t change anything. I still have to do this. Besides, if you’re still around, I could just summon you,” I tried at a joke, but as I touched that collar, the comfort I felt wasveryreal.

“That’s right,” he said, a tendril of shadow carefully lifting my chin and turning my head until my eyes found his again. “You can. Any time of day or night, whatever the case, I’ll come right to you.”

His tendril fell away, but my eyes remained locked on his. “Be brave, do what you have to do, but if you even, for a second, believe that you are in danger, call me.”

“Evanora will be there. She’ll know I have a secretweapon.”

Trick smiled, the light touching his eyes. “Is that what I am to you, Angel? A secret weapon.”

I shrugged. “You’re obsessed. Might as well take advantage.” And I hadn’t realized how true those words were until I spoke them out loud.

He chuckled, the smile real, filled with light. It made my heart sing. “I’ll see you later, Angel.”

I felt the smile touch my own lips as I nodded. “Okay.”

Trick lingered for a second longer before he Jumped away in a swirl of smoke and shadows. Something, I learned, he didn’t have to do. The swirls and gusts of his magic were just theatrics. He could have simply vanished without all of that, but why? He was a High King. Might as well make a statement.

I inhaled deeply and turned back to the castle. Okay. I could do this. Just go up to them and tell them no. Just say no.

I was safe. Trick was waiting. He knew what I was doing. I was fine. I’d be fine.

The zing of fear shot down my spine, warmth spreading through my stomach as a shiver overtook me. I shouldn’t have been this excited to walk up to my death.

I glanced over to Aniya, the only remaining shadow tendril I had, and gave her a nod.

She swam across my cheek before slithering down and melting into the shadows on the ground below me. I wasn’t alone.

I wasn’t alone.

Okay. With a spinning mind and a buzzing heart, I started across the town square, up those steps, and tothose doors.

The knights looked irritated to see me again. “What?”

“I’m going to see the High King,” I stated evenly, although my heart was beating erratically.

The one on the right laughed. “You’re going to? She’s going to,” he told the other knight. “When did these bitches step so far out of line? Unless the High King has requested your appearance, we ain’t letting you in.”

I sneered. Ain’t? They seemed a bit old to be talking like that. “He’s requested that my brother move in. He’s killed three humans, hung them on the crosses, and painted in red a threat towards us that if I didn’t bring him here then he would hunt us down and slaughter us. Do you really want to be put in the middle of that?”

The knights exchanged a look, clearly frustrated. After a silent conversation, the one on the right stepped to the side and opened the door for me. “If I had it my way, you’d already be dead,” he told me as I walked forward.

“Not before I fucked you though,” the left hissed, leaning in a little too close. He made a slurping sound. “Love me the stench of the unclean.”

Gross.