Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

“Whoa,” Mark breathed, immediately grabbing hold of Trick’s right wing as I gazed upon the four-inch talons that graced each apex of them. “Look how black they are! Cole, did you see it? Did you see it?”

Cole placed the last few plates on the table and quickly joined Mark’s side, crouching down to inspect the feathers as if it were his first time ever seeing them. “Whoa,” he hummed, back to his normal self. “That’s pretty black.”

I swallowed, eyes falling to my plate, the steam rising from the food. The first time Trick and I fucked after me signing that contract was supposed to have been a relief. I was supposed to feel relieved because it should have been the first step to Trick killing me. And now?

Now I wasn’t so sure. The doubt was still there, the fear, but then there was something else. Something much deeper.

“What was that? Last night, I mean,”I finally asked without looking up.

Trick was quiet a moment.“That collar had an invisible leash on it. It connected you to me lightly. A thread I could use to speak with you whenever I wanted. The shadow that you took down your pretty little throat so nicely,”he went on, causing my skin to grow hot,“was supposed to turn that thread into a chain. Every little kitten needs its ever loyal master.”

I frowned into my food.

“Apparently it took to you a little too well. The leash goes both ways, which I hadn’t expected.”

My eyes lifted, my brows pulling together.

Trick watched me carefully.“I told you that you own me just as much as I own you. I suppose it’s only fitting that my magic took that seriously.”

I rose a brow.“Then where is your collar?”

A smile just barely touched one corner of his lips.“Would it make you wet seeing me with a collar around my throat, Angel?”

“I read a book,” Mark announced proudly as he adjusted the seat right beside Trick, being careful of his wings. “It was amazing, and you are all going to listen to me talk about it.”

Without waiting for confirmation, he went on. “Cherishing Fractals,” he told Trick, forcing the High King to listen. “Kyra wrote it. Based off a true story, she claims,” he eyed me.

I forced a smile to my lips, my mind whirling with what Trick had just told me. A leash? Connecting us for how long? Forever? Until I died? So, we could hear each other and feel when the other was…

My eyes flicked back to Trick’s.“How does it work?”I asked rather than answering his question.

“I don’t know, Angel. It’s brand new to both of us. I haven’t experienced anything new in centuries. Not until I met you. You’re making me feel everything again for the first time. Why else do you think I made such a deep and unrelenting claim on your soul?”

I shivered at the snarl in his voice.

“You made me feel everything and now I can feel how I make you feel and vice versa. You can’t deny how you feel towards me when it consumes me every time I make you cum.”

I swallowed, pressing my thighs together. Fuck. I wanted to leave right then. I wanted to disappear into the bedroom and—

“I can still smell you, Kyra,”Trick rasped.

His eyes darkened and my cheeks warmed. Oops. I froze.“Wait…You don’t have any magic left. Can Cole—”

“I have enough to hold that shield, but nothing more,”he answered.“Don’t worry, your little secret is safe with me.”

Despite myself, relief filled me. Thank the gods.

“It was a story based off the man Odiss. He was a pirate,” Mark continued easily, neither he nor Cole sensing what transpired between Trick and I.

Although I was pretty sure that Cole was just stewing.

“Pirates don’t really exist anymore, but a long time ago, they had. Most of them were evil, stealing gold from other Courts, not belonging to any Court except fortheir own where the laws were their own. You know, no laws but the laws of the sea.” He frowned deeply and turned to me. “What was the sea called then?”

I pushed my eggs around, not truly hungry. “The Aragone Sea, after—”

“I’m telling,” Mark barked, waving me off. “It’s called the Aragone Sea,” he told them, turning to face Trick completely. “Itwascalled the Aragone Sea, past tense. Aragone was a feared pirate lord, and I guess back then people could just name things and that’s how it went. No records or nothing.”

I cleared my throat.