Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

How did she know that?

“The claw marks and the words aren’t as old as the building,” she went on as my heart ceased. “That’s what has me questioning a lot of things.”

Oh,fuck. A low growl left my throat. I was impressed. I wanted to give her something. Anything. A gift for how proud I was. “Good job, baby,” I mumbled, taking a few steps towards her, the shadow I had gifted her carefully caressing her cheek, causing shivers to cover her skin before the shadow retreated back to mirror her form on the ground.

She never stopped surprising me, and I loved it. I loved that she kept me guessing, kept me wondering. How much did she truly know in that beautiful dark mind of hers?

“How do you know that?” Cole asked in disbelief.

My shadows tightened around me, the one following her growing darker.

She looked up, her eyes scanning the woods as if she could feel a presence around her. As if she could feelmewatching her.

I hope she did.

I hope she felt it in the very depths of her fuckingsoul.

“I taught myself,” she answered distantly. “I wanted to know what it said, so I found what I needed.”

Cole tried to catch her eye. “You taught yourself an entire language?”

She turned back to him, and in that flash of movement, I could see the goosebumps on her hands along with another bruise. She had gotten them in the past, bruises, but recently they seemed to be happening more often. Either she was getting careless in her thieving, or someone was hurting her.

“I also taught myself Aelyrian and Sarivosian,” she told him, although the pride she should have felt did not reflect in her voice. “I dabble in Erini, but pixies are tricky, even in their language.”

My own pride for her flourished, but my rage pulsed under my skin too.

“Did somebody touch you?”I wanted to ask.

“Another person to slaughter,”my magic chanted.

I felt the snap of a bone in my leg and forced it back trying to control the snarl of pain that worked its way through me. No. Not yet, I wasn’t done here.

“Remind me to never introduce you to Nick,” Cole spoke, impressed himself.

“Impressed?” she asked, gesturing for him to follow her back around the corner.

“It’s incredibly impressive, Talons. You’re so young, learning how to speak three languages in such a short time? Anyone with a brain would be impressed, I’m sure of it.”

Talons? I sneered. What a terrible fucking nickname.

“Thanks,” shemumbled half-heartedly.

My brow furrowed at her response. She suddenly sounded tired. I wondered why. How much had she eaten today? How much had she slept last night? Her health was important to me. As important as claiming her as my own. I wanted to have her for as long as possible, losing her early for health reasons wasn’t an option. It was why I always sprinkled a little Brealick in her food whenever she finally decided to eat. Once every few days wasn’t enough, I had to make sure she had all of her vitamins, her nutrients, keeping her at a healthy weight. Soon I would be able to make sure she was eating three meals a day, but in the last year, this was as good as I could do.

Cole followed her around to the front of the building and stepped onto what was left of the concrete pad. “It looks like a box,” she told him. “No rooms, no windows, just the four walls. And these.” She kicked at the rusted chains lying on the ground. Thick and bolted down.

I could still feel them wrapped around my wrists and ankles, around my neck. I still had scars.

“There are also claw marks on the walls, the floor. Different from the ones across the note.” She glanced back. “I don’t know how long those have been there, but a lot of them have blood buried within them. Red, so not the demons.”

My little detective. Her observation skills were better than most I knew.

“A prison,” Cole said after several minutes. “This was a prison.”

She walked over to the corner and turned to him, her eyes darkened. “It was one of my theories. Here.”

I followed them, watching them closely, studying what she was showing him.