Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Trick huffed. “It’s not my fault you built me up into a man I never was.”

I was shaking with rage. “I’m angry,” I started again, “because Rose died still hoping that you’d be that man again, and rather than fighting harder, you gave up completely, abandoned your peopleagain, and left the Fallen Court in the hands of your sister who was still mourning the loss of your little sister,” I hissed.

Trick turned back to the wall, his face void of all emotion.

There was nothing left. Nothing left in his eyes, in his expression, no hint of humanity at all. Just darkness.

Maybe he was right. Maybe the manI had seen a lifetime ago never actually existed. Maybe it had simply been the overly hopeful eyes of a tortured boy from long ago that had seen what he needed to see to survive.

I straightened, forcing my emotions down, knowing they were pointless. “I’ve recruited her to help me complete the mission you assigned me. She can give me what you want on the witches, I’m sure of it. If you want to come collect progress reports, fine, but you will not come here threatening her life just because you hate humans.”

Trick turned to face me completely then, a cruel, cold smile gracing his lips. “At least I can revel in her scent.” His eyes flicked to my hand, and then he Jumped.

I cursed under my breath, clenching my hand into a fist. We all had our own shields to prevent that from happening. Trick could still wear his but me? I should have tried harder to wash it away.

I snarled under my breath and lifted my eyes to the stars above. “I’m trying, baby but I just can’t do it anymore. He’s gone. Whatever you saw in him, that person isgone. There is no saving him because there is nothing left to save. I love you, Rose, but I can’t keep fighting for someone that doesn’t want to be saved. Trick Michael is a lost cause.”

5

My Bible, Chapter 2, Verse 8,

Pain is how you thrive. It is the lifeblood that flows through your veins. Without pain, there is nothing. No life, no death, just emptiness.

Kyra

Iwas trying to focus.

Focus on why that message had been left on that prison. Focus on why the High King would need that stone.

Focus on what Cole’s mission might be.

Focus on the fact that Mark had grown out of his winter pants so now I needed to find another pair to compensate.

But all I could think about were those eyes.

Bright green surrounding a pupil so black,it absorbed every ounce of light there was. The color of dew-covered grass on a fresh Spring morning.

The color of a green wine bottle on the beach, the sun beating through it relentlessly.

The color of life surrounding the color of death.

Would I have orgasmed like that, or at all, had those eyes not popped into my head? Predatory, rageful, all-consuming, and familiar. I was sure I had seen them before, I just couldn’t place where.

No, it was impossible to orgasm to a pair of eyes, wasn’t it?

“Talons?”

I blinked, turning from my drawing to find Cole’s navy-blue eyes. “Hmm?”

“What are you thinking about?”

My face twisted ever so slightly. Had we reached that? Did he think that just because he had his fingers inside of me yesterday, that I came on him, that I would answer that?

I wish I never would have let him do that. I wish that I had been less desperate for human contact and more desperate for finding the answers to these stupid questions so I could get back to focusing on what Ineededto focus on.

I lowered my pencil, hiding the eyes that I had been drawing, although I was sure he had already seen them. “I have very little information on the Fallen,” I finally told him, watching his eyes darken. “Murderers, rapists, torturers. I don’t know if they’re true or just rumors spread by a hateful species, what I do know is that the fear in this world towards them isveryreal.

“What I do know, Cole, is that the type of fear this world feels about you cannot come to be withoutproof. You had your fingers inside of me, but that does not mean we are friends. It doesn’t mean we are going to havemoments. You clearly needed something and I…” I laughed and shook my head. “I’m just that fucking lost. Got it?”