Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

I turned away from him and headed for my room. “I just need to do a few things and then we’ll go back to the city. If you want to read what I have on you, that’s the book under the sink. If you want to read what I have on witches, let me know and I’ll grab it for you.”

“I can’t go throughit myself?”

I had assumed he already had in the last three days. “No.” I stopped at my door and looked back. “I assumed you were reading history books. If you haven’t been reading those, what have you been reading?”

He picked up the book he had just been reading. “This one is calledThe R. Harem.Haven’t figured out what it means yet, but I’ll get there. You tell good stories.”

My cheeks burned bright red. Fuckingfuck.“Great,” I said and disappeared into my room.

I shut the door behind me, cursing myself. I should have put all of those books in the gods-damned fire. Stupid,stupidgirl.

I shoved my hood back and ripped my veil off, needing just a second to breathe without them. I itched my head and headed for the bathroom. Why hadn’t Cole gone through my things? Why was he aiming for trust?

I didn’t need trust, I just wanted him to get the information and leave. He was ruining everything just being here. Bringing Mark here now would be incredibly stupid. The sooner I got Cole Lorily out of my house, the better.

I splashed some water in my face and looked up to the mirror, wondering if I could play nice long enough to—

Bright green eyes met mine, surrounded by darkness.

I saw nothing but the shape of a man standing in the doorway of my room, everything doused in moving, living shadows. I couldn’t see anything distinguishable save for those eyes.

Like dew covered grass on a beautiful Spring morning.

My heart slammed to a stop, eyes widening.

I spun around and there was nothing.

Fear pounded through me as I jogged into the room and looked around. No one was there. The window was shut, nobody outside.

I was alone. Utterly alone.

“What the fuck?” I breathed, rubbing my chest as the fear dripped down my spine.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. No, no this couldn’t be happening. When did I last eat?

Breakfast yesterday.

Some of the tension left my shoulders at the thought. More than a day I had gone without eating. Almost the same for drinking anything. I needed to consume something, anything, just to get my head back on my shoulders. This wasn’t a great state of mind for anything, let alone thieving.

I inhaled deeply and on the exhale, released that spike of fear in my stomach. It was because of the nightmare last night, the lack of food, and what happened yesterday at the ruins. That was the only reason I had seen anything. That’s why he had been shrouded in shadows, because I hadn’t created a face for him yet. All I had were eyes.

Just eyes.

I set my journal on my pillow and grabbed a cloak from my closet. It was old, worn. The black more of a dirty gray now, but it was enough.

I pulled my hood on, pulled my veil on, then tied the cloak around my neck and pulled the hood of the cloak on.

The weather was getting far too cold for just a jacket and hood. It would give me a new leaseon life until everyone remembered that Therian’s Thief was still alive and well, just blending in a little easier.

After another calming second, I finally headed for my door and walked over to the table, grabbing my satchel, easily sliding it under the cloak only to pause when I realized that I had put the cloak on a step too early.

I rolled my eyes and took the cloak off, slid my satchel on, and retied the cloak on before meeting Cole’s eyes, only to find him smiling.

I glared death at him. “I’m having a bad day. Let’s go. If we lose anymore daylight, I’ll cut off one of your limbs to feed the family.”

He shoved himself to a stand. “Well, we can’t have that now, can we?”

We both knew I was incapable of doing it, but the heart behind the threat was true.