Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

“A gift from a friend,”I had told Mom and Mark at dinner.

Not a gift. Not a friend. I would get it off. I had to get it off.

My hand slid an inch up and tightened around my throat as my eyes fell shut.

I hated him. Hated him for what he did, for what he made me feel.

Hated myself for how I reacted.

But…

Would it be so terrible to use that?

My eyes flashed open, my heart already racing. I forced my hand down and turned onto my side, pressing my fingers into my fresh cuts, the pain clearing my mind again. Yes. Yes, it would be absolutely putrid of me to do that.Absolutely vile.

He was a monster. The things he had done? And now I was his next target. I wouldn’t give him or my body that satisfaction. It was fucking disgusting.

I wasdisgusting.

~~~

Cole

I stood just inside an alley facing out into the town square where just hours ago dozens had died.

The moon was high, casting a blue glow over the world, over the pristine cobblestone. There wasn’t even a drop of memory remaining of what happened today, yet I could still feel the blood on my skin, still hear their cries.

I could still see the fear and brokenness in Kyra’s eyes as she stared into the eyes of the dead man.

Kyra. Her name was signed on the book I had been reading earlier today. She must have forgotten she had signed her name on the back cover.

It was hard to remember that not everyone had seen the type of things I had. Especially not here.

The look in her eyes made my chest tighten. It had been her first true taste of a death like that, and Trick had made all of it worse with his stupid games.

What was he doing? A collar? Although it was beautiful, it was unbreakable. His magic was unbreakable. I wondered how hard Kyra would try and get it off before she gave up.

I released a breath, carefully scanned the area, listened, and when the coast was clear, I took a step out ofthe shadows into the town square.

“What are you doing?”

The annoyance I felt was immediate. “If you want to fix your brother’s stupid mistake, her house is that way,” I gestured in the general direction of Therian.

Lora was quiet a moment. “Well, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, but I don’t get into his business. Not anymore. I’m here to speak with you, Cole.”

I turned to face her, meeting her electric blue eyes, her wings of light gray folded tightly behind her. They looked alike. She and Trick. The same black hair, the same eye-shape, the same walls built in their eyes. Although her hair had been shaved on one side of her head and the long ends that fell to her jawline had been dyed bright blue. It suited her.

Rose had gotten every ounce of kindness their parents had to offer. Every single ounce of it. Why had she been the one to die? It should have been Trick.

“He’s made some sort of sickclaimon the girl I’m getting information from.”

Lora rose a brow. “Oh, you mean the one you’re trying to lay with because we all made a stupid bet hundreds of years ago and now that you’re single again, you think it’s okay to mark a few more boxes? You mean that girl?”

I huffed and turned back to the square. “She isn’t a box, she’s kind. She tried to save me from a pack of demons, she gave up her healing remedies to heal my face, she let me eat her food, sleep at her house. She is good, she just has a hard outer shell, not unlike everyone else in this world.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever you need totell yourself to make it sound like it’s not what it is. Cole, you’re a good person who is still in mourning and making terrible decisions. Don’t take that out on her. It’s time to move on, to figure out who you are without her.”

I wasn’t taking anything out on anyone. She wasn’t a box. In fact, she was one of the better people I had known since Rose had died. Why couldn’t I just make a new friend?