Page 114 of Born of Starlight
Fight, Asterie.You must fight.
Chapter33
Asterie
What had happened?The iron archways towered above me.The Central Tower.I focused on the vining ivy and dark stone of the foyer wall in front of me. This place had never felt so domineering as it did through blurred, poison-induced grogginess.
The bargain in the orchard.
The heir of the North.
Fenris’ innocence.
Firose’s guilt.
And her hand in the attack on the Queen.
The effects of the poison jumbled my thoughts. My heart ached as every dreadful memory resurfaced up until the moment when a poisoned arrow had pierced my skin.
The arrow was no longer jutting from my thigh. In its place was dried blood caked against my bare leg. The dried blood was the first clue that I had been unconscious for hours. The second was that no sunlight trickled in through the windows. Dusk had passed.
I wasn’t one to curse, but I muttered every forbidden word under the sun at the sheer pain coursing down my leg. Immortality might come with eternal life, but it didn’t erase pain.
Emmerick was bound and chained to the thick iron door frame of the atrium. The glass pane of the window next to the frame had been punched out, and both of our chains had been looped through it. Emmerick sat slumped over, looking at the floor, his hands bound in his lap.
I cursed again under my breath. He was only a couple of yards away, but in my state, that felt like miles.
“Emmerick,” I whispered, but he didn’t respond. “Emmerick, look at me.”
When his eyes lifted, they were fogged and glassy as though he’d had too much to drink. “Em, are you okay?”
He nodded but said nothing. Dread clutched my chest. He looked helpless—broken.
I shook my head—I’d never imagined Firose would hurt me. Yet, she had. She’d hurt Emmerick.
She’d hurt Fen.
Would he think I left on my own will? Would he look for me?I hoped he would stay far away from here—far from the woman who had once carved guilt into his heart. I feared what she might do with both of us.
What was her plan?
“How long was I unconscious?” I croaked at Emmerick through dry lips.
From behind me, Firose answered, “Oh, all day. I truly thought you’d handle your poison better.”
The cool calculation in Firose’s words made me see red. I tried to summon blue flames in my palms, but nothing happened.Peace Prevail—I’d forgotten she’d cuffed me.
“But it gave me and the Constable some time to catch up. Pity, really, that Amara kept him from me all this time. Such a fine specimen, isn’t he?”
A growl roused from my throat as Firose crossed the room and crouched before Emmerick. She took his chin between her polished red fingernails.
“Don’t hurt him,” I ground between gritted teeth. “Why? Why are you doing this?”
She had her murderous, power-hungry fingers on my friend. Someone who cared aboutme.Not the power running through me.
People were shouting outside—a man barked orders. An army. She’d staged an army in the clearing surrounding us.
“My dear Asterie,” Firose crooned. “You have wandered far from this tower. Tell me about your journey.”
