Page 118 of This Shattered Star

He smiled back.

Maverick dragged his eyes away from Kodhan, barely reeling in that terrifying smile before setting them back on me. “Have you thought about my offer?”

I wanted to yell and yell at him until the walls were embedded with the echo of my voice. I wanted to plunge a dagger into his gut. I wanted to turn his study into nothing more than cinders.

Kodhan pivoted to look at me. “What offer?”

I couldn’t even look at him in return. Wasn’t ready to face the guilt waiting to claim me for not telling him.

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied through gritted teeth.

Entirely satisfied with himself, Maverick smirked. “Come now, Eloise. Lying does not become you.”

“What offer?” Kodhan repeated, a tinge of urgency lacing his tone. He glared at Maverick like he was seconds away from turning his insides to ash. The hearth brightened. Kodhan’s magic permeated the air, so thick with the smell of smoke I fought the urge to gag.

Maverick’s rose in kind. The painting clattered against the wall, courtesy of the tremor that shook the very foundations of the castle.

“Are we here because you’re sending us beyond the Veil?” I deflected quickly, placing myself between the two of them.

“Straight to business, then?” Maverick shook his head in a mockery of disappointment. Stepped away from the hearth to approach me instead. “I’d hoped you would at least have a drink, considering you barely touched yours the last time we met.” He reached to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, hand lingering to brush the length of my jaw. His thumb stroked across my lower lip. Myswollenlower lip. “Though I suppose we were far too busy to drink, weren’t we?”

Heat blazed at my back. I feared my clothes would singe right off my body.

Swallowing hard, I shrugged away from his touch. “That’s enough. I’ve already spent the last few days trapped in your games. And this one, I care especially little for. Either send us to the temple or dismiss us both.”

Coward, the shadows hissed, deep within the hearth.Face the fire-wielder. Tell him that nothing happened.

But I couldn’t. Because that wasn’t entirely true.

Maverick and I hadn’t done anythingphysical. But my heart spoke of something different.

The muddled, bleeding thing.

Maverick only reveled in the expression Kodhan wore behind me. “You cannot run from the truth, Eloise.”

“I am simply doing what you asked of me.”

That, he could not argue with. He frowned. “Fine.”

The crackling energy in the room intensified as Maverick stepped back and lifted a hand.

Kodhan immediately moved, pulling me behind him this time. Flames were already licking up his hands.

Maverick barely noted it. He curled his fingers, then swung his arm out in a precise arc. Cleaved into the very fabric of the world, ripping a tear in the space between his desk and the hearth. It widened into an arch of writing black mist, almost as tall as the ceiling. Pure darkness beckoned beyond.

“Once you step through, you would do well to head east. That is where the temple rests. I will not waste my breath explaining what horrors you will encounter if you decide to trek elsewhere. East is youronlysafe passage.” He stepped away from the ominous mist and held up both palms. Twin silver bells appeared, their handles no longer than my pinky finger, engraved with undecipherable markings. “Ring these when you’re ready to return. It will let me know when to summon what is required to allow you back inside the Veil.”

Stepping around Kodhan, I hesitantly plucked both bells out of Maverick’s hands.So that was how the other Starlight Champions travelled beyond the Veil.I’d never known the specifics. I’d never known his magic could allow him to dothat.But then again, it was like the orb we’d chased during Strength, wasn’t it?

“What is it?”

“Let’s call it a gate.”

There truly were no limits to his magic, I thought. This was proof of it.

Carefully, and ever so slowly, I slid the second bell into Kodhan’s pocket, nearly hissing at the heat he emanated. “And if I don’t ring the bell?” Instantly, I felt Kodhan’s attention on the crown of my head.

“Then you will die.”