Page 1 of This Shattered Star

CHAPTER ONE

I’d always admired the way blood shimmered under starlight.

When left unattended, the crimson substance often pooled into something that rivaled the night sky itself.

Maybe that was why I lingered by the man’s body, watching as his life’s essence rapidly spread into a thick puddle around him.

I’d hoped to see at least one beautiful thing tonight. One last beautiful thing in the short hours before my certain death.

And this was it. My last beautiful thing, woven into this man’s final moments.

It wasn’t much, but I thanked the stars anyway. It had been a clean kill, after all.

I’d only needed to pierce him twice.

Careful not to step in the building puddle around him, I crouched by his side, and wiped my blade clean on his tunic. “Fool,” I chastised softly.

As only a fool would walk down this alley with their back unattended, especially if they were alone.

My own back was carefully turned towards the walls of the alley—the safer,wiserthing to do, while I admired my work. Hues of periwinkle, cobalt, and evergreen danced across the puddle of crimson so dark it was nearly onyx. An almost perfect replica of the twinkling sky above.

My grandmother would be proud.

Scoffing, I stood swiftly, teeth clenched together so tightly my jaw ached. My grandmother had no room in her ice-coated heart for praise. Not where I was concerned.

Haughty laughter slid towards me, bouncing off cobblestone and punctuated with the crash of broken glass. A signal that it was time for me to get as far away from this man as I possibly could before someone discovered me crouching over him like a vulture.

Raising the hood of my cloak over my head, I shot one last glance at the shimmering liquid before bolting into the shadows. My feet were quick but quiet, accustomed to sneaking around places I wasn’t supposed to be, and well versed in the art of fleeing when a tide of trouble approached.

But the particular tide of trouble that approached as the hour ticked on was not one that I could flee from.

Echoes of music, streaming from all corners of the kingdom, haunted my every step. Banners drenched in navy and silver waved at me in farewell.

They only appeared once a year, boasting a dagger poised to strike overtop an eight-pointed star. I’d never paid them much heed until the few nights leading up to this one.

Celebrations in honor of the Starlight Trials had begun exactly nine days ago. Ravenous for violence and bloodshed, the swell of people lining Aedreath’s streets had ramped up the intensity of their feasts and festivities. Many could be found drinking and dancing at all hours.

And all were none the wiser to know exactly what kinds of debauchery happened in shadowy alcoves.

Exactly like the one I’d stained red.

If the king noticed the rise in intensity revolving the celebrations, he didn’t care. He was likely partaking in the debauchery himself, tucked into one of the castles many ballrooms with a drink in each hand.

Not that I’d seen him myself. I made sure to keep well away from his presence ever since he’d all but announced my certain death in front of the entire kingdom.

“You’re not going to die.”

The lie left a bitter taste on my tongue as I uttered it, tiny clouds drifting past my parted lips in the frigid air. I repeated it continuously while I moved, slipping in and out of the familiar gloomy alcoves leading to the castle.

The Starlight Trials were ripe with Aedreath’s most powerful magic wielders, desperate to prove their worth. The Starlight Champion—the one who would successfully complete all three trials—would earn a place in the king’s court if they weren’t born into it already. But that wasn’t the prize, not truly.

No, what the competitors really risked their lives for was permission to cross the Veil, just once.

That gift allowed them to carry out the ultimate heist.

Beyond the protective magical barrier that surrounded Aedreath sat an ancient temple nestled among nightmares and ruin. One that housed unspeakable amounts of magic, unwilfully abandoned during the rise of the Dark, and the war that followed.

The Temple of Borealis.