Page 52 of This Shattered Star

“I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong, darling. That bitch behind you is the reason why Leyah isdead.” Tiny hairs lifted on my arms at the sheer venom he infused into the worddead.

They hadn’t been just allies, then. The wrath he sported spoke of something else entirely.

“Leyah got what she deserved. It looked to me like sheaskedto die.” She examined her nails casually, as if discussing theweather instead of a brutal killing. Darion’s face contorted into an ugly snarl. “Kodhan made himself very clear where Eloise is concerned. If you need a reminder, I’m sure he’d be willing to give it to you.”

“The bastard can go fuck himself,” the man on the left, Elias, said.

Lachlan, on the right, added, “The Second can’t save him down here.”

Kodhan hardly needed any saving from his father. He’d proven that several times during Strength.

Darion’s eyes slid over Theia’s shoulder, landing directly on me. Prompting me to palm Kodhan’s dagger. He laughed, a full-bellied thing that bounced off the walls. “Do you truly believe that blade is going to save you,mutt? The three of us could kill you before you even thought to swing. In fact,” he glanced over at his friends with a hungry smile. The same hunger I’d wanted to avoid. “I think this is the perfect place to finally wipe Aedreath clean of its biggest stain.”

Panic chilled the blood in my veins. The corridors were too narrow, the exit too far. I still didn’t know what Theia’s element was, and even then, we were outnumbered.

“This is between you and I. Theia has nothing to do with this,” I interjected, stepping out from behind her. It wasn’t because I was used to these kinds of threats that she deserved to deal with them, too. I could only hope that she would be fast enough to retrieve Brannon and Kodhan to even out the fight before they slaughtered me.

Or she could save herself, and just leave you here,a traitorous voice whispered in the back of my mind.

I stomped on it vigorously. Refused to believe it.

I was fast. Excellent in hand-to-hand combat. But I almost always had the element of surprise—that fleeting moment where one didn’t have the mind to summon their magic. There was nosurprise here, and these three were primed with magic—strongmagic.

Darion took all but one more step forward before he gasped suddenly, slamming both palms against his temples and stumbled to his knees. Elias and Lachlan fell closely after, agony written across their faces.

Lachlan cried out—terror mingling with pain. Elias merely whimpered, eyes vacant and staring at nothing at all.

Like the man that attacked Kodhan during Strength.

“Help me,” Darion choked. “Make it stop!” He clawed at his temple, tugging on his coal shaded strands so violently that some of them rained down onto his vest. It was almost as if he was trying to pull whatever affected him directly out of his head.

Frowning, Theia bent at the waist to whisper into Darion’s ear, her words perfectly clear despite his begging, and Lachlan’s cries. “The kingdom’sbitchis currently on his knees, weaker than a newborn fawn. I’ll let you pick yourself up. Hopefully the next trial will dispose of you appropriately. And next time you call me darling,” she added, straightening, “you will not get up at all.”

“Witch,”he hissed weakly, eyes snapping back and forth rapidly between things I couldn’t see.

I fought the urge to take a step back.

A heavy accusation, and a rare one, at that. Witches had roamed freely prior to the rise of Aedreath, before the creation of the Veil. They were human by blood, but chose to rally with the creatures beyond—the Dark Ones—sourcing their magic directly from the veins of the earth. Or in other cases, from the dead.

Aedreath amplified its magic thanks to the gods—from Maverick. The gods used him as an endless well, filling him to the brim so that the rest of the kingdom could prosper, collecting from him year after year. It is because of him, the originalfounders, and every Starlight Champion since, that everyone within the Veil grew stronger.

And because the witches wielded magic from somethingotherthan what the gods intended, any caught hiding within the confines of the Veil were butchered from the very beginning.Too unpredictable, history books read.Their kin banded with the enemy and therefore they are also the enemy.It didn’t matter if they were trapped accidentally, unwillingly. They’d been granted only one escape; death.

There were none left. At least, none that were known. There’d always been fear that some of them had managed to hide their children before being discovered. A legacy meant to prevail even the most brutal reign.

I never believed in the rumors. It meant watching those executed on baseless accusation all the harder to stomach. But what Theia was doing, manipulating their minds as easily as Maverick when it was completely unheard of…

I shook my head. Above everything, time was still ticking. Answers would have to come later. I darted around the three men, all who were completely unaware of my movements.

Trepidation breathed heavily down my neck.

Who, exactly, had Khodan forced me to be allies with?

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Maverick had told the truth.

The alcove welcomed us with chilly, brittle arms as the stiff door allowed us through, one at a time. Unlocked, without a single key to be found.