Page 89 of This Shattered Star

“Neither am I.”

“Then we should go find the others soon.”

“They’re occupied,” he answered gruffly, then rectified his tone by adding, “they know where we are. They knew as soon as you nearly left a hole in my door with your fist.”

“I was merely practicing.”

“For what?”

“Your face.”

With a scoff, he pinched my side. “It still hurts, you know.”

I swat him away. Fought the smile that crept towards my mouth. “Good. You deserved it.”

His laugh rumbled underneath my cheek. “Theia wanted me to tell you that she cast a protective magic around your mind. And she wanted me to apologize on her behalf for doing it without your permission.”

“Isthatall you wanted to see me for?”

“I wouldn’t say that was thesolereason.” A lick of fire wound around my arm, then ran down the slope of my hip until it disappeared.

Ignoring the sudden, sharp throb between my legs, I tried to sense any indication of what Theia had done, but came up empty. “I can’t feel her magic.”

“It’s very subtle.” He tapped a finger against my temple. “Like the Veil, but much more discrete. No flashy semantics.”

Curiosity had my eyes falling shut so I could concentrate on the outer premises of my mind.

Everything felt relatively untouched. My thoughts and memories sat in a long, empty corridor, with heavy white sheets thrown over them like they were precious collectibles. Every window in that corridor was boarded tightly shut, except… there.

On the precipice of my consciousness, so far down the corridor I could barely make out the details, sat a tall, glimmering archway, with billowy gossamer curtains drawn fully closed to hide what was on the other side. Before it lingered a gentle, hazy presence. Guarding. Ensuring those curtains remained closed. It felt like the complete opposite of Maverick’s invasive prying. I wouldn’t have noticed it if Kodhan hadn’t told me.

“She figured it was time, considering what you now know. And how often you may be in the presence of the king.”

With a hum of appreciation, I reopened my eyes, and stared blankly at the ceiling. “Not that I need to be in his presence for him to shove into my head.” I would need to thank Theia when I found her. “Is it taxing for her, using a constant magic like that on someone else?” Her magic technically didn’t belong to any element. An anomaly to all I’d seen and read about.

But if she could do it, perhaps I could, too, if I won. I would only need to figure out how. Just like I would need to learn how to wield all the elements.

Wit was the sole thing left standing in my way. And yet, my work was far from complete.

The lines of Kodhan’s face drew tight. “It can be, in certain circumstances. When she uses her magic on multiple people at once, for example. But she’ll be alright, if that is also what you’re asking. She is exceptional at what she does.”

Protecting all four of us at once couldn’t be that simple. But if he placed his faith in her abilities, then I could only do the same.

“Brannon and Theia. Are they…”

Kodhan’s tongue darted to wet his bottom lip while he studied me, the simple act sending treacherous tingles down my spine. “Together?” I nodded. “Yes. And have been for a very long time.”

My heart warmed for them, but then instantly shattered into a million jagged pieces, slicing into my insides as I rasped my next breath.

“That’s terrible. And unbelievably sad.”

“What?” he laughed. “You don’t think they should be together?”

“No! It’s not that at all. Far from it. That kind of love is only found in stories. Rarely does it ever make it outside of the page.” My parents were the only other people I’d known to beat the odds. To write their own story. “I’m happy they found it in this twisted kingdom. I mean it,” I tacked on at the end to counter his sudden frown. “I just can’t begin to fathom how they manage it—the constant awareness that one, orbothof them, might not live to see another day.”

They had every right to beoccupied.

He lifted the opposite shoulder to the one my head rested on in a partial shrug.