Page 108 of Stars May Burn

Father stared at me in surprise. “You would refuse a direct command from the king?”

“I refuse to do anything that puts my husband’s life in danger.”

He scoffed. “Foolish, foolish girl. Why can’t you get this into your thick head. The man’s fate is already sealed. You have no future with him. Don’t be loyal to the losing side. Think how much favor you would gain through this. Your next marriage could be even greater.”

I shook my head again. “I will not betray Kasten.”

Father’s eyes narrowed and distaste twisted his lips. “Yet, you will betray your family? Do you think you would have been able to marry Kasten and gain wealth and status if not for the hundreds of sacrifices I’ve made for you and your siblings?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I will not betray Kasten.”

He leaned back, shaking his head, his lip raised in a snarl. “Then you will put your family out on the street. Do you think Claribel and Irabel will survive that? Irabel is already very sick.”

“You will find a way out if it, I’m sure.”

This time, I didn’t see the blow coming. One minute Father was still, the next stars flashed across my vision as his cane connected to the side of my head. Pain flooded my temple, and I tasted blood in my mouth.

I reached up and placed a hand to my chest, hoping it would look like a reaction to the shock. I pressed down on the necklace with my palm and felt the pendant give a brief pulse of heat. My dizziness and nausea lessened, though the pain remained. I didn’t dare press again. Not yet.

Father shook his head. “What happened to you? I brought you up better than this. You have become so entitled, so pathetic, so ungrateful. You don’t even care about your sisters anymore. Do you really feel so untouchable just because you married the general?”

He swung again, this time his cane connecting with my upper arm. I cried out and leapt to my feet before he could reach me again, putting the chair between us. The ground swayed beneath legs that were still too unsteady to truly hold me. I pressed my hand over my necklace again and felt my balance return.

Thank you, Kasten.

“I know what you did.” I spat out blood. “I know you poisoned me with those tonics to make me infertile. I know you killed Frederick.”

Father snorted, crossing his legs again. “Don’t pretend that you loved him. Did you really want to spend the rest of your life with that unpleasant man? I thought not. And it’s not like you had the strength to kill him yourself. I was doing you a favor. I didn’t imagine you wanted to bear his brats either. It was cleaner this way, and better for you as well as me.”

“And Kasten? Why wouldn’t you want me to bear a child with him?”

Father sighed. “As I said, the king informed me he was too much of an inconvenience to keep alive because of his blood. The same could have been said of his descendants. They would have had the same inconvenient claim to the throne. Would you want to have children only for them to be killed or banished? I thought not. I was sparing you the pain.”

I hated his logic. I hated how his arguments always sounded so reasonable as if I were the one in the wrong. I shook my head. “Don’t twist this. You wanted the lands, so you wanted me to have no heirs. You wanted me to be easy to marry off again and again without any baggage.”

Father leaned forward more animated. “And look where my plans are getting us. Look where they have got you. We are one tiny piece of information away from a dukedom. And your next husband could be the prince himself. Then you could bear children to your heart’s content—if you’re able to. And if not”—he shrugged—“we’ll still become one of the richest and most connected families in Fenland.” He settled back in his chair. “Just tell me about the kryalcomy, and I will sort out everything. You don’t even have to go back to Kasomere if you don’t want to, if you’re scared of the general. You’ll have the king’s protection and the king’s reward. Just tell me.”

I glared at him. “I will not tell you. My only loyalty is to Kasten. I renounce all ties and obligations to your family.”

Father tilted his head and looked me up and down with disapproving eyes. “I hoped it wouldn’t be this way. But you disappoint me. Everything I’m forced to do from now on is the result of your choice. Remember that.”

I tensed and gripped my skirts to stop my hands from shaking. If I could endure this, if I could keep Kasten’s kryalcomy a secret, not only would I be protecting my husband and our people, but the king would turn his frustration onto my father. He would be disgraced, his power and money gone. He would never be able to touch me again.

I finally had the power to defeat him. I just had to hold out.

Father stood slowly. “You will be kept in this room in darkness with no food or water until you tell me about the kryalcomy. Even if this takes days.” He strode toward me, quicker than my legs would move and grabbed my hair, yanking it back and downward so I knelt before him, my eyes watering at the smarting across my scalp. “You are such a disappointment to our family, Sophie.”

He punctuated the words with another blow to my face, the back of his hand this time, before throwing me to the cold flagstones. He took his cane and methodically shattered each lamp; the glass scattered across the floor as we were plunged into darkness, the only light coming from the thin rectangle of the half open door.

His voice came from the disembodied darkness. “You have an hour to think this through before I start going hard on you. If you relent, I might just forgive your initial resistance. If you continue to refuse, don’t think I won’t kill you and use your death to find out the information another way.”

His silhouette appeared in the small rectangle of light before the door slammed shut and even that light disappeared. I crouched on the floor, holding my face and my swelling lip. I could taste the blood in my mouth. I stood slowly, my legs still weak from the sedative, and immediately felt dizzy with nothing to focus on to orientate myself. Glass crunched beneath my feet as I staggered. The pain came in relentless waves.

I pressed on the necklace three times until my legs felt steady, but the pain didn’t relent and neither did the dizziness completely disappear.

As unbreakable as I was trying to be, tears welled up in my eyes and my throat was tight. My head pounded from the blows. And I didn’t feel strong at all.

But I wouldn’t give in. I would never betray Kasten or help the king who was trying to kill him.

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