Page 38 of Stars May Burn

My heart stuttered. The only good thing in his life. What did he mean by that? Kasten barely looked at me, let alone spoke to me. How was I supposed to make him happy, even in little ways? I didn’t understand him at all. His world was so big, and I was so small.

I bit into a buttery pastry but it had lost its flavor. I chewed the sun-dried tomatoes mechanically as another puzzle piece fell into place.

Had this been Father’s plan all along in marrying me to Kasten? Not only to relate us to royalty, but for me to be soon widowed and probably childless yet again? Then he could take the lands from me just as he had from Frederick, and I would be put up for auction again.

Guilt stabbed at my chest. How selfish of me to be thinking of myself when Callum had just told me Kasten might die in a matter of weeks. It was him I should be concerned about, not me. I was such a terrible person.

Callum’s voice made me jump. “Help me with something, will you?”

I nodded, still too unbalanced to speak.

Callum bent down beside his chair and pulled out the pyramidal object the Red Man had been holding. I shifted uneasily.

He pushed back a stray curl and handed the pyramid to me as if it wasn’t anything of particular interest. “Hold this. Please.”

I licked my lips and reached out for it. The moment my skin made contact, a soft violet glow appeared in the center—only visible where the metal plates joined. A moment later, a whizzing noise started, and the walls opened like a flower bud. In the middle was a metal frame, from which dangled a metal teardrop on a chain. It swung gently. I didn’t have a single idea what it could be.

Callum watched it intently with his finger curled on his chin. At last, he grunted and took it from me. The device snapped shut, and the glow faded at his touch. He beckoned Lucy from where she stood next to the wall. “Hold this.”

Lucy took it, but it remained motionless. Callum gave it back to me. Again it glowed and then whirred.

My lips parted and I looked at him. “What is this? What is it doing?”

Callum pursed his lips. “It’s what I suspected.” He met my eyes and smirked. “And before you believe you have some unique kryalcomy power or are somehow special, you’re not. It’s been set to track you.”

I pushed the device back into his hands. “What do you mean?”

Callum tossed the closed pyramid into the air. “Let me guess. You’ve held this device before.”

I nodded. “The man dropped it, and I picked it up. It was an accident.”

Callum shrugged. “Unfortunate. It must have been primed and then set to you when you touched it. I’m guessing it wasn’t planned, or maybe he’d planned to have the general to touch it instead. Yes, that would make the most sense. Regardless, once he was able to track you, he decided to use you to force Kasten to help them. A foolish, desperate move. Almost as stupid as their assassination attempt that has got so many people killed.”

I swallowed past my dry throat and leaned in. “Who exactly are the Red Men? And why do they need the general’s help?”

Callum sighed. “Depending on who you ask, they’re either heroes or idiots. In short, they believe in the free use of kryalcomy.”

I frowned. “So they don’t agree with the Maegistrium governing it?” That sounded like a disagreement for the court, not scruffy men fleeing in carriages and holding knives to the throats of women.

Callum pursed his lips. “More that they think the Maegistrium are ineffective. The art stays too expensive, and some nobles still invent unsolicited pieces in secret. And when I say unsolicited, there are some dark, dark things going on behind closed doors, which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.”

“Is that what that tracking piece is? Unsolicited kryalcomy?” I lowered my eyes to the strange pyramid in his hands. It was oddly beautiful yet unnerving at the same time.

Callum nodded. “They stole it from Lord Lyrason. Part of the so-called attempted assassination. But it’s good evidence. This piece uses human bodies to work and is attracted to human bodies. You don’t want to know what sort of methods he used to make it. The Red Man brought it to Kasten hoping it would be enough evidence of illegal kryalcomy to bring to the king. But Kasten feels we need more to discredit somebody so powerful. The king and Lord Lyrason are close, you see. The Red Man wanted him to present it anyway. Kasten refused until there was more.”

My mouth dried, and I leaned forward. “So the Red Men broke into Lord Lyrason’s house to get evidence? It wasn’t an assassination attempt?”

Callum shrugged. “Oh, it could have been both. They hate the guts of that man. Who knows what their main goals were, ill-thought-out idiots.” He held up the pyramid again and now that I knew what it was, I shied away from it until he squirreled it back into the bag by his chair.

I shifted, excited that I was finally getting information. “Why do they want Kasten in particular to help them? And then threaten him with my life when he wouldn’t do as they asked?”

Callum stared at his plate for a moment as if considering. “Some of their goals overlap with ours. Lord Lyrason is a mutual enemy. Kasten has vast resources and has won respect among many of those who fought in the war and their relatives. I suspect many of the Red Men would choose to put him on the throne.”

I shook my head in alarm. “You shouldn’t say things like that. It’s treason.”

Callum gave me an amused smile. “Oh Sophie, I say things that are much, much worse.” His smile turned wicked. “They’ve not hanged me yet.”

I took a deep breath and chose to ignore the comment. “The pyramid device has a hare imprint on it.”

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