Page 70 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

In that moment, I had thought he had it in him, to help. But he was a warrior, not a torturer. His honor prevented him from stooping this low and I respected him more for it.

“Did you want to have a go?” I asked him, holding the tool out to him. I still asked from time to time, just to see how much I had worn him down.

Cole turned to me, looking from the bloodied tool to me. “Do I want to torture this man to find more just like him? No, I don’t. Thismission of yours is pointless. You could have had any grunt here to boost your ego.”

I shrugged, lowering my hand, allowing just a hint of pride to seep through, although I doubted he would ever see it. “Yes, but then you’d be flying around Oridian weighing the risk of returning to Therian, and I can’t have that now, can I?”

Cole sneered. “No, your pathetic jealousy couldn’t handle that.”

I chuckled, turning back to the male. “You’ve never burned for anyone like I burn for her, have you? Not even for my sister.” It was more than that though. I craved her. My heart beat for her. My lungs filled for her.

“Wow, so it takes wanting to fuck someone for you to even bring her up? That’s sad, Trick. Even for you.”

My lip curled. “I couldn’t talk about her to any of you,” I said, tearing off another toenail, the screams echoing around us. “You went from grief to filling the void with pussy. Nick stopped talking altogether, Meeria’s too busy with Nick to give a damn about anyone else, and Lora?” I tore off the last one. “She won’t even look at me without some pathetic whimper of ‘poor us’ which has since shifted into just pure hatred and resentment. There was no room for me.”

Cole stalked forward three steps. “You fuckingleft,” he seethed. “Every time something gets hard, you bail, and then show back upyearslater without so much as a ‘hello’. You come back darker and more fucking insane every time, and then you pull shit like this,” he gestured towards the male bleeding out before us.

“When will you justgive up?” he asked, straightening. “When will you stop acting like you’re in control? You’renot in control. You don’trunthis Court. You find every excuse not to run it. It’s pathetic and arrogant and sofuckingpsychotic that I can’t even comprehend how you haven’t been voted out.

“Oh, wait,” he went on, the sweat prickling the back of my neck. “It’s because everyone is so fucking afraid of you, they can’tbreathewhen you’re around. We’re all just waiting for the next big thing. Waiting for you to drop this act and run because that’s what you do. It’s what you will always do. Big bad High King, God of Nightmares, running scared like the pathetic rabbit he is.”

My spine popped and snapped, the pain welcoming as it ricocheted through my body.

“LET ME OUT!”my magic roared.

Instead, I just smiled calmly. I walked up to the male and slammed my fist through his chest, his body jerking.

Cole tried to keep eye contact, I could see how hard he was trying, but he ended up looking away anyway.

I squeezed his heart until it popped beneath my fingers before I ripped my hand out and walked up to him. “Here,” I said, my crown appearing in that blood covered hand as if I had yanked it out of the male hanging from the ceiling. I shoved it against his chest. “I revoke it.”

I Jumped to the cottage before I could see his reaction, the moonlight shining in through the window, casting a beautiful silver light across the table.

I inhaled deeply, trying to relieve my shoulders of the tension only to pause. My brows furrowed. I turned to her bedroom door. What’s this?

I walked over and slowly pushed the door open, my heart skipping when I found her asleep in her bed. She had never spent the night here before.

Something had changed.

I slowly stepped in, wondering what could have made her stay here tonight. Away from her brother, away from the house I refused to enter just yet.

Shutting the door behind me, I slowly, silently, made my way up to the end of her bed. It was as if she wanted me to see her again. As if she was accepting the game we were both playing. The game we had been playing since the beginning of time.

She was lying on her back, one hand above her head, the other pressing into her cheek. Her legs had fallen apart under her blanket. One blanket. So thin, goosebumps covered her skin.

Why hadn’t she lit a fire?

It was the first time I had seen her without her armor. No veil, no hood. She had long, luscious brown hair with bits of deep red, thick. Enough for me to grab onto, to jerk back. Her jawline was soft, her lips plump, but…

I walked around the edge of the bed, my shadows drifting over her, careful not to release their own chill. I leaned down and reached out. I ran my thumb across the very edge of her eye-socket, leaving a streak of blood in its wake. Two fading black eyes, a swollen lip, a cut across her left cheekbone.

Itwasgetting worse. I wasn’t just making it up in my head, something was happening to her. She had been thieving since she was 8 years old, this wouldn’t have happened because of that. She was too careful, togood.

In all of her journal entries, she bragged tirelessly about how good she was, yet she cataloged the injuries she received. I had wondered if the lists were to help her get better, but they kept getting longer and longer. She never once mentioned who was causing it.

Whoever was doing this, I would find them, and I would do what I promised myself I would never do. Every time this person died, I would restart their heart and begin again. Even death would not bring them peace once I got my hands on them.

I straightened, taking her in. I had a choice to make tonight. I could take what was mine or I could leave her be. She might not come back if I give into my needs now, but if I waited, I could see her again just like this.

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