Page 100 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Mark, he would have proper clothes, but I had been neglecting the ones I needed to gather for myself. I could deal with those later.

“Talons, are you okay?”

I rolled my eyes and turned to the steaming water. “Fine. The heart is working.”

“Why were you at the castle?”

I reached out to the water, only to pause when one of the shadow tendrils drifted slowly between me and the stream. I frowned, watching it. “Can you return to your High King so I can warm up my hands please?”

The shadow ignored me, although I wasn’t sure if it even understood me. There was no information on what language, if any, shadows spoke. Rather, it drifted to the knob on my sink and turned it to the right just a hair before drifting to the edge of the sink and settling.

“I wanted it hot.”

“That one is yours,” I heard Trick say, his voice closer than before. “The water was too hot, and you were going to burn yourself.”

My lip curled as I flung my hands under the water. It was perfect. “Maybe I wanted that.” I held my trembling hands under the water without moving them for a long time, thinking back to what Raphael had said. Tried to say.

“I’m a pr—”

My first guess was obvious, but maybe I had misheard. Only it would make sense. The Gerodia’s had been working with the witches for centuries, maybe there was some sort of blood contract there. But wasn’t their whole deal for freedom? Freedom and money,possibly immortality, I wouldn’t think the records would be completely inaccurate on that part of history.

But maybe I had been too on edge. Maybe the word had started with ‘br’ or ‘dr’. He was whispering, and I was distracted.

“Maybe this will push you to be more truthful,” I heard Trick say, pulling me out of my thoughts. “After Cole told me about that dream,” he began as my eyes lifted to the window again, “I went into Custodes Sepulchra to check on the Staff. It was gone. Every piece.”

Why wouldn’t it be? If Evanora truly wanted to destroy him, then she was going to need the Staff of Elder to do it. That seemed overly obvious.

I shut off the water and dried my hands, turning to the two males in my cottage. Cole was sitting in a chair on my side of the table, half-turned towards me, and Trick was standing on the other side of the table, watching me, challenge in his eyes.

I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t think now was the time to play any sort of game.

I leaned back against the counter and met his eyes evenly. “Not to humiliate you in front of your General, but after the last two wars, I would have kept guards everywhere. I would have checked on the Staff every week, every day. I would have—”

“It’s easy to say what you would have done from there,” he stated. “Without a crown, you couldn’t possibly know how some things may slip through cracks.”

I smiled coldly. “Hmm, right, so should we talk about the fact that rather than running your Court, you’ve been out murdering people? Is that something we’reallowed to bring up, or is that an off-limits topic because it makes you look bad? Can’t have that, can we? Mr. All-Mighty looking bad.” I clicked my tongue.

His eyes flashed, his jaw feathering. “For the last 800 years, I’ve been hunting down people who defile others. Murderers, rapists, pedophiles. I catch them, torture them, and spread their limbs across their court. Six years ago, I stumbled across a society of them. They call themselves Congregation. They are spread across every court. Every time I kill one, three more pop up. A year ago, I found out that the humans were involved in this too. That’s what brought me here. To you.”

Godsdammit. That was a decent excuse.

“A year ago?” Cole asked, turning to Trick. “You disappeared for four years and came back only when you found her?”

Trick didn’t break eye contact, but I nearly did. He had disappeared for four years? Five years ago his sister had died. So…he just abandoned his people again? Just like that?

“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” Trick told Cole icily.

“Yes, you do. Where were you? Why did you only return when you saw her?”

He sneered, his nose wrinkling ever so slightly as if he were fighting to bare his teeth at his High General. “She was worth coming back for,” he finally said.

My eyes widened. “No. No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to put that amount of pressure on me because what? When you finally get that I don’t want you, you’re just going to leave your people again? No, Idon’t want that on me. I don’t need that on my shoulders.”

Trick laughed something cold and cruel. “I told you, baby, I’m not going anywhere unless you come with me.”

A shiver ran down my spine at his smile. Sinister and dark. Something only the King of Hell could do.

“Trick, answer my question,” Cole demanded. “Where were you?”

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