Page 74 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Sign your name and your soul is mine. X

If you don’t follow these rules, you are subject to a punishment of my choosing. Whenever, wherever, and however I want it.

If you follow these rules, you will be rewarded.

Your one and true God.

I sneered, trying to ignore the strange thump in my heart or the way my shoulders fell just an inch. “My one and true god indeed,” I muttered just to drown out my own thoughts.

I slid my satchel over my shoulder and walked over to the fire. I tossed the paper in and headed for the door.

“Fuck you and your ridiculous rules,” I said. Bullshit. It was all just a load of bullshit. He wasn’t in charge of me, and he never would be.

~~~

Trick

“You revoked?”

I wrapped the towel tightly around my hips and shut the glass door behind me, water dripping down my skin. “Come in,” I said with sarcastic blandness as I walked over to the mirror.

Lora folded her arms across her chest, standing in the doorway of my bathroom. “Cole puts you in your place and instead of fighting back, you decide to revoke your crown? That seems a little childish, don’t you think?”

I wiped the steam away from the mirror and grabbed my toothbrush. Three hours of restless sleep before I forced myself up to take a shower. If I had had the option, I might have slept another few hours, but unfortunately, I didn’t get that luxury. Not yet.

“You can’t just ignore me and hope I go away,” she stated flatly.

“I can try.”

Lora stalked over, grabbed my shoulder, and spun me around, her eyes as fierce as our mother’s, holding the color of our father. “Do you have any idea the amount of paperwork you just buried me in?”

I pulled my toothbrush out, glaring down at her. “Yes.” This was all just theatrics and we both knew it. Ever since the last war, Lora had been pining for the crown I had taken for her to keep her out of this bullshit. Her lack of belief in me would hurt my soul if I had one.

She gaped, obviously offended. It was too bad I didn’t give a fuck. “Do you know what you’ve just opened us up to? What’s going to happen when word spreads that you have stopped protecting your people?”

I watched her for a moment before turning back to the sink, spitting out the toothpaste, rinsing off my toothbrush, and wiping my mouth. “Up until this very second, I’ve been told I’m doing nothing to protect my people. Nothing to save them. In fact, all I do is kill,rape, and destroy. Maybe you can change that. I’m too busy to keep fighting this battle.”

“So you’re running?” she asked as I walked past her into my room. “You’re running away like you always do? Mom and dad didn’t raise you like this.”

“No,” I said, pulling my towel off to dry my hair, “they raised me as a weapon to protect Oridian. I did exactly what they asked of me, and nobody has shut up since.” I tossed the towel to my bed and grabbed my pants. “You should be happy, all of you. I won’t be giving you orders, I won’t be in your way.”

“No, you’ll be hunting down a society of rapists and stalking a random human girl until you can live up to your name.”

My magic cracked under my skin, my shadows darkening as it whispered in my ear.“Kill her.”

I worked my jaw, shutting it out. “I don’trapepeople, Lora. I kill those who do. I was trying tofixour name, not destroy it.” Did she truly think I raped people too? She was my sister, she should have been on my side. But years of pining after Cole destroyed that, I supposed.

“You failed, Trick, and now you’re running away on the cusp of another war. I should have known you’d pull something like this as soon as you decided to pay more attention to it. Go, do whatever it is you need to do. I’ll figure this out myself, but Cole, Meeria, and Nick? They’re mine now. I’m in charge of them. If you need them, come and ask me, but you don’t get to just take them anymore.”

I waited until she was gone before I let the magic go just enough tobreathe.

My bones snapped and pulled at my skin, and I cracked my neck trying to keep my body from fighting against it.

“Let me out,”it begged, scratching against my ribs.“Let’s prove to them just how monstrous we can be.”

I flexed my hands, trying to force my muscles to relax. Maybe just for a few hours, I decided, glancing to the floor-length mirror leaning against the far wall. Just enough to take the edge off.

My magic laughed as my body began to shift, every bone breaking, the sound ringing through my ears. That thought was all it needed to force itself on me.

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