Page 82 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Kyra’s throat bobbed and she rolled her eyes. “That could have happened anyway,” she finally said, voice hoarse.

I gave her a small smile. “Maybe, but maybe not. I think telling Rose gave me the self-confidence I needed to take the leap into General training, especially so early on. Six years as a warrior? Most spend decades, centuries, as a warrior before they even think about taking the test for anything higher. I did it in less than a decade.”

She gave me a look. “Arrogant.”

I chuckled and poked her nose. “I earned that arrogance.”

And right then, just for a moment, a smile ghosted by her lips before it fell not a second later.

Kyra’s gaze fell to her hands after that, as if she hadn’t wanted me to see that smile. As if she hadn’t wanted me to see that I had gotten through to her. So, I didn’tmention it. I simply gathered my things and stood. “When it’s dry, we’ll wipe it off, okay?”

She didn’t speak again until I had made it to the sink. “Rose, you loved her?”

I slowed as I reached the sink, my heart thudding in a way it hadn’t in a long time. “More than anything else in the world.”

“What happened?”

I slowly put the things in the sink, eyes lifting to the storm outside. “She…she died five years ago. Something horrible was growing around her heart. The healers couldn’t fix her.”

Kyra was quiet for a long time after that, which I didn’t mind. Remembering those days hurt like hell, but the pain was important. It meant that I was still living, still breathing, still healing.

Finally, she spoke again. “Why are you here?”

“I was in a meeting when Trick showed up and brought me here. Did you yell at him? He seemed adamant not to stick around.” It was bait, I knew that, but I wanted to know more about whatshethought about this situation. What she felt about what Trick was doing to her.

I ended up turning back to Kyra when she didn’t speak, only to find her staring at her hands, watching the root dry. “Why did you leave?”

I watched her for a moment longer before turning back to the sink. I flipped on the water and began washing everything I had used before I spoke again. “I think Trick was punishing me for fucking you. I don’t know what’s happening, Talons, but I know he’s becomeobsessed with you, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that it happened, but I don’t know how to stop it.”

She remained quiet.

I could feel the tension in the air as I put the clean utensils on the rag to dry. I dried my own hands and started for her again, her eyes having lifted to the fire.

“I had a dream last night,” she said as I bent down to scoop up the splinters. “About all of you.”

I slowed, finding her eyes. “Us?”

She nodded once without looking over. “The Staff of Elder, it shattered during the war. What happened to the pieces?”

My brows furrowed. Why was she having dreams about the Staff? “We have them all in the depths of Custodes Sepulchra.”

Custodes Sepulchra was a type of sinister labyrinth made to protect sacred objects. It was filled with rooms of horror, hallways and doors that led nowhere, a maze of walls made of bones, all leading down 50 meters underground to this cavern where the statues of the original Orders towered 100 feet tall, all surrounding a dais where the pieces of the Staff of Elder sat, wrapped in ancient magic. No one could access it. I didn’t even think Trick had the power to access it even if he did manage to get past everything else.

“They used it to kill all of you,” she went on as if she hadn’t heard what I had said. “The High Kings and High Queens standing on the thrones today. They killed all of you.”

I felt my back go rigid as my wings tightened behind me. “Who?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.Them. You said you wanted to be a part of whatever the witches were doing, so…there it is. There is…” She inhaled deeply as if it took every ounce of strength she had just to talk. “More information for you.”

I studied her for a long time before I tossed the splinters in the fire and sat down in front of her again. “Why don’t you move into the cottage? You’re stocked. You and Mark can move in and—”

“Don’tsay his name,” she snarled viciously.

My brows pulled together at the sudden pure rage in her eyes. It wasn’t like it had been before, this was deeper. This was feral. “Something happened to Mark, didn’t it?”

Kyra shoved herself to a stand, grunting at the pain in her side, an injury she wouldn’t let me see, and headed for the kitchen. “Please leave. Please justgo away.”

It was such a sudden shift in mood, I wasn’t sure quite how to take it. I stood, walking after her. “Kyra, what happened?”

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