Page 98 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

I curled into him. I could feel my blood turning to sludge, my heart was pounding too hard, my nostrils filled with ice, my throat slowly closing. Everything was screaming in pain.

Move, move, move!My instincts screamed. Moving was the only way to warm up, but I couldn’t. I was freezing alive from the inside out.

My mouth opened, unable to shut now as the icecrawled up my throat. I couldn’t breathe.“She slapped me,”I tried.

“Cole,” Trick started as he lifted me. “More wood on the fire.”

His heart thumped against my shoulder steady and unwavering. Unafraid.

“What happened?” he asked his High King.

“Evanora slapped her. She was injected with Forbidden Magic. She doesn’t have much time.” Trick carried me over to the fire and crouched down, the heat from the flames doing nothing to satiate the freezing temperatures.

My fingers dug into his shirt as my eyes slowly lifted to his, black lines shooting across my vision.“I can’t breathe. It’s crawling up my throat.”

He nodded, his eyes melting. He wasn’t the cruel, wicked thing from the woods anymore, no, this man, I was sure, wasn’t seen often. “Cole will keep you warm until I return.”

Cole appeared at my other side again, his hands slowly sliding under Trick’s. As soon as my weight shifted, he disappeared right from between my black fingers, now frozen in the shape of me gripping onto Trick.

I fell into Cole with a thump as he carefully turned me back towards the fire and spread his beautiful wings, forcing every ounce of heat to be directed right at me.

I loved his wings. I loved the way the black faded into the red on each feather. It was tragic and poetic and amazing.

My vision slowly went black, Cole’s face disappearing intonothingness. I tried to get air, but the ice was growing in my throat, expanding. I was going to die.

Exhaustion swept over me. I was unable to move, my heart had slowed, I was suffocating slowly. At least Mark could make his own choice. He’d find that letter. He would find out about the cottage, and he could make the choice himself, and I would be happy. Whichever he chose, I would be happy.

I had to be happy.

“Talons?” Cole asked.

But he’d be in that castle all alone.“If worst comes to worst,”I thought at Cole, praying he would somehow hear me,“take Mark to Aelyria. He’s allergic to lemons. Take him to Aelyria.”

If he was in Phaidras Mom would never find him. The castle was dangerous, and if he didn’t like the cottage, he deserved the choice to go to Phaidras. He deserved it. There were Tree Giants and Allures, and he had always loved the Vigils. He would thrive there.

“Kyra,” Cole tried. “Keep fighting. You have to keep fighting.”

If I could, I would have taken him, just to visit, but in this case, maybe abandoning the cottage and moving to the Fae Court was just the best option.

“Trick,” Cole said, at least that’s what I thought he said. There was ice building in my ears.

A hand found my face, this one so warm, it burned. Warm and calloused and so large, it nearly encompassed the entire of my head.“This will hurt.”His voice was clear as day.

A warmth started to grow where his fingers touchedmy skin, spreading through my jaw, my cheeks, my eyes, and lips. It didn’t hurt, in fact, it was relieving.

“What are you doing?” Cole snapped. “You’ll kill her.”

My jaw broke free of the frozen cage, the warmth sliding over my tongue and down my throat, thawing everything it touched.

I tried to inhale, but my lungs still wouldn’t work. I was still dying.

“You have to eat this. It’s the heart of the Delya Owl.”

Something that counteracts all magic. Rare too. Delya Owls were only found in the deepest parts of the Desert of Bones. Unreachable by all.

Unless you were a god, I supposed.“Okay,”I responded without fight.

I felt the warmth of it touch my tongue, the bitter flavor of blood spreading across my mouth. My skin felt as if it were ripping apart with each slow chew, but I kept going. Chewing it thoroughly, forcing myself to swallow.

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