Page 154 of Until the Stars Fall

“Why did you try to stop us earlier, Raven?” Anna asked. “If you hate the woman so much, why defend her?”

Raven tensed, and though I couldn’t see her face, I could easily picture the disdainful smirk she likely flashed her mother, as if to mock her for not realizing the obvious. “Simply protecting an asset. I didn’t want all the stars-damned work I did to be tossed aside. She could still be of use to us. Alive.”

Anna was quiet for a few moments before she hummed briefly and said, “I disagree. She’s been compromised by her bond to the fae. Just like my sister was when their king stole her from us.”

“What are you talking about?” Raven asked at the same time that Matthias’s whispered curse hit my ear.

Confusion swept over me. The queen hadn’t been a human. Who was Anna referring to? Who was her sister?

Anna answered her bitterly. “Ellae abandoned us to be with her mate, and it started a damned war. She never even would have met him had she not been here visiting our cousin, Alora.”

“That doesn’t explain why Lieke needs to die!” Raven said, lifting her hands to her sides.

Anna shouted loudly, “Because it’s what she deserves! Just like all the fae!” I flinched, and Raven stepped back half a pace as if her mother had struck her. Anna’s slow inhale pierced the air before she said again in a steady but firm tone, “You are either with us, Raven, or you’re not.”

“And if I’m not?” Raven asked, straightening so she stood a bit taller.

Anna sighed loudly. “Don’t be stupid. The fae reign is coming to an end. You don’t want to be on the wrong side when it does.”

Raven’s shoulders lifted with a long, slow breath, and then her head lowered as she whispered, “What do you need me to do?”

“You know what to do,” Anna said, pulling her knife from its leather sheath. Raven lifted a hand to accept the weapon.

“I do,” Raven said. Glancing over her shoulder, she shot me an apologetic look like the many she’d offered me before our training sessions. “This is going to hurt both of us.”

My breath caught as I waited for her to come at me. My arms—having been stuck in this position for over an hour—would be sluggish, but I had to at least try to block her.

When Raven moved, though, she didn’t attack me. Thrusting the blade in front of her, she aimed for her mother. Anna easily blocked the strike, forcing the blade into the dirt at their feet. Then, hooking her leg behind Raven’s ankle, Anna knocked her daughter onto her back, crouched beside her, and grabbed her throat.

“You know what I despise more than fae?” Anna hissed. “Liars.”

Raven’s feet scrambled against the dirt as she fought with both hands to loosen Anna’s grip, but it only seemed to make Anna squeeze tighter. When Owen knelt to pick up the knife, Matthias rushed out from behind me. Crouching low, Matthias sent his own blade flying at the man, and it struck home, burying itself to the hilt in Owen’s eye.

Anna roared in vicious agony as her husband’s body slumped to the ground. She glowered at the fae commander, who was now standing tall and stalking toward her. Releasing her daughter, she grabbed her knife from the ground and rose.

Raven gasped for air and rolled toward me.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a hoarse whisper. I nodded, despite the lingering pain in my side, and brought my aching arms around in front of me.

Slowly, I shifted Connor’s head off my lap and brushed my fingers over his weak pulse before I laid him gently onto the floor. My muscles protested when I forced them to move, but it was the sharp sting in my wound that made me draw a hissed inhale through my teeth. Somehow I managed to get onto my hands and knees. I settled back into a crouch beside my friend to watch and wait for an opportunity to help.

Anna lunged for the fae with her knife, but Matthias leaped out of the way just in time. She sneered. “I told Caroline we should have poisoned the arrows too, but she didn’t want to waste what little we had left.”

“If it makes you feel better, it still hurt when she shot me,” Matthias said as he knelt quickly to retrieve the knife from Owen’s face, never taking his attention from his opponent.

Anna shrugged, circling the fae, and nodded toward the knife in her hand. “Enough to treat my own blades at least.”

My heart plummeted.

Matthias’s eyes widened briefly, but that was the only indication that he understood the gravity of the situation. He kept his distance from Anna, assessing how she moved. They circled each other until Anna’s back was to me. Over her shoulder I caught Matthias’s eye, and he tipped his chin up slightly.

Pushing to my feet, I slipped past Raven. She grabbed for me, whispering a warning to stop. My legs burned, my shoulders ached, and my side screamed, but I ignored it all as I forced myself forward on quiet feet. Aiming for Anna’s lower back, for the painful spot that would drop her quickly, I struck.

Anna shifted at the last moment, and my blade merely grazed her side. She reached her free hand across to her injury and twisted around to face me. Growling, she plunged her knife into the existing gash in my torso.

Fire tore through me, and I screamed out in pain.

Through blurred vision I watched Matthias rush forward. He spun Anna around to face him. I didn’t see what happened next, because I slammed my eyes shut. Stumbling backwards, I fell hard onto the packed dirt floor. The sickening sound of metal slicing into flesh echoed in my ears.

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