Page 66 of Stars May Fall

He inclined his head just the slightest bit toward me. My heart thumped so hard it felt like it was about to escape my chest.

Someone knocked on the door, and then Stirling and Mother entered. Stirling drew his sword in alarm as soon as he saw Kasten. I tried to make eye contact with the general, but he stayed focused on his half brother and Father. My mother stood frozen, her hands over her mouth.

The tension was so thick even my breathing sounded noisy. There had to be something I could do.

The king cleared his throat. “Annabelle, Charlotte, Stirling. Wait next door please. Alert the guards that there is a coup taking place and that they should arrest Kasten’s household and anyone else associated with him.”

I gasped. “Father! He is merely telling you not to take that injection…”

The king spun to me. “Enough! I will hear nothing more from you. Now the three of you go next door and lock the door until I summon you.”

Kasten remained motionless except to give me a small nod. Did he want me somewhere safe too? Or did he want me to leave so I didn’t see what he was about to do? Stirling grabbed my arm and half-led half-dragged me from the room. I closed my eyes. I had liaised successfully between Kasten and Lyrason before. But this time…this time it wasn’t right to stop Kasten. It was my father who needed to be stopped.

Kasten was in the right. He’d been in the right all along, and I’d been a fool. Father was the monster.

Stirling pushed me into the room with Mother and started giving orders to the guards, some of whom started to move chairs around, preparing to form a barricade. I grabbed his arm. “Stirling, stop. Just get the full guard into the castle. We don’t yet know who is behind any coup. Kasten is just trying to stop…”

He pushed me back. “What is wrong with you, Annabelle! Kasten is and has always been a villain. He’s bewitched you. Didn’t you hear the orders Father clearly gave us?”

I shook my head slowly, letting my disappointment show on my face. I wouldn’t let Father and Lyrason get away with this.

I turned from the room and ran down the corridor. Stirling swore before slamming the door behind me. The lock clicked. I felt guilty about abandoning them, but I had to find Sophie before the guards arrested her.

I ran, tears streaming down my cheeks. A door opened, and strong arms grabbed me pulling me inside. I screamed before a hand clamped over my mouth.

KASTEN

Ilifted my sword, but stopped as Lord Lyrason pulled the cap from the needle. I shifted my feet, not even daring to blink as disgust and disappointment crept through my bones. I remembered the king’s own advice to me as a child, echoing across twenty years.

Never be the first to start a war.

I wanted the king to make the first move. I needed to see this. I needed to see the king accept the injection of the metal that formed a haemalcomy pole for vitality so that my responding actions of removing him from his throne would be justified and above challenge. No doubt could remain. The metal in his veins would prove to everyone in court that he was unfit to rule.

And if I was to become the monster everyone expected, I had to know the monsters I fought were worse.

As soon as he started to draw on vitality, I would arrest him using the power of the starstone and wrap Callum’s bracelet around his wrist to stop it from working.

Lord Lyrason injected the king, and everything inside me became deathly still. He had shown me the only right path I could take.

The king had to be replaced—the king and Lord Lyrason and everyone else involved. I would happily commit treason if it meant these experiments went no further.

I lifted my sword, holding it to the king’s throat. “Abdicate. If you refuse, I will be forced to remove you by force.” I prepared to send a blast of power at Lyrason, the moment he moved. I wouldn’t be giving that snake another chance to escape.

The king’s lips started to curve up in a smile. Clearly, they had something they believed would defend them against me. But then he frowned, looking down at his arm as the needle was removed. He lifted one hand to his head.

Lord Lyrason spoke as he placed the vial back in its case. “Dizziness is a normal side effect. Stay seated and wait for it to pass.”

The king’s skin was growing pale, and his cheeks were drawn. I had seen this transformation before, but not this fast. My plans and intentions fell away to horror.

I stepped back, gestured to the king with my sword, and looked at Lord Lyrason. “What did you give him?”

Lord Lyrason smiled, his eyes bright with the elation of victory. “I injected the vitalityharvestingmetal directly instead of giving him the metal that receives vitality.” He looked down at the king. “But don’t worry. I’ve not added any violence, nor can he transmit.There’s no infectious agent attached to the metal. He is quite safe.”

No, no. I had expected him to inject something that enabled him to receive vitality which we would be able to stop with Callum’s bracelet once he was arrested. Not something that would kill him.

Callum’s bracelet.

I fumbled for the chain and prepared to place it on the king, but Lyrason placed a knife at his throat. He frowned at me. “Take one step forward, and I’ll kill him quicker.”

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