Page 82 of Stars May Fall

Once Annabelle had control of the palace, it would be easy enough for us to assert her authority. She could even give herself a rushed coronation if necessary. We could then form a united front against Lyrason.

One of the maids, Tilly, came running in from a side door, clutching a tonic and Sophie’s bracelet. I frowned at her. She looked terrified and her cheeks were streaked with tears. She bowed to me and held up the items.

“General, Lady Sophie said to give these things to you to treat Prince Clarence.”

I glanced back at the pale unconscious prince, my own bracelet around his wrist. I turned back to Tilly, fighting my rising apprehension. “Where is she?”

Tilly started to shake. “She chased after Lyrason and Gregane. They…they killed her guard.”

My lips parted as I suddenly became unable to take in air. I stepped forward, and Tilly stepped back in response. “She’s alone? And she ran after Lyrason and Gregane?”

Tilly nodded. “She said you should follow her with some sort of detector. She thought you’d catch up quickly. She went through a door behind the tapestry of lilies.”

I swore, dread seizing my insides. I hadtoldher to stay away from the fighting. I had told her again and again to stop taking risks, thinking she had to prove herself. I’d shown her that I could only do this with her at my side. Without her, I was a monster.

Why couldn’t she be sensible and stay safe? She reminded me a little of the way I used to take risks when I’d thought my life was worthless. Is that what she believed? Had I failed so badly to show her who she really was?

I wanted to be angry, but all I felt was fear so cold it stole my breath. My nightmare…

I snatched Sophie’s bracelet. “Give that tonic to the prince and wait with him. Don’t take the bracelet off his wrist!”

I started running for the side door before I’d even finished speaking. I raised my hand to my detector and turned the dial back and forward, emitting the signal that made me a rallying point.

Why was I never fast enough?

I kicked the door fully open and saw Meena’s body drained of life across the corridor. I blocked the grief from my mind and searched for the tapestry. On my detector, multiple faint keens sounded. Lyrason was making halfsouls. I could still hear Sophie’s lower drone when I concentrated, but it was growing quieter with distance. Detectors were more sensitive tohaemalcomy than kryalcomy. The more noises on the detector, the harder it would be to trace her.

Fear threatened to push me into panic. I flung aside the tapestry and found the hidden door. I kicked it open as Callum skidded to my side.

“Where have you been?” I growled at him as I rushed into the narrow stairway.

Callum huffed behind me. “Well, my day was thoroughly ruined. I was having the most fun sacking Duke James’s mansion, but if you hadn’t noticed, I was interrupted and held captive and almost killed. It’s more traditional in these situations to ask about my welfare.”

I was in no mood for his personality right now. “Sophie ran off alone after Lyrason and Gregane. Meena’s dead.” I took the spiraling staircase three steps at a time.

Callum swore. “But I can hear halfsouls. They’re probably heading into the city, turning people as they go.”

I gritted my teeth. “I know.”

“Kasten, remember she’s immune. It will likely be more dangerous for us than for her.”

I almost stopped to shake him and roar in his face. Only the need to be fast kept me moving. “She’s trackingLyrason! How by any scale is that not dangerous? And she has nobody with her!”

I’d almost lost her once. It wasn’t meant to happen again. It was just a bad dream.

We reached a door in the side of the staircase. One of Sophie’s glass mixing beakers sat on the stair beside it, marking the way. I crashed through the door and skidded into a corridor. Which way had they gone? A second beaker lay smashed where it had rolled unhelpfully into the center of the carpet. Somebody must have kicked it by accident while running though.

I saw a servant cowering in one corner and grabbed his arm. “Which way did Lyrason go?”

He pointed toward the atrium, shrinking back as if he thought the wall was capable of swallowing him.

I stepped closer. “Was there a blonde woman in a white dress following him and Gregane?”

The servant nodded and pointed to the atrium again. He screwed his eyes shut as if expecting a blow. I left him and ran to the front doors.

Outside, the sun was just starting to set. I’d lost all track of time. Halfsouls were more active in the dark.

The endless grassy lawn in front of the palace was a mass of confusion on either side of the drive. Soldiers I recognized from my battalion pointed to me and started to jog over. Fighting had broken out on the other side. In the stables that lined one wall of the palace, horses were panicking and kicking down the wooden walls. I ran down the drive, scanning everywhere for Sophie.

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