Page 85 of Stars May Fall

Silvery light blinded my vision, and I almost fell backward off the wall. A new hand gripped my shoulder as the heel of my slipper dipped into empty air and I flailed. I gasped and turned to find Kasten beside me, steadying me as he perched on the wall. He must have leapt up from the garden behind us while we were focused on the street.

Kasten. I almost sagged with relief. But my heart rate accelerated further as I took stock of the situation.

My husband wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were violent death as he regarded Lyrason, like a predator about to pounce. The lord nodded to the knife he had angled back at my ribs. I held my breath.

Lyrason was very still. “Good evening, General. Jump off the wall, or I’m afraid I’ll have to kill her.”

At the very edge of my hearing, I heard Kasten scoff before he released his grip on my shoulder. He moved too fast for me to predict. My fingers gripped the rough stone beneath me as he stepped around me with incredible agility, grabbing and twisting Lyrason’s wrist while knocking him back with a hard blow. I heard a sharp crack of bone before Lyrason fell off backward off the wall into the garden below. Kasten followed at once and thumped to the ground beside him, somehow keeping on his feet like a graceful black cat.

He was beautiful and terrifying in his efficiency.

All at once, I was free. I drew in a shaking breath and managed to keep my perch as I peered down into the gloomy garden.

Lyrason winced and scooted back on one elbow, his other arm twisted at a strange angle. “Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me. I have things to say.”

“You hurt my wife,” Kasten growled, stepping forward and looming over the man on the floor.

On the other side of the wall, the halfsouls shrieked with excitement as they came within strides of Mister Gregane and our soldiers.

I looked back to the garden, hoping Kasten could remove Lyrason as a threat quickly. Tying him up or knocking him out or even killing him if there was no other way. The lord raised one hand as if it would protect him. “I have information.”

Kasten didn’t seem to care. He raised his sword. “Let’s see how many blows it takes to get through your shield. Or do I need to stab you slowly?”

My breath caught at the malice in his voice. My throat tightened. I looked away. I didn’t want to see this side of Kasten.

“I…I am not the one who invented halfsouls. Neither is Mister Gregane. Wait. Wait! It was…it was your mother!” His voice rose to a shriek.

What?I opened my eyes and looked back down. Kasten was frozen, cocking his head.

This wasn’t the time. I leaned over the wall. “Kasten! The halfsouls!”

My husband hesitated for one more second before stabbing Lyrason in the thigh with a blowpipe needle that contained the strong sedative for the halfsouls.

I winced. “Kasten, pull it out quickly or it will be too strong. It might already be too much.”

Kasten did as I said, but he didn’t seem overly concerned about the dose as Lyrason’s head fell back to the ground. I supposed he had extra vitality, but that was an unknown complication. I worried my lip between my teeth.

Kasten leapt back up the wall to beside me, pulling himself up with surprising ease. Before I could fully take him in, he embraced me, kissing my hair and seeming to breathe me in.“Sorry, I took so long. I know you were waiting for me. Wait just a little longer.”

He looked down to where halfsouls were swamping both Gregane and our soldiers in a tangled mass of bodies. Gregane’s shield seemed useless against the movements of the halfsouls.

I grabbed Kasten’s sleeve. “I took away the object that repels the halfsouls from Lyrason and Gregane. But Gregane may still be receiving vitality from them just like Lyrason was. He also seemed stronger and faster than normal. I don’t know if the halfsouls will be able to injure him badly enough or turn him into one of them. Our troops are being killed and turned. You need to put the bracelet on him so he can no longer receive vitality and become slow and weak.”

Kasten seemed calm and composed despite the shocking words Lyrason had just said. He nodded, fished my bracelet out of his pocket, and jumped down from the wall, his sword still drawn in the other hand. At once, halfsouls turned to face him with excitable screams.

“Everyone drop!” he bellowed. A second later, a controlled arc of silvery light flew through the alley at shoulder height. The halfsouls were thrown back against the walls. It exploded against Gregane’s shield, and our soldiers rocked from the impact where they lay, their hands over their heads.

Nothing stood between Gregane and Kasten now. In three strides, he closed the distance. I barely noticed the chain wrapped around his sword before he grabbed Gregane’s stained shirt and plunged the blade into his abdomen with ruthless speed.

The brutality made me blink. Nausea contracted my stomach as Kasten pushed the body to the ground with a kick to slide it from his sword. At that moment, he didn’t seem like the Kasten I knew.

Had that been necessary? Shouldn’t he have been arrested for a trial? Or was he deemed too dangerous? I wasn’t sure. Something about it had felt… excessive. But what did I know about such things?

Kasten turned and sent another arc up the alleyway killing any remaining halfsouls on their way toward them.

The remaining soldiers cheered, and thankfully none looked like they were turning into a halfsoul. Now that they were safe, I released my white-knuckled grip on the masonry, my fingers cramping. I eased myself down from the wall and jumped into the garden to check Lyrason’s pulse, blinking away images of Kasten running somebody through with his sword.

The soldiers cheered on the other side of the wall, but within this tangled garden, it was calm. I blew out a long slow breath and let myself feel relief. Maybe Kasten would now see what I was capable of. I’d just stopped Lyrason from escaping and helped stop a civil war before it could truly start. I’d shown my bravery and strength.

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