Page 17 of Stars May Fall

Callum shrugged. “And I am. Kasomere has never been run so well, if I may say so myself. But you were the one who asked for this report. Do you…want it now?”

I didn’t even look at it but took a deep gulp of wine. It seemed like a lifetime ago that I had been so desperate to know whether the king had ordered the majority of the soldiers to leave Whitehall with the aim of letting it fall to the enemy. If so, he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds—all to set a death trap for me. “No. I don’t want to think about the king. I don’t want to think about anything but Sophie. She almost died, Callum. I need a break from my duties. We’ve never had the time to spend together, so now I’m making it happen.” I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I shouldn’t be so irritable with him. “Thank you for taking on so much extra work. I know the last few weeks have hardly been easy for you either.”

Callum raised an eyebrow. “Did you just thank me? Out loud? I’ll have to write down the quote and hang it above my bed for proof.” He scoffed and patted the report, nudging it a little inmy direction. “Just let me know when you want it. I know you wanted to know what your father did.”

I frowned, staring at my wine glass as I swirled the liquid around. “I did. Now? I’m not so sure.”

Callum rested his chin in his hand as if he expected this answer. “Really? That’s a big change.”

Is this what he was here to talk to me about? I wanted to shut it all away.

“Callum…”

“You really don’t care what your father did in order to try to kill you? You really don’t care how many of his own people he has killed? How far he would weaken our defense against Kollenstar? Do you even care if he was involved with the halfsouls?”

I clenched my hands into fists. I didn’t want to debate right now. “I won’t endanger Sophie’s life again. Especially not for something as petty as revenge.”

Callum leaned back in his seat. “I’m not talking about revenge.”

I scowled at him, increasingly annoyed, but kept my voice low to not disturb Sophie. “Why are you bringing this up, Callum? Why now?” I flung up a hand. “Before you warned me about even doing this report, saying it might be better I didn’t know. Now you’re saying the opposite.”

Callum rubbed his chin with a half-apologetic look. “I know you want to pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist, but you’re going to have to decide soon, Kasten. You need to tell Sophie so you both can decide what you’re going to do. The king won’t leave you alone. He never has. Once the power of the starstone becomes common knowledge, things will be much, much worse. You both need to take time to think about this. It can’t just be a snap decision when the summons or order comes.”

I winced. “I don’t want anything to do with them. I’ve had it with their games. I’m no longer willing to die at their hands or to risk losing Sophie. I don’t care how evil or vile their activities are. We will stay at Kasomere and shut them all out.”

Callum nodded slowly, his expression blank. “But where will that lead, Kasten? The king won’t just leave you alone if you refuse his orders.”

I shrugged. “He can try all he wants but he won’t be able to reach me here. Not now that I have the power from the starstone. He could send his whole army here, and I’d be able to resist them.”

Callum frowned and gentled his voice. “You’re willing to have Fenland’s army attack us? You would kill soldiers you’ve fought alongside? It would have to be a good number for them to retreat.”

I nodded, refusing to feel the weight of his words. “I will kill whoever threatens us until they learn to leave us alone.”

Callum pressed his lips together and gave an exaggerated nod as if theatrically considering my words. “Ah, I see. So you will become an independent city state, refuse the authority of the king, wipe out half his army when he challenges you, leave them to then be destroyed in their war against Kollenstar. And then, when Kollenstar comes to attack, you will single-handedly defend us against the tides of soulless too? Even if we’re surrounded because Fenland has fallen?”

I narrowed my eyes and leaned my elbows on my knees. “Callum, I will kill anyone who threatens us, whether it’s the king, Kollenstar, Cerith, Nibawae, or the entire world. It doesn’t matter. You know I have the power to do it. With our troops, devices, and the starstone, and with no foreign war to distract us, we will be invincible here. I will tell them to leave me alone. If they choose to try and take Kasomere to get the power of thestarstone for themselves, they’ve made their own decision and will pay for it. I won’t be responsible for that.”

Callum lifted an eyebrow. “That still sounds like a lifetime of war to me.”

I scowled and took a gulp of wine. “They will eventually learn to leave us alone. Until then—well, as the king said—I’m good at killing things.” I grimaced.

“And Sophie? Do you think she will feel the same? And what about any children you might have? We don’t know how to pass the power of the starstone to them. Do you want them to take over a city surrounded by enemies with no easy way to defend it? Will they have enough food and resources for everyone inside our walls?”

I gritted my teeth. This was becoming too hypothetical. We probably couldn’t even have children. This would carry a high cost, but I would not repeat the mistakes of the past, which led to Sophie almost being killed. “I’ll protect my wife, my home and my people. That is it. This place will be a sanctuary, and nobody will touch us again.”

Callum sighed and leaned back in his chair. He drummed his fingers on the armrest before breaking the heavy mood by lifting an eyebrow with a slight smirk. “And what about me?”

I looked at him with a long-suffering expression. “What about you?”

“You go on about burning cities when Sophie gets injured and defending your people against every threat even to the doom of the world, et cetera, et cetera. Where do I come into this? I’m technically not one of your people.”

I sighed and looked away, glad he had stopped his previous line of questioning. “You too.”

Callum leaned forward, raising one eyebrow. “Me too, what?”

I sighed and looked back at his eager expression. He exaggerated a grin. I reached over and patted his head like a dog.“If somebody kills or injures you, I’ll burn down everything for you too.”

Callum settled back in his chair, wiggling his shoulders in satisfaction. “You know, that is by far the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.”

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