Page 93 of Born of Starlight
It was not hers to give.Ishook my head and stepped away, looking around the room. Either Asterie wasn’t telling me something, or someone wasn’t tellinghersomething.That stone. The last time I saw it.
“Take it off.” The barked demand caused her to flinch. Before she could react, I grabbed the stone again and tugged hard. The chain snapped.
Leaving her stunned, I threw my words over my shoulder with haste.
“History volumes won’t tell you everything, Asterie.”
Chapter27
Asterie
An hour had passed since Fenris stormed away with the necklace. His demeanor had shifted so abruptly at the sight of the gemstone around my neck. Incredibly gentle to rigid and moody. Warm to cold.
My hackles remained raised during the rest of the evening.
“History volumes won’t tell you everything.” What was that supposed to mean? What stories were missing from those pages? So much of my own history had been documented inaccurately. Who was to say there wasn’t more amiss in those texts?
Maybe it was wishful thinking—wanting him to be vindicated. But it would make the desire I felt for him more wholesome. It would make his claim over me less terrifying.
It would be simpler if he would just tell me what happened that night. Instead, whenever I approached, he took the hand of a wallflower before beckoning her onto the dance floor or he started a conversation with a group that would prevent me from cutting in.
“I can’t speak of it.”His words were an echo against my logic. That strained, tongue-bitten and forced tone. He can’t speak of it.
Can’t.
He’d said it before, but I always took it to mean that hewouldn’t.
A fork dinged against a glass flute before Queen Sybilla rose to a podium. The band quieted and stepped off their stage, leaving only anticipatory chatter echoing up the courtyard’s stone walls. Emmerick came to my side.
He leaned over to whisper into my ear. “No sign of the maid. She was likely a fanatic.”
All quieted, all eyes now on the Queen as she began to speak.
“I do like her,” I whispered to Emmerick, needing to stand on my tip-toes and hold his shoulder to remotely reach his ear. He smirked in response—his eyes did not leave the young Queen as she addressed her people.
“We come together tonight to celebrate the first time our High Enchantress, Lady Asterie, graces us with her presence at the Court of Luz. I wish our celebrations could continue, but we face troubling times ahead.”
My pulse thrummed loudly. The once joyous crowd in the moonlit courtyard was now so quiet.
“Henosis faces grave times. We are to be tested—our strength, our resolve to band together as one. To maintain a peaceful, prosperous realm. It all hangs at risk.”
There was low murmuring—discomfort thickened the air.
“War is coming. It will tear us apart…Lady Asterie has had a prophecy that Luz will fall first. It will fall to the North Corridor.”
The gasps and chatter began as soon as the words left her lips. My eyes narrowed on Sybilla. While I had my suspicions, she was filling my mouth with words I hadn’t spoken. Her father had that prophecy, and her using me to shield his name from association with his magic didn’t sit well with me. Then, she raised her hand to speak again, commanding their silence.
“We received word today that King Mattock has passed—with no heir to his name. Firose Van Gran has stepped in to rule the North Corridor in the interim of securing his replacement.”
An uproar of disbelief grew—a High Enchantress seizing control over a Corridor? It had never been done. And yet, I believed the Queen. Ice ran down my spine.
“Quiet!” The Queen’s brow furrowed. “What is more alarming, Firose has been bolstering northern troops with magic-wielders from the Wastelands. Lady Asterie has confirmed that the Wasteland wards are compromised. This is why I will allow Lady Asterie and her present company to teach our troops defensive magic.”
There were gasps in the crowd.
It would be impossible—teaching those without Source magic to wield even simple charms took months, years. Sometimes the magic didn’t respond to them at all.
The nobles grew quiet again as the weight of her words sunk in. My chest rose and fell as I searched the unfamiliar faces for Fenris—he was staring back at me.
