Page 70 of This Shattered Star

Ever so slowly, it began to feel less like they’d been tied into frayed knots. The pressure pinching them at odd angles melted, allowing them to expand fully.

“There.” A wobbly smile found its way to his face. “That should do it.”

Lapis swiftly replaced amber, and a second pair of arms gathered me in an embrace that held all of my fragile pieces together.Theia.

Whether I said her name out loud, or she’d heard it through my thoughts, her arms tightened in acknowledgement.

“You were there,” I whispered into her hair, inhaling lilies and cinnamon.“You stopped me.” Fragmented images shot across my mind, cruel and horrid.

“All of it was just a dream. None of it was real.” She retreated, rocking back on the balls of her feet. “I’d been trying to wake you since you left that garden. But the king’s magic was much stronger than I’d anticipated. I’m sorry it took so long.”

Pushing to stand, she veered towards the puddle of vomit next to Kodhan’s leg.

Stars—I was still cradled against him. I should’ve moved right then. Should’ve put as much distance between our bodies as I physically could. It was the logical thing to do.

But for some unknown reason, I couldn’t find a single part of me that wanted to. And so it was surprisingly easy, at that moment, to toss logic right into the wind.

I startled as she stomped, hard, right in the center of it.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, cringing at the twist of her heel, digging further into the mess.

Silently, she lifted her foot, but didn’t back away. She held it aloft, just high enough for me to see what, exactly, she’d stomped on.

Kodhan loosened his hold enough for me to lean forward. I nearly vomited again.

A small, grey insect, no longer than a gold coin, twitched on its back.

Covering my mouth with the back of my hand, I muttered, “Tell me that did not come out of me.”

Theia stomped on it again. It no longer twitched.

“We believe that is what made the hallucinations so potent.” Brannon studied the crushed insect, upper lip curling. “The king can plant whatever images he wants into peoples’ heads. But such visceral, dream-like visions, in the heads of so many people—visions that cause such a violent physical reaction…” He ran a pensive hand across his jaw. “He must have infused the insects with his magic, like a virus. Hid them in the food so they could root themselves inside us and take hold.”

“We all had them.” Despite his constant heat, even without magic, Kodhan’s lethal whisper sent shivers down my back. “All had thosethingscrawling around inside of us before Theia overpowered them with her own magic.”

Theia backed away, wiping the sole of her boot across the floor to clean it. “I’ve rarely seen anything like it. I managed to help Brannon and Kodhan rather quickly.” Her brows scrunched together as she examined the insect, then me. “It was much harder with you. Like Maverick himself had his hand on your shoulder while the insect did its work.”

“He will pay.”

I twisted halfway in surprise, and Kodhan’s eyes snapped straight to mine, stopping my heart dead in its tracks. He meant it. Vengeance against the crown.

I felt the vow down to my very marrow.

His heart hammered against my back.Why was it beating so fast?He wasn’t afraid. Not after making a threat like that so confidently. The man moved with unwavering purpose, and after Strength, I knew that it would take more than insects to shake him. He was angry, that much was obvious.

But it felt like his heart was straining against his ribs.Reaching,like it wanted to claw its way out of his chest.

A glint of desperation shone in his eyes. Begging me for the answer to a question I couldn’t understand.

Brannon’s spoke, his words splashing me like a bucket of cold water. “I searched the corridors while Theia tried to wake you. Some of the others died in their sleep, likely because they took too long to wake. Weren’t breathing properly, like you were. They were unnaturally stiff. Like they’d been so afraid that everything simply… stopped working.”

I tore my eyes away from Kodhan’s. Tried to ignore the rapid beating of his heart, all while he pressed closer, making it infinitesimally difficult. “That’s what it felt like when I woke,” I said slowly. “My body acted against me.Like it had forgotten how to survive.”

“Further effects of the insect, no doubt. A virus with a single cure.”

“Courage.”

“Precisely.”