“Death by touch,” I murmured, my heartbeat ticking faster. “Andromeda’s power.”
“I honestly thought you knew.”
“That entire trip…it was so chaotic.” I shoved up from the chair again, unable to keep my frantic energy tethered long enough to stay in one place for more than a moment. “We need to tell the king. If anything will convince him Tessa is on the right path, it’s this.”
“Ah.” Val sighed and slumped in her chair. “I already told him about this when he was giving me a tour of the castle grounds. It’s not enough. He said something about a knife edge. Tessa has to make some kind of choice, and we’ll know she’s made it if she shows her wings. He insisted the Daughter of Stars will have wings, and the feathers’ ends will be sapphire instead of red.”
“A knife edge?” Alastair asked with a frown.
“I don’t know,” Val said with a shrug. “I’m convinced she’ll do whatever needs to be done.”
Cheers from the streets filtered in through the cracked window. Val inched off her seat to get a better look, and the sun bathed her face in a warm, soft glow. She smiled a little, cocking her head.
“What is it?” I joined her by the window and looked down at the crowd. Hundreds of people had clogged the streets in joyous abandon. They were dancing and leaping and tossing confetti into the air. Curious, I shoved the window fully open and stuck my head outside.
“Hey,” I called down to them.
A woman with sapphire ribbons in her golden hair lifted her eyes to mine and beamed. “Isn’t it glorious?”
“What’s glorious? What are you celebrating?”
She shook her head and laughed. “You haven’t heard?”
“Clearly not,” I said, getting a little annoyed now. If I’d heard, I wouldn’t be asking, now would I?
“The Daughter of Stars. She’s alive!” The woman’s voice was gobbled up by the boom of a new round of cheers. Sucking in a breath, I eased back into the library and met Val’s eyes.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered.
“They’re talking about Tessa.” Alastair crossed the room and looked down at the crowd. I could have sworn there was a tear in his eye. “The little dove did it. She fucking did it.”
The library door suddenly flew open, slamming into the wall beside it. The King of Talaven strode inside, flanked by his ever-present guards. But for once, he did not eye us with suspicion and fear. He was beaming, his smile as bright as the stars he so painstakingly prayed to every night.
“We’ve had word from Aesir,” he said in a hushed voice, as if he could hardly speak. “Our spies—”
“Your spies?” I couldn’t help ask. “Are you telling me you sent some of your men to watch Aesir, and you didn’t tell us?”
“They were already there. They’ve always been there. But no matter, that’s not what’s important. The enemy staged an attack on Dubnos—”
“What?” Alastair’s shout was an eruption of sound, so loud and vicious, the King of Talaven jumped. I placed a shaking hand on his arm and tried to quell my own rush of emotion. An attack on Dubnos was bad, but the fae in the streets would not be cheering if they’d lost. They would not be celebrating the end of another fae kingdom…would they?
The king quickly continued. “But Dubnos survived, thanks to the Daughter of Stars. She saved the city!”
“Tessa did that?” Val asked, the crack in her voice betraying her emotions. “She saved Dubnos?”
“She did.” Even the king looked emotional. He swiped a stray tear off his ruddy cheeks and beamed.
“And the fucking wings?” Alastair asked. “Are you finally going to admit she doesn’t need them now?”
“She was seen swooping over the battlements on her great, glorious wings while she dispensed her brutal power on the enemy. They were tipped in sapphire.”
Val gasped and whirled to me. “We need to go back. Now. She’s going to need me.”
I nodded. “We’ll leave at once.” And then I turned to the king. “Right?”
“It will take some time to ready the ships, but yes. I will bring my army together and send word to my allies.” His eyes sparkled as he stood tall. “The knife edge awaited us all, but Tessa Baran chose to stay with Kalen Denare. She did not go with Andromeda. Instead of becoming the Daughter of Dust, she will be the Daughter of Stars. And so the time has come, and we will fight by your side. It’s all worked. We will save this world after all. The stars be with us.”
After the king left us, Val gathered up the books to return them to their shelves. There was a frantic energy in the way she moved, and her hands shook so hard, she almost dropped the books.
