CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
A child was born, one gifted with godlike abilities.
—Fabia’s Fables, “People of the Stars.”
Awave of nausea washed over me as I entered Lord Astraeus’s holding cell. Xenelpha said he wasn’t the threat she thought he was. Who did she think he was? Blood stained the icy floor. The tang of iron mingled with the rancid stench of piss and vomit covering Lord Astraeus’s pants and the front of his blue coat. Guilt swept through me as I took in his injuries, my mind flying to the brutal death of the Lady of Tomorrow in Lotrennia.
Cold blood soaked into my leathers as I knelt beside him and rubbed the celosia powder beneath his bloodied nose. His long lashes fluttered for a moment, the curved shadow hovering above deep bruising beneath his eyes. I wiped his blood on my leathers as he wheezed, rising to consciousness.
“Bonscaíh,” he murmured, eyes blinking open. “I see you fared better than I.”
“Take this off and I will cut you loose,” I urged, doing my best to avoid looking at the terrible gash in his leg. I moved behind him, examining his hands, when he said, “How did you get loose? Did you find the bone?”
“Hurry, we don’t have much time,” I lied, “If we move quickly, we might be able to escape before the sun comes up.”
His hand opened around my wrist for the cuff. Rough, calloused fingers slid around my palm, brushing against the star, until they stilled.
“You’re lying, Bonscaíh,” he said quietly, letting his head fall back against the post he was tied to.
“Hurry,” I urged him, “I cannot get us out with this on.”
A wet chuckle gurgled from his lips. “Lies,” he breathed. “I can see you have your Honor back. I could tell from the way you moved just now.”
My fingers stilled against his hand.
“They freed you.”
My mouth clamped shut, and I listened to his ragged breathing for a few moments before saying, “Take the rubelline off, Astraeus.”
A bitter laugh reverberated through the chamber.
“Learned a thing or two while I was being tortured, did you?” My stomach churned. “What else did they tell you?”
“Take it off.”
“I’ll take it off on one condition. The bone is mine.”
“You can’tdecidewho can harness the bone. It needs to stay with the Bellators.”
“And you’re the one to determine that? I have more right to that bone than any of you.”
“What are you talking about?”
Silence.
“Astraeus.”
“It’s not yours.”
“It’s not yours either.”
“It’s notforme.”
“Then who?—”
“I’m not taking it off unless the bone leaves with me,” he snapped, cutting me off. “Keep me here, let me rot, if you wish.”
Fuck.Fuck.
