Page 79 of The Stars are Dying

My fingers curled at my sides at the way he spoke of us like cattle.

“For too long humans have indulged on this land and sullied it. There was a time of peace—the Golden Age—before they turned on each other, savaged the lands, and not even those who were deemed theirguardianshad control over the plague they were becoming. But since the Libertatem, each kingdom has thrived on its own.” The king sat dominant. I could admit I was highly intrigued by his tale, though I didn’t think it factual when I’d only heard it from the evil ruler of a species who preyed upon us. “It is through these trials you will be tested against mankind’s great flaws. One victor will succeed at proving humans can refrain, that they can be civil.”

“The vampires are not civil,” I said. It spilled from me before I could think logically. I couldn’t help it when everything he said was hypocritical, and my mind flashed with Cassia’s last breaths, urging me to speak out. But when all eyes snapped to me, I realized my error. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.

The king didn’t react in outrage. He leaned back casually, propping his elbows on the velvet-clad arms of his chair. “Why don’t you speak your mind, Cassia Vernhalla?” he said, gesturing with a hand to pass the room’s attention to me.

My breathing came short, but I could only blame myself. “The soulless have been killing,” I said, and I had to force down an ocean of grief at the flashes of raw memory my words dragged forth. “Not just leaving humans with years, but minutes. That is againstyourlaw. We play this game to prove ourselves, but there will be four kingdoms still at the mercy of the soulless when it is over, and it is not just shortened time they fear now. What will you do for them?”

The room grew thick with tension, and maybe it was my lack of experience, but I didn’t know if I’d spoken out of line. Only that it felt right.

“Sometimes you have to set aside what is right to be smart.”

I nearly shivered at the silvery voice in my mind. My fists clenched on my lap.Get out of my damn head.

The king rose slowly, and I realized then what Nyte meant. He hadn’t been giving me an opening to speak freely, and I was naïve to have walked right into it. Foolish. His cold eyes pinned me with a threat that rattled me.

“Sometimes a person has far less years than they hope for. Accidents happen when a soul vampire doesn’t detect their host only has a short time left.”

My heart stopped. My blood turned cold. In those seconds where time was suspended I wondered if the air had been sucked from that room entirely.

What he implied…

No. I refused to believe Cassia didn’t have many,manyyears ahead of her in which to experience life and turn old and gray. To live a fulfilled existence before it was robbed from her. The soulless were monsters, and the king would say anything to justify it.

“There was a time humans begged for the aid of the vampires to end their suffering. They existed in peace, working together with the celestials. But in all species there are always those who will take too much.”

The king stood and everyone’s eyes followed his to a robed man who approached carefully. His hair was navy-blue, tied with braids to show his rounded ears.

He washuman.

I blinked at him as though he were some foreign species until I found out exactly why he was in the king’s service. Likely not by choice.

He raised his hands and a blue glow entranced me from his palms and lit up his irises. His fingers were poised, and when I looked back over the table to where he held his focus, I couldn’t believe the magick I was seeing. I’d never seen a full map of the city, but from what I’d glimpsed upon the hills, the human mage had created a top-down view of it over the round table, detailing the three levels of distinguished wealth from his proximity.

“The Libertatem will commence at dawn,” the king announced. “The city is your game board, and the winner will be determined through trials no two contestants will face the same way. Each of you will have until sunrise on the twenty-fourth day to follow the clues, complete your trials, and gain every piece of your key.”

As he spoke, five fragments of metal appeared in the air above the shimmering city. They joined to create a key like no other I’d seen before—not one with teeth, and it could be mistaken for a dagger or a short staff. Then it was duplicated to create five whole keys, which split off to hover before each of us. Mine was beautiful, glowing a transparent purple I refrained from reaching for.

The cityscape moved until only a long flight of broken stone steps leading up to a set of large twin doors remained.

“The first to make it here and try their key is the Victor—and will have the honor of becoming my fifth Golden Guard.”

My gaze slipped to the guard behind Rose again. He appeared ordinary. Human, but with something still and cold about him. Immortal.Honorwas the last notion on my mind. The sun kissed his dark skin to no effect. I saw his shadow cast behind him and couldn’t figure out what was so lethal and feared about the esteemed role or the price they’d paid for their immortality. It was hard to believe he’d once sat at this table, and I wondered if he’d harbored the same dark caution that was creeping up inside me. As his green irises caught mine, I settled my focus elsewhere.

I blinked when the room tilted for a second. My vision doubled.

“There are only two rules.” The king’s eyes drifted to me, tunneling into me as if this were a personal declaration. “The first is that your body belongs to this city dead or alive now. Your guard will stop any attempt to flee should you lose your composure. Second, you cannot kill another Selected unless they have their complete key.”

My blood froze. I couldn’t look to the others out of fear that completing the trials would be nothing compared to the final game of survival. Instead I tried to study what I could of the massive tiered city, nothing short of three levels of a spectacular maze. The first landing bustled with trade and humans and workers. The second had a stark advance in wealth. This was where the vampires lived. Then at the top…the castle of glass and black stone.

My chest tightened in a panic. I imagined myself as no more than a speck planted in the lost labyrinth. Though we had our guards, the thought of roaming through a level teeming with those who thirsted for my blood and soul…

I became hot under my dress. Too hot, and the air thickened.

As a parchment was laid in front of us, the king continued. “The castle gates will be locked every day at twilight. That is when your protection ends. The vampires are bound by law not to kill you, but I have not denied them such entertainment should you wander into their path after dark.”

I shook my head against a dizzy spell. Picking up the parchment like the others, it was a mild relief to see we’d been given the map. But while the others looked satisfied by the aid, I was beginning to sweat. I had no clue how to read one.

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