Page 62 of Burning Star

I close the door behind me, spinning around and leaning against it. “I need help,” I say, my voice steadier than I expected. “I need to see Aerix.”

Aurora steps closer, her eyes scanning me from head to toe. “Is that blood yours?” she repeats, alarm creeping into her voice.

I shake my head. “It’s Henry’s.”

Her breath catches. “What?” she asks, scanning me over yet again, as if trying to put the pieces together.

“He came to my room,” I say, forcing the words out. “He tried to—” My throat tightens, my stomach twisting as I remember Henry’s hands on me. “He tried to force himself on me. I stopped him.”

Aurora’s expression shifts from shock to understanding. “You killed him.”

It’s not a question, but I nod anyway.

“Where is he now?” she asks.

“In my suite. In the living room. On the floor.” My voice sounds hollow and distant. “I need to get to Aerix.”

“Wait here.” She gives me an encouraging nod, then disappears into one of the bedrooms.

I exhale shakily, every passing second a reminder that Henry’s body is lying on the carpet in my suite, bleeding into the rug. If Aerix can’t—or won’t—help me, I’m screwed.

But he’ll help me. Helovesme.

Hushed voices sound from the room Aurora disappeared into, and she returns with Isla.

Isla’s wearing a silken robe, her long, dark hair loose around her shoulders.

“Leave us,” she says to Aurora, sounding different than I’ve ever heard her. Harder. Stronger.

Aurora hesitates. “Shouldn’t we?—“

“If you know what’s good for you,” Isla cuts in, “you’ll stay quiet about this. Unless you want the king’s infatuation with you to come to a sudden end?”

Aurora’s face pales. She nods once, then retreats to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Isla turns to me, her gaze sharp and assessing. Then, she takes my bloodstained hands in hers, turning them over and studying them, as if admiring my handiwork.

“You’re a natural,” she says, her thumb brushing over the sticky, crimson mess. “And I’m pleased you realized that in the human wing, I’m the queen on the chessboard.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, my heart racing so fast that I swear it’s about to explode.

It’s too much, too fast, and I’m drowning in it.

“It means,” she says, dropping my hands and pulling a slim silver key out from the chain around her neck, “that like the queen in chess, I can go anywhere.”

My breath catches. “That key can get us out of the human wing?”

“Yes.” Her intelligent eyes gleam with satisfaction.

“Buthow?”

“I was born here. Raised here,” she says, echoing Henry’s dying words. “By the king and queen.”

I stare at her, the pieces clicking into place. “You’re a spy in the human wing.”

“The king and queen placed me amongst the human pets as a decoy, to be their eyes and ears,” she confirms, studying my face. “Do you know why I’m helping you, Zoey?”

I shake my head.

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