Page 3 of Starchaser
“Give up,” Shade drawls, loud enough that I hear him over the din of clashing metal. “You’re finished, Nightweaver! Run along home to your mum and dad.”
Will’s jaw clenches. Sparks fly as he brings his blade down hard, connecting with Shade’s sword in a strike that vibrates through the street, almost as if the earth itself responded to Will’s fury.
False fury, I tell myself.
But then, why does it seem so real? Why do his eyes flash with a hatred I’ve never seen in him before?
Why—I ask myself, even as I watch him move at an inhuman speed, too quick for my eyes to properly detect—does he deflect Shade’s counterblow, lunging forward, his blade aimed at Shade’s chest? Why does his sword pierce Shade’s flesh with an audible squelch?
Whyis all I can think as he stabs Captain Shade—stabsTitus, his best friend, his brother in every nature except birth—straight through the heart.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Shade—Titus—goes limp, skewered on Will’s blade. I want to scream, but I can’t seem to find my voice.
Will’s chest heaves as he stares at his best friend, watching the light leave Shade’s eyes. He whispers something too low for anyone to hear.
This can’t be happening.
Will withdraws his sword, and Shade falls, his body toppling sideways at an awkward angle before hitting the cobblestones with a dull thump. I can’t see his face—his body is turned away from me—but when he falls, his crimson tricorn is knocked from his head, his golden-blond hair now on full display.
At once, the fighting stops. Shade’s crew freezes, shock apparent in their terrified expressions. Even the Bloodknights haltmidswing, turning to look at Will, at his face smattered red with blood.
“Your captain is dead!” Will shouts, his voice raw—rough and ragged and all wrong. It comes out as a deep, rasping sound, as if it isn’t his voice. He clears his throat, his eyes shifting from gold back to green, and when he speaks again, his voice is smooth. “Malachi Shade is dead.”
He raises his foot—stomps down hard on Shade’s mask. It cracks like bone beneath his weight.
I forget myself. I forget the plan. I forget everything.
I lurch forward, attempting to reach Titus’s prone body, all the while telling myself that I’m doing it for the medallion—that if Shade dies, I might lose my chance to reach the Red Island, and this will have all been for nothing. But in that instant, red smoke fills the street, too thick to see Will, or Titus, or anything for that matter.
A hand covers my mouth.
And then I’m being dragged.
I bite down hard, drawing blood. The metallic fluid floods my mouth, sending a jolt of power through my veins. It gives me enough strength to nearly break my captor’s hold, but, as if they expected this, they tighten their grip, crushing my arms to my sides. I kick, struggling to find my footing, but it’s no use—whoever has me is much, much taller than me. With what seems like little effort, I’m pulled backward, up, through a narrow doorway and into a carriage.
Into someone’s lap.
“Normally, I wouldn’t be opposed to biting,” comes a silky, lilting voice, his hot breath on the back of my neck sending a shiverdown my spine, “but I rather benefit from having all my fingers, love.”
My heart skips a beat. Restarts.
He releases his grip, and I fall forward, catching myself on the bench across from him. I whirl to findTitus, dressed in his princely garb—a black military jacket trimmed with scarlet thread—seated across from me in an obnoxiously luxurious carriage. He cocks his head, a strange expression of curiosity on his familiar face. Murderous rage replaces my grief as his lips tilt upward in a mischievous grin.
“You bastard!” I seethe. “I just watched you die!”
“Yes, well,” he says with an infuriating shrug. “You wanted it to look real, hmm?”
My heart beats fiercely against my rib cage. I feel everything—anger, guilt, confusion,relief??—so acutely, so painfully, I can hardly breathe.
“Don’t worry about Rook,” he says with a mocking smile. “William missed his heart. My crew will have gotten him out of here by now. One of my bonewielders is probably stitching Diana and him both up as we speak.”
Rook—he was one of the crew I met aboard theStarchaseras we planned this evening’s attack. And once before, when Captain Shade saved him from the gallows, when Will saved me and my family from the hearing in the town square. Rook’s impersonation of Shade—of Titus—was so believable he fooled me along with everyone else.
I swallow the lump in my throat, my voice thick when I say, “I thought you were dead.”
Titus glances up at me, eyes narrowed. Instantly, his features soften.
