Stars May Fall (Stars May Burn #2)

18. Annabelle

ANNABELLE

K asten’s wife was the perfect distraction from my fear about what had happened to Regan Jones.

Sophie sat in my private dining room sipping tea out of my finest china cups. She wasn’t at all how I’d expected Kasten’s wife to be. She was pretty in a fragile, innocent way. Her movements were careful and quiet as if she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself. At the same time she had a confident self-assurance even though she easily startled. A bright intelligence gleamed in her large blue eyes, hidden behind her humble nature. I knew that Kasten was devoted to her and wondered what she made of her grumpy husband who was always causing trouble. They made an unusual coupling. By all accounts, they hadn’t even been properly acquainted before their wedding day. Whilst arranged marriages were common amongst nobility, it was normal to meet your betrothed regularly in the months leading up to the wedding.

My door was locked, and we sat next to the window at the farthest end of the room. I had searched the place many, many times for one of Lyrason’s listening devices and had never found one. Sophie’s rather impressive guard stood outside with my guard. They would knock if anyone approached.

I didn’t want to be interrupted, not when this conversation might tell me a lot. I desperately needed to know what was going on when my own information network was failing.

I sipped my raspberry tea. “So what were you really doing at Lord Lyrason’s manor?”

She smiled politely. “I spoke the truth, just not all of it. We were after a cure for the halfsouls.”

I leaned forward, intrigued and surprised she was talking so straightforwardly to me. She did know I wasn’t necessarily on their side, didn’t she? “A cure?”

She nodded and explained in her soft yet clear voice about her visit, Gregane, and her run-in with the Originals.

I was left gaping. “That all just happened? Just now? By the kingdoms, are you all right?”

She half smiled. “Yes and no.” She shrugged weakly, and her smile turned sad. “When I close my eyes I still see them trapped down there. Those poor pitiful things chained in the dark. It makes me want to free them.”

I shifted, uneasy in my seat. Lyrason and Father…I still struggled to believe it. I moved on before I became too lost in thought.

“But that means the haemalcomy experiments are still going on.” I shook my head as I considered the horrors of that reality. “Why do you want to find a cure? And why would you risk so much for the mere chance of one?”

She met my eyes with a firm impression, and I suspected I wasn’t going to like her answer. “What do you think Lord Lyrason intends to do with the halfsouls? They’re still being made. What if another of us is bitten? We must find out their purpose and have a way to cure anyone who is bitten.” She looked down, almost apologetically. “We’re also after any evidence that the king and Lord Lyrason are working together on the halfsouls. If the king is involved, it makes all of this much harder to stop.”

I flexed my fingers on my teacup, looking away. “They are. Though I think the truth is worse. I think my father is the one behind everything. I overheard them discussing it. Lord Lyrason said he’d been following my father’s orders for years and was cross that Father hadn’t defended him against Kasten. It made sense in the context that he was referring to the halfsouls.” The moisture in my mouth dried up. I had finally admitted the truth, and it felt as if I were only just realizing it myself. I continued in a hoarse voice, though I knew I should probably stop before I said too much. “I fear that my father was directly ordering these experiments. He’s even more to blame than Lyrason.”

Sophie was leaning forward, drinking in every word I spoke. “Do you have proof? Proof we could potentially display to the law courts?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, just what I overheard through illegal kryalcomy.”

I doubted Father would ever let the courts receive evidence of his involvements with halfsouls. Not unless it was done with enormous social pressure. Venerick might know a way, but I didn’t want to involve him in this unless I had to. I couldn’t predict his loyalties, and I didn’t want to put him in such a difficult position when we still barely knew each other.

Sophie’s forehead crinkled in puzzlement. “But I don’t understand why. Why would the king order something like that?”

I took a sip of my tea, still debating what to say. What I decided to tell Sophie would have significant consequences that I couldn’t take back. Still, it felt good to share my worries with somebody else, somebody who wasn’t telling me to ignore everything and pretend, always pretend. I was so confused, and I hated not knowing what to do. I didn’t meet Sophie’s eyes. “They are trying to keep somebody healthy, I think. Potentially more than one person.”

Sophie inclined her head. “We guessed that too. But if it’s just one or two people, why do they need so many halfsouls? Why have they been experimenting downtown with getting it to spread through bites?”

I shifted and sipped my tea again. This was the question I had been avoiding asking myself. I looked up to Sophie and saw no judgment in her eyes. I was grateful for that. “I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “But Sophie, I really want you to believe me that Father is a good man. He wouldn’t do anything bad unless he had a good reason. He’s thoughtful and kind in so many ways and cares about his people. He’s a good father. He even personally taught me to fence.”

To my surprise, Sophie’s eyes crinkled in sympathy. She reached out and took my hand. All at once I was crying. It was stupid. I hadn’t even realized I was at risk of breaking down. Somehow Sophie’s empathetic touch made me realize how much I had been bottling up.

She handed me a handkerchief embroidered with yellow flowers. “He’s certainly a better Father to you than mine was to me. Mine never hid the fact he would destroy anyone to gain money, power, or stability. I still used to think he was a great man. It took me a long time to realize he is quite the opposite.”

I dabbed my eyes and shook my head. “But I really don’t believe my father is the villain.”

When Sophie only gave me a sympathetic look, I shook my head, determined to convince her. “I think he did it to save Stirling. And maybe help my mother too.”

Sophie straightened. “What do you mean?”

I put down my tea cup and twisted her handkerchief between my fingers. Now that I had told her, I might as well share everything. “When Stirling was five, he caught pneumonia. He was very ill. I remember the physician saying he might not make it, although I was only four at the time.” I frowned at the hazy memory, still trying to piece bits together as I spoke. “He got better very slowly, and he was still weak. He wasn’t allowed to exercise or exert himself in any way. I was forever reminded to be gentle around him and that he was ‘fragile.’ He would cough a lot, and he was thin, eating a lot less than me—though my nanny often teased me about my huge appetite. Pretty much all we were allowed to do together was read or play board games. He gradually got worse. Then about a year later, he became completely better. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Sick people often get better eventually. But a few days ago, I overheard Lord Lyrason saying he saved Stirling and helped my mother…” I trailed off as my throat constricted again. Saying it out loud was hard but cathartic. I hadn’t realized how badly I had needed somebody to speak this through with. “He’s barely had a cold since.”

Sophie’s expression was troubled. She stirred her spoon around and around her teacup as if she was unaware what her hands were doing. “But if Lord Lyrason has been stealing health from others to give to Stirling since he was six, that means he has been experimenting with this for about fourteen years.”

I nodded. I hadn’t wanted to think about those facts, because deep down, I knew what they pointed to. “I know. But Sophie, you can’t blame my father for trying anything to save his own son. Most parents would do anything for their children.”

Her expression became tender once more. “Everyone is somebody’s child, Annabelle. And they’ve killed hundreds.” I didn’t miss the crack in her voice as if speaking the words caused her pain.

My own tears came again, and I wiped my face angrily. “Maybe it’s not been working well enough. Maybe Father and Lyrason are still perfecting how to keep Stirling alive. And to keep my mother’s illness at bay. Mother has always been sickly, but recently, she contracted heart failure. She’s coping at the moment, but the physician said she would only get worse.”

Sophie inclined her head. “Maybe. Or maybe when the king successfully beat death once, he got a hunger for it. And now he wants to do it on a large scale. This morning, Mister Gregane called what they were working on an elixir of life.”

I scoffed in surprise, and I dabbed under my eyes with her handkerchief. “That sounds like something grand, as if from a fairytale.”

She nodded. “Yes, like something that would bring eternal life.”

My chest tightened and I put down my tea, not trusting myself to hold it steady. “You think that is what they seek? To bring about eternal life? If they harvest enough vitality from halfsouls, would that be possible?”

Sophie tilted her head slightly. “I don’t know, but it would make sense, wouldn’t it? I mean, if they release halfsouls, which can each infect more and more people, and all their life was harvested, that would keep a large group of people alive and healthy until somebody put a stop to it, or the population they were infecting all died. It would be a form of immortality.”

I suppressed a shiver and sat back shaking my head and spreading my hands. “But they can’t let the halfsouls loose in Adenburg. If it was on that scale, they wouldn’t be able to control them. The whole city could be wiped out.”

She met my eyes with a solemn stare, her large blue eyes seeming to only grow wider. “No, they can’t release them here en masse. Hence why they only released one or two at a time while they perfected them. Those were just small experiments.”

My heart started to thump with dread. “Then where?”

Sophie hunched over her cup as if being crushed by the weight of her thoughts. “Where exactly? Kasomere to destroy Kasten? Kollenstar? Anyone they deem their enemies? The king has been ruthless in the past at destroying those he wants out of his way.”

I looked down, things starting to make more sense. “So this is why you wanted the cure. To pre-empt this.”

Sophie nodded, her face still drawn. “Exactly. Hopefully, we can stop it before they release such a large number. But…I just hope it’s enough.” She lifted her eyes to mine. “We need your help. Surely you can see we must stop this before it's too late. If each halfsoul infects dozens more, which in turn infects dozens more, thousands will die. And if your father and Lord Lyrason are planning to live forever, things will never change. They could choose whomever they wished to have immortality alongside them while unleashing plagues on their enemies and so suck the whole earth dry.”

I felt sick. I gripped my cup, and massaged my forehead, hating the position I was being put in. “Stirling is my brother. I won’t be responsible for his death or my mother’s. They have their moments, but I love them. They probably have no idea about any of this. They’re innocent.”

Sophie gave a sad nod and reached out to squeeze my hand again. That only made me feel worse. How was I meant to choose between the potential death of two of my family and the deaths of countless strangers?

We sat in silence for a while and finished our tea. Something else pressed on my mind, a fear that I had never admitted to myself, let alone said out loud. Yet it was there in my subconsciousness, gnawing away at me.

“Lyrason wanted to marry me,” I whispered.

Sophie nodded, clearly not a stranger to this information.

“But Father engaged me to Lord Venerick instead. I’m not entirely sure why. Lyrason was angry, but I don’t think he ever had feelings for me. I think he just wanted to be part of the royal family. That’s not the only time Father has upset him. Recently, the way he and my father talk, they don’t seem to be getting along so well.”

Sophie had become very still. After a pause, she asked, “What is it you fear?” Though I could tell from her posture she had thought of the same thing.

I blew out a long breath, preparing myself to say the words out loud. “I’m scared Lyrason will try to overthrow my father and take the throne for himself. Father has already given him permission to gather troops, and I suspect he doesn’t know the secrets of Lyrason’s and Gregane’s haemalcomy himself. He’s vulnerable. I’m worried about him.”

The enormity of the situation suddenly hit me like a punch to the gut. If this went wrong, Father could die. Mother could die. Stirling could die. Lyrason could seize the throne and create an eternal reign of terror.

There would be far more casualties than one sixteen year old boy.

What, by the kingdoms, was I doing, thinking I could stand up to all of that by myself? I needed to be honest with myself. Me, my crossbow, and my little information network of junior servants and street urchins were not going to be very helpful if fighting broke out. I needed access to troops that weren’t loyal to Lyrason…which meant I was going to have to trust others and risk being stabbed in the back.

The acknowledgement made me wince. I had trusted Father. I had even come close to trusting Lyrason. They’d both turned out to be very different people. Could I risk making myself more vulnerable with Sophie and Kasten?

But I wasn’t sure I had a choice. If Lyrason went for the crown, I’d need soldiers to stop him. I needed a way to protect those I cared about. And Kasten’s soldiers were the best.

I straightened as resolve poured into me. “I will help you and Kasten. I will help defend my family and my country. But in return, you must help me keep my brother and parents alive.”

Sophie nodded, her eyes still creased with empathy. “We will do everything we can. Thank you for helping us.”

It would be so easy to simply believe her. What she and Kasten were doing made sense. But why would they do everything they could to help me when we had just barely met? And Father and Kasten behaved like enemies to each other. Would Kasten really save him?

I reminded myself to be cautious, but we were up against so much, I had to finally admit I couldn’t deal with it on my own.

My heart rate picked up in acknowledgement of what I had just done. I dropped my head into my hands, struggling to stay hopeful. “If my suspicions are correct, then these halfsoul experiments have been going on for fourteen years. Lyrason has had so much time to prepare. I just hope we’re not too late.”