Stars May Fall (Stars May Burn #2)

27. Kasten

KASTEN

I lifted my sword, but stopped as Lord Lyrason pulled the cap from the needle. I shifted my feet, not even daring to blink as disgust and disappointment crept through my bones. I remembered the king’s own advice to me as a child, echoing across twenty years.

Never be the first to start a war.

I wanted the king to make the first move. I needed to see this. I needed to see the king accept the injection of the metal that formed a haemalcomy pole for vitality so that my responding actions of removing him from his throne would be justified and above challenge. No doubt could remain. The metal in his veins would prove to everyone in court that he was unfit to rule.

And if I was to become the monster everyone expected, I had to know the monsters I fought were worse.

As soon as he started to draw on vitality, I would arrest him using the power of the starstone and wrap Callum’s bracelet around his wrist to stop it from working.

Lord Lyrason injected the king, and everything inside me became deathly still. He had shown me the only right path I could take.

The king had to be replaced—the king and Lord Lyrason and everyone else involved. I would happily commit treason if it meant these experiments went no further.

I lifted my sword, holding it to the king’s throat. “Abdicate. If you refuse, I will be forced to remove you by force.” I prepared to send a blast of power at Lyrason, the moment he moved. I wouldn’t be giving that snake another chance to escape.

The king’s lips started to curve up in a smile. Clearly, they had something they believed would defend them against me. But then he frowned, looking down at his arm as the needle was removed. He lifted one hand to his head.

Lord Lyrason spoke as he placed the vial back in its case. “Dizziness is a normal side effect. Stay seated and wait for it to pass.”

The king’s skin was growing pale, and his cheeks were drawn. I had seen this transformation before, but not this fast. My plans and intentions fell away to horror.

I stepped back, gestured to the king with my sword, and looked at Lord Lyrason. “What did you give him?”

Lord Lyrason smiled, his eyes bright with the elation of victory. “I injected the vitality harvesting metal directly instead of giving him the metal that receives vitality.” He looked down at the king. “But don’t worry. I’ve not added any violence, nor can he transmit.There’s no infectious agent attached to the metal. He is quite safe.”

No, no. I had expected him to inject something that enabled him to receive vitality which we would be able to stop with Callum’s bracelet once he was arrested. Not something that would kill him.

Callum’s bracelet.

I fumbled for the chain and prepared to place it on the king, but Lyrason placed a knife at his throat. He frowned at me. “Take one step forward, and I’ll kill him quicker.”

I shook my head as the enormity of Lyrason’s plans hit me. I started to plan how to disarm him, but my eyes were drawn back again to the king and the rapid changes that were taking place. The king’s eyes grew wide as the tendons stuck out on his arms. He mouthed words to Lord Lyrason, but no sound came out.

I was helpless. I hadn’t intended to let him die, and I wanted him to know that. Sophie had told Annabelle we would try to keep her family safe even amid the change of power. I hoped she would believe me.

The king’s eyes found mine, and I grimaced at the pleading I saw in them as he struggled to remain in his chair. Lord Lyrason’s blade was still at his throat. If I fired the power of the starstone at them now, I would hit the king too.

Lord Lyrason leaned close to the king’s ear. “I did everything for you. I saved your precious son. I slaved away unrecognized for years. You promised me a place in the royal family, and yet you treated me like dirt. Annabelle should have been mine. Then you didn’t lift a finger to save me when Kasten showed up at my door.” He jabbed a finger at me. “Did you really think I would’ve forgiven you just because you promised me Kasomere and the spoils from Kollenstar? Not, when I can have it all without you. So die, and know I shall have Annabelle after all. The life force of you and the rest of your family will become mine as I sit on your throne forever.”

The king crumpled to the ground with a horrible thud. I automatically stepped forward with a hand outstretched, then held back, turning off all my emotions. He wasn’t my father. He hadn’t been my father for a long time. I owed him nothing.

I blew out a long breath to bring my mind to focus. I turned to Lord Lyrason and raised my sword once more. “I’m arresting you for the murder of the king.” With my other hand I switched the dial on my detector to send a new message. Our prearranged signal for taking control of the palace. We’d only had three days to get into position. It was far from ideal, but we’d have to work with what we had.

Lord Lyrason scoffed. “How does it feel to see your father die? You could have stopped it, you know. Had you acted sooner, I wouldn’t have been able….”

Gregane started moving behind him. Lord Lyrason was talking to stall for time. I didn’t wait for him to finish, but drew on the power of the starstone and swiped a wave of power toward him. Instead of hitting Lyrason as I’d intended, the energy exploded before us in a white ring of blinding light, shattering the desk. A ringing screamed in my ear, and I staggered back from the force.

What in all the kingdoms…

I blinked the stars from my vision. When the room had stopped spinning, Lyrason and Gregane were gone. The door was open. I cursed. Next time, I would kill him the old fashioned way. Maybe I was becoming too reliant on kryalcomy. Lord Lyrason was always prepared.

Royal guards rushed into the room and saw me with my sword drawn, the desk shattered, and the king dead on the floor.

One of them looked me in the eyes and bellowed, “General Kasten has murdered the king!”

I swore and lifted my sword halfheartedly to point to the body. “It wasn’t me. It was Lord Lyrason.” Even before I said the words, I knew they were useless. Many of these men were probably Lyrason’s. It was no longer time for talking. I had to make sure Sophie, Annabelle, and Callum were safe. I had to kill Lord Lyrason once and for all.

“Arrest or kill General Kasten!”

I drew a small amount of power and did an experimental swipe. The two men to the left flew back from an arc of silvery light and slammed to the floor. There were no strange explosions; it worked perfectly. I ducked as a guardswoman reached my right and swiped at my head. I stretched out one leg and made a low wide swipe. I didn’t hold back. The silvery arc formed all around me and shot through the room sending all the soldiers flying far more violently than before. They slammed into the walls, crashed into the splinters of the desk, skidded across the carpet.

The room fell silent.

I stepped over the bodies as three crossbow bolts fired through the open door. I lifted my sword, and the silvery light shattered them all midair. I sent another arc into the two guardsmen in the corridor.

The power pulsed inside me, and it felt good to let it out. Finally, I was free to act on decades of suppressed anger.

I looked behind me at the crumpled body of the king, half buried beneath the desk. I would not mourn him. He had received his just punishment. I shut off that part of my brain and focused.

We needed to take control of Adenburg and only had one hundred men with which to do so…plus whoever would be loyal to Annabelle over Lord Lyrason. And only if she would still openly unite with us after all the accusations spread around the palace.

One hundred troops versus thousands. Felt like familiar odds. Only this time, I didn’t have to hide my weapons.

I cleared the corridor and kicked open the next door to secure Prince Stirling and the queen. Two guards positioned behind a turned up table immediately loosed crossbow bolts. I fell to the floor on instinct, having no time to block, and rolled back behind the wall before springing to my feet. I considered swiping starlight through the open door at the table without revealing my body, but I didn’t know who else was hiding behind that table. I didn’t want to hurt Stirling or the queen.

It would take them at least six seconds to reload the bolts, and I was prepared for them now. I would have to risk it.

I drew strength from my reserve and ran through the doorway at a diagonal angle so they would be forced to change aim. Two bolts whizzed past, dangerously close. They’d reloaded faster than I had expected.

I swiped my sword and sent a small arc of starlight toward their heads. They ducked in time, causing the arc to burn into the wall. Masonry crumbled, and the curtain rail fell. I cursed as I kept moving toward my attackers. These guards were unnaturally fast. They had to be Lord Lyrason’s and using some new kryalcomy.

Exactly how much had he invented that he had never revealed? It seemed possible that he had considerably more than Callum’s devices. Thankfully, nothing seemed to rival the starstone.

Callum. Sophie. They didn’t have much to defend themselves with if Lyrason’s guards had unknown powers. I needed to be fast.

I leapt over the table as a crossbow bolt clicked into place and kicked the nose of the bow away from me. I plunged my sword down in a two-handed grip and killed the first soldier with a clean blow. The second guard leapt back with inhuman speed and caught me with a small dagger as he spun to give his sword blade momentum. I blocked his sword, but the moment the dagger cut my arm, I felt pain blossom to unexpected agony. I cursed again. It felt like one of the black soulless blades from Kollenstar, the haemalcomy ones that channeled pain.

I finished the guard with a blow to the middle and breathed heavily for a few minutes while I waited for the burning pain in the cut to subside. Lord Lyrason had fallen so far into the unspeakable. Either he had reinvented the ability to channel pain, or he was harvesting the blades from fallen Kollenstar soldiers. I supposed that sort of thing would fetch a high price in Fenland on the blackmarket. There had to be those who stole them from the battlefield. It wouldn’t take much to change the color or shape of the blades to make them inconspicuous.

As the pain cleared, I looked around the room. In one corner, bodies were heaped on top of one another. I knelt down to roll them over to see their faces. The queen, Prince Stirling, and three guards. The two men who’d attacked me must have killed them while the door was locked.

I felt for pulses but found no sign of life—no faint drone on my detector from Stirling. I pressed my fist to my lips. Lord Lyrason was right. If I had been quicker and acted earlier, I might have saved them. I had never intended for them to die.

No doubt I would now be blamed for their deaths.

I allowed myself a moment of sorrow before real fear started to take over. I hoped Sophie hadn’t left that closet.

I took off at a run, leaving the slaughtered royals behind me.