Stars May Fall (Stars May Burn #2)

35. Kasten

KASTEN

L yrason’s remaining soldiers started backing away to the far corner, many already running from the throne room. Now they had been abandoned by their lord and faced with my kryalcomy, they were rapidly losing their courage.

No more crossbow bolts sailed down from the gallery, which I assumed meant Sophie, Annabelle, and her loyal followers were making their way down.

Once Annabelle had control of the palace, it would be easy enough for us to assert her authority. She could even give herself a rushed coronation if necessary. We could then form a united front against Lyrason.

One of the maids, Tilly, came running in from a side door, clutching a tonic and Sophie’s bracelet. I frowned at her. She looked terrified and her cheeks were streaked with tears. She bowed to me and held up the items.

“General, Lady Sophie said to give these things to you to treat Prince Clarence.”

I glanced back at the pale unconscious prince, my own bracelet around his wrist. I turned back to Tilly, fighting my rising apprehension. “Where is she?”

Tilly started to shake. “She chased after Lyrason and Gregane. They…they killed her guard.”

My lips parted as I suddenly became unable to take in air. I stepped forward, and Tilly stepped back in response. “She’s alone? And she ran after Lyrason and Gregane?”

Tilly nodded. “She said you should follow her with some sort of detector. She thought you’d catch up quickly. She went through a door behind the tapestry of lilies.”

I swore, dread seizing my insides. I had told her to stay away from the fighting. I had told her again and again to stop taking risks, thinking she had to prove herself. I’d shown her that I could only do this with her at my side. Without her, I was a monster.

Why couldn’t she be sensible and stay safe? She reminded me a little of the way I used to take risks when I’d thought my life was worthless. Is that what she believed? Had I failed so badly to show her who she really was?

I wanted to be angry, but all I felt was fear so cold it stole my breath. My nightmare…

I snatched Sophie’s bracelet. “Give that tonic to the prince and wait with him. Don’t take the bracelet off his wrist!”

I started running for the side door before I’d even finished speaking. I raised my hand to my detector and turned the dial back and forward, emitting the signal that made me a rallying point.

Why was I never fast enough?

I kicked the door fully open and saw Meena’s body drained of life across the corridor. I blocked the grief from my mind and searched for the tapestry. On my detector, multiple faint keens sounded. Lyrason was making halfsouls. I could still hear Sophie’s lower drone when I concentrated, but it was growing quieter with distance. Detectors were more sensitive to haemalcomy than kryalcomy. The more noises on the detector, the harder it would be to trace her.

Fear threatened to push me into panic. I flung aside the tapestry and found the hidden door. I kicked it open as Callum skidded to my side.

“Where have you been?” I growled at him as I rushed into the narrow stairway.

Callum huffed behind me. “Well, my day was thoroughly ruined. I was having the most fun sacking Duke James’s mansion, but if you hadn’t noticed, I was interrupted and held captive and almost killed. It’s more traditional in these situations to ask about my welfare.”

I was in no mood for his personality right now. “Sophie ran off alone after Lyrason and Gregane. Meena’s dead.” I took the spiraling staircase three steps at a time.

Callum swore. “But I can hear halfsouls. They’re probably heading into the city, turning people as they go.”

I gritted my teeth. “I know.”

“Kasten, remember she’s immune. It will likely be more dangerous for us than for her.”

I almost stopped to shake him and roar in his face. Only the need to be fast kept me moving. “She’s tracking Lyrason ! How by any scale is that not dangerous? And she has nobody with her!”

I’d almost lost her once. It wasn’t meant to happen again. It was just a bad dream.

We reached a door in the side of the staircase. One of Sophie’s glass mixing beakers sat on the stair beside it, marking the way. I crashed through the door and skidded into a corridor. Which way had they gone? A second beaker lay smashed where it had rolled unhelpfully into the center of the carpet. Somebody must have kicked it by accident while running though.

I saw a servant cowering in one corner and grabbed his arm. “Which way did Lyrason go?”

He pointed toward the atrium, shrinking back as if he thought the wall was capable of swallowing him.

I stepped closer. “Was there a blonde woman in a white dress following him and Gregane?”

The servant nodded and pointed to the atrium again. He screwed his eyes shut as if expecting a blow. I left him and ran to the front doors.

Outside, the sun was just starting to set. I’d lost all track of time. Halfsouls were more active in the dark.

The endless grassy lawn in front of the palace was a mass of confusion on either side of the drive. Soldiers I recognized from my battalion pointed to me and started to jog over. Fighting had broken out on the other side. In the stables that lined one wall of the palace, horses were panicking and kicking down the wooden walls. I ran down the drive, scanning everywhere for Sophie.

Sir Chance saluted me as he intercepted me from the side. His tanned, stocky figure was surprisingly fast. “General. There are halfsouls around. A sudden influx of them just appeared. We’ve killed all the ones we’ve found. Also some of the royal guard have been fighting us ever since Frank let us through the outer wall. Whether the royal guards are attacking us due to their loyalty to Lyrason or because they think we’re behind the coup is not certain. Everyone is confused. Sir Philip sent a messenger saying that Duke James’s mansion has been burned to the ground. The duke has been confirmed dead by Lord Venerick. So far, the city guard hasn’t moved to the palace but is keeping the peace in the streets.”

I nodded but kept moving forward. “The halfsouls were likely to cover up Lyrason’s escape from the palace. He’s injured and trying to take in more vitality. He may already be healed. Lady Sophie went after him alone. Dame Meena has been killed. Lady Sophie is incredibly vulnerable right now, and the top priority of every single Kasomere soldier is her safety and capturing Lyrason and Gregane, dead if necessary. I want all our troops focused on reaching them as quickly as possible.”

Sir Chance’s forehead was creased with worry. “Our battalion is still scattered, but I will get our men to her as quickly as possible.” He swallowed. “One more thing, General. These halfsouls are different from before. They’re quicker and more aggressive. And they infected others much faster.”

I scowled. Great.

Sir Chance fell back a step to give orders to his battalion. Others joined us, sprinting across the lawn, my detector still giving off the signal to rally. From somewhere, a royal guard shot an arrow, and I returned a silver arc without stopping.

The long drive finished in an elaborate scrollwork gate set between two gatehouses and the garden wall. Guards were pushing it shut and bolting it while crossbowmen positioned on roofs of the small houses aimed at us.

Absolute fools. What did they hope to achieve by keeping me in the palace? If they thought I was staging a coup, they should want me out. I guessed these were Lyrason’s men, covering his retreat. No sound of detectors was coming from ahead, suggesting the area was clear of my own men.

I drew in a surge of power, not caring to limit it and sent an arc of silver light at the gatehouses. The people around me slowed to shield their eyes. Metal and stone were stretched and then decimated with a tearing, wrenching, shattering sound. Dust blew up in billowing clouds, sending jarring vibrations through the ground. My soldiers slowed but I only picked up my speed. Nothing, absolutely nothing would get between me and Sophie. She believed I would come and finish Lyrason. She always trusted me to keep her safe.

Nothing in the world mattered if she wasn’t in it.

Lyrason had been injured. He and Gregane must be moving more slowly. We’d catch up with them soon.

The dust cleared showing the gatehouses reduced to crumbling rubble. Sir Chase swore behind me but Callum whistled. “Now this is more like it. You’re getting closer to the spectacular havoc I unleashed earlier.”

The palace stood on top of a hill and the houses of the rich started not far beyond the walls. The normally busy road was wide and straight as it swept between grand mansions, fountains, and fruit trees. At last, I stopped running, pausing to assess the situation as the sunset turned the pale street crimson.

The road was filling with halfsouls, their jerky, manic actions clear from a distance, while citizens ran for the safety of their walls and homes. Carriages lay on their sides, their wheels turning in the air, and horses ran wild. What had Lyrason done? He wouldn’t have anyone left to rule at this rate. Sophie…

Sir Chase hurried up beside me, one hand holding a handkerchief over his mouth as the dust settled around us. With the other hand he handed me a spyglass.

I took it with a nod and scanned the road. The screams of the halfsouls on my detector coupled with the lower drones from the soldiers’ detectors behind me made Sophie’s detector difficult to pinpoint. “Where are you?” I whispered.

They had to be traveling to Lyrason’s mansion or some other safe house where he could be protected from his own halfsouls while he stole their lives.

I scanned the crowds again, starting to despair, when I caught a flash of white between the milling bodies. I moved the spyglass back to focus on the white material. It was her. It was definitely her.

I held my breath. Between the dirty, blooded, and torn clothes of numerous halfsouls, Sophie weaved through them in her spotless white dress, her hair glistening silver in the dusk light. The halfsouls ignored her, trying to get into houses or chase citizens. She had always been a star in the midst of terrible darkness to me. But that truth was plain for all the world to see; she would always be the light that guided. She was always hope.

Thank the kingdoms, she seemed unafraid and uninjured. It was hard to admit it, but her immunity made her the only person alive able to track Lyrason and Gregane through that hoard. She might be the only one who could stop them from getting away and creating endless halfsouls.

But I still hated that she had done it and treated her own life as if it were expendable.

I returned the spyglass. “I can’t see Lyrason, but Sophie’s close to the chestnut tree. We need to reach her and get her to safety. Lyrason and Gregane won’t be far away from her position.”

Sir Chase took the spyglass and rubbed his forehead. “General, there will soon be hundreds of halfsouls down there as they spread throughout the city. Our men are trained to tackle them two to one. We’ll be quickly overwhelmed if we’re not careful.”

I nodded, the sight of Sophie giving me strength. “And we are worth thousands of them. Think of what evil we fight against. Think how necessary it is to stand against them. We will prevail. I know it. Many have tried to kill us. None have managed.”

Callum patted me on the shoulder. “You’re getting better at inspirational speeches, you know. Slowly improving but better.” He pointed to the pouch on my belt. “You should put the bracelet on in case you’re bitten. I have mine. There are still only three.”

I started forward and fitted Callum’s bracelet that blocked haemalcomy. I instantly felt…strange. Weaker. Slower and not quite able to catch my breath. I shook my head to clear the dizzy sensation. I didn’t understand. I hadn’t been bitten, and the bracelet was meant to stop my vitality being stolen. Then why did I feel the opposite?

My body felt increasingly weaker by the second. I yanked it off and put it back in my pocket. At once my strength and focus was restored.

I’d worry about my strange reaction later. “All of you keep behind me.”

I broke into a jog down the hill and let out an arc of silver light that caused garden walls to crack and cobblestones to lurch.