Heir of Skies

by Rachel Higginson

  Seth reached for my hand and sprung me to my feet. I shot him a grateful smile before picking up the long broadsword of the headless Warrior and tossing it with extreme accuracy to my dad who stood only five feet away.

  I foolishly continued to watch him as he caught the sword in his strong fingers and then turned it on the two Fallen guarding him. His arms came up expertly and he crossed the sword in front of him once, taking out the first one and then turned around gracefully to take out the second. They had barely registered he had a sword yet before they were dead, their souls now imprisoned in the seventh circle of Hell where they belonged.

  My father kept the sword and moved into the battle, while my mother stayed near Tristan to protect him. I fought my way back to my first kill and then picked up that sword and tossed it at my mother’s feet.

  The clanging sound of metal meshed with the whipping wind, but as I turned to help Seth destroy the Fallen he was fighting, I decided it was less. The Fallen looked around a little skittishly with several of their’s dead and my parents and Tristan free.

  And then suddenly Aliah let out a cackle of laughter that resounded louder than even the clash of metal on metal. My eyes flew to his as he flashed me a sinister grin and got the upper hand of Serena. His sword plunged into her side, cutting through her like it was nothing. He abandoned his sword, still in her as she fell to her knees on the football field. There was a signal, something said or gestured and then the remaining Fallen had taken to the sky and were fleeing. Even the last few of the Shadows retreated back to wherever they came from and left us alone.

  I looked up to see Jupiter descending rapidly, his hair disheveled, his sword bloodied in the thick black goo of the Shadows. He had been defending us from the sky, keeping the numbers of Shadows we met to a minimum. Thank goodness for Jupiter and whatever extra aid we could get.

  I didn’t wait a second more, I couldn’t. I flew to Tristan with my supernatural speed and flung myself into his arms. I enveloped him in my light, warming him and letting him feel the intensity of my inner heat. He pressed his body against mine, his strong arms wrapping themselves around me with a ferocity of feeling. I felt his heart pound against my own as it tried to beat its way out of my chest. I choked back a sob and promised a jumble of things to him over and over through streaming tears.

  I hated that they got him, that they brought him into this mess.

  He dipped his head against my neck, nuzzling me with his nose and the scruff of his jawline and I forced our bodies even closer together.

  “How did they even get you?” I cried, promising myself it would never happen again. My voice was thick with emotion, raspy and hoarse from the effort of battle. My whole body was shaking with exhaustion, but I couldn’t let Tristan go, I couldn’t take my arms off of him. And he seemed just as eager to hold me to him. In a strange way his arms felt like the safest place I had ever been.

  “It’s my own fault,” he answered sounding so much more calm than me. “I wouldn’t leave. Your parents wanted me to, everyone else had gone, but I had to know you were Ok. I had to see you. They came after your parents and I was like this extra bonus,” he explained. His voice wasn’t even shaking, he was completely calm and comforting me. Tristan had almost died and he was comforting me!

  “I will never let them take you again,” I promised, my voice hitching with emotion.

  “I know Stel,” Tristan agreed gently and then even softer he whispered in my ear, “You are amazing Stella…. seriously incredible.”

  I lifted my head to tell him thank you, but our eyes locked and I couldn’t remember the words I wanted to say. Tristan was looking at me with the kind of devotion I only saw between people like my parents and his expression had softened to something I should be afraid of. Instead I found myself mimicking the adoration and something deeper…. something still nameless…. and I knew that we were more than friends. Tristan Shields was not my best friend…. he was something so much more.

  “Stella, I need to take Tristan home, away from all of this,” my father’s voice broke through our bubble and reminded me that we were still standing in the middle of carnage, blood and bodies scattered all over our football field.

  I reluctantly let Tristan go, although only because I was planning on following my parents straight home. My mom and dad kissed and hugged me and we told each other how much we loved one another over and over before they took Tristan away to the parking lot. He held my hand all during our goodbyes and when we finally parted I felt empty without him…. painfully alone.

  Now that the battle had stopped, the rest of us were left in eerie silence, even with the blizzard waging its own war against the Earth around us. Nate and Jupiter had moved to Serena and were carefully tending to her wound and trying to remove the sword from her belly before her skin tried to heal around it.

  I watched silently for a moment until I was positive she would recover and then I had to turn my eyes away. There was definitely a limit to what I could take of blood and gore for the day and I had more than reached my quota.

  And then Seth was next to me, silent and still.

  I fell more than anything right into his arms. He had been standing next to me the entire battle and I needed his comforting arms around me. He crushed me to him, pressing his lips against my temple and rubbing my back in soothing circles.

  “Thank you for saving my life,” I mumbled against him, burying my face in his neck.

  “That’s what I’m here for,” he replied lightly in my ear, but pulled me tighter against him at the same time. “I can’t lose you Stella. I won’t lose you. You’re my Star.”

  And then the world started spinning around me as the reality of his words sunk in. I wouldn’t lose him either. I couldn’t lose him. He was everything to me.

  He was my Warrior.

  And my heart stopped beating when I realized that I didn’t just think of him that way on the battlefield.

  Somehow through all of this, he had become more to me too. He was so strong, and brave and valiant yet fragile and vulnerable too.

  It didn’t matter what unnamed feelings I had for Tristan. I could never be with him. Seth was my future. And I was mostly Ok with that.

  Except at the same time I was mostly not Ok with that too.

  I stopped thinking and breathed Seth in. All of that stuff didn’t matter right now because both of them were safe. And that’s all I could think about.

  For now, that’s all I wanted to think about.

  “All I want to do is go home, take a bath and go to bed for next ten days,” I groaned. Every one of my muscles hurt and my shoulders felt like they were trying to actually remove my arms from their sockets. Jupiter and Nate were helping Serena get to the parking lot and Seth and I had turned to follow them, still leaning heavily on each other.

  “I’m Ok with the home and bath part, but you can’t go to sleep for the next ten days,” Seth admonished me. “We have the Valentine’s Dance tomorrow night and I have a super hot date for it,” he pulled me closer to him, his arm wrapping firmly around my waist and I could hear the smile in his voice.

  I replied with another unintelligible groan which only made him laugh. We were both covered in black goo and blood splatter, but I cuddled closer to him, thankful for his warm light and just him.

  “We have to kill him,” I announced somberly, my thoughts drifting back to the battle.

  “We will,” Seth promised. “And her.”

  I breathed in deeply and let the frozen night air cleanse my lungs. This war had changed. The Darkness had changed tactics right along with us and we fought a different kind of battle that would take just as much sacrifice and skill as the endless years before us. The only difference this time was that Seth and I were the ones fighting the battle.

  If we didn’t go after Aliah, he would be back for us, although since we killed seven of his entourage I was hoping he would reconsider his effort at least outside of my small little farm town. If there was one thing I had le
arned through all of this it was how much I truly loved humanity and most of all the community I grew up in. I was definitely not ready to give up high school, or my friends or any of my relationships. But I also wasn’t going to stop myself from becoming the greatest Protector in the history of the Universe. Because this was a planet worth saving, humanity was worth saving.

  I knew this meant I would have to give it up to a certain degree. I would have to walk away partially in order to save it. I couldn’t have people I loved showing up at every battle because I knew what it would mean, it would mean that I would gladly let them live and die for them.

  I was willing to die for humanity.

  But I wasn’t convinced yet I was willing to walk away.

  I was called to serve the Earth with Seth. He was my future; together we would protect the last planet. I needed to walk away from my life and into my fate with Seth in order to save the Earth.

  Too bad it was humanity itself that was keeping me from doing that.

  Even with this looming, ominous destiny ahead of me, I knew I would never leave Tristan. He was what made me fall so in love with this life to begin with and he would be what kept me tied to it for the rest of my life.

  Acknowledgements

  There are so many people to thank through this whole endeavor, so many people that have loved and encouraged me as I juggled the craziness of life trying to get words on the page. I so appreciate the support, listening ears and excitement for a book I was worried would never find an end.

  First I want to thank those who helped put the book together. Jenn Nunez, my brilliant, hilarious, understanding but very honest editor! Thank you for reading my ten page, nonsense emails, for letting me talk through the plot and the boys and the names and every other little thing I obsess over. Thank you especially for putting up with my scatter brain as the release date kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed! But most of all thank you for understanding my addiction to capitalizing practically everything and making up words. And thank you to Sarah Hansen who created the beautiful cover! Thank you for decoding my crazy emails and finding my vision! I am so blessed by your talent!!

  Thank you to Kylee for letting me talk your ear off about a story I have been dreaming about writing for years. You are the best listening ear and I look forward to every future pedicure and the hundreds of books to come out of them!

  Thank you to Brooke for being the best cheerleader a girl can have! Thank you for being the first to read Starbright before it was edited, or even in the same tense or even made sense at all…. And especially for loving it when it didn’t make sense.

  A great big thank you plus a huge hug to the authors that have encouraged me, answered my millions of questions and just been so darn awesome. Shelly Crane, Amy Bartol, Michelle Leighton, Angeline Kace, Samantha Young, Quinn Loftis, Georgia Cates, Nancy Straight and Jenn Sterling, you women are the sweetest, best things about this business. Your advice is so appreciated and your friendship means the world! I wish you all the best of success and can’t wait to see what’s in store for you all!!

  Thank you, thank you, thank you to my family! To Ron, Randy and Robbie, my brothers who have given me equally some of best and most horrifying experience to work with. To my extended family all over the country, your advertising and support means the world! I have the best Aunts, Uncles and Cousins ever!! To my mom, who is my biggest fan! Thank you for your support, your hours and hours of babysitting and for pushing my books on every single person you meet!! I love you. And thank you to my husband Zach who got this whole journey started. You are the best man I know and every great love story I write is inspired by you. I couldn’t do this without your encouragement and support or your gifts of chocolate to keep me going. I love you.

  And finally a gigantic thank you to my readers!!! Thank you so much for taking a chance on me! I can’t tell you how much your emails and messages and notes and tweets mean to me! Or how great it feels that there are other people out there that cherish my characters as much as I do!!

  About the Author

  Rachel Higginson was born and raised in Nebraska, but spent her college years traveling the world. She married her high school sweetheart and spends her days raising their growing family. She is obsessed with bad reality TV and any and all Young Adult Fiction.

  Starbright is the first book in her second series. Reckless Magic, the first book in the Star-Crossed series is her first work and all four books of that series are available for most eReaders and soon in paperback copies through Createspace.

  Sunburst, the second book in the Starbright Series will be out November 12, 2012.

  Follow Rachel on her blog at:

  www.rachelhigginson.blogspot.com

  Or on Twitter:

  @mywritesdntbite

  Or on her Facebook pages:

  Rachel Higginson

  Or

  Reckless Magic

  Keep reading for a complimentary chapter from Shelly Crane’s Significance

  Please enjoy an excerpt from Shelly Crane's series, Significance.

  One

  I waited for this day, for this one thing to complete me. To wrap up seventeen and three quarter years of my life and set a pretty bow on it in the form of a graduation cap. I waited for this one sheet of paper to tell me I had done something right.

  I sat in my assigned seat, along with my classmates, in alphabetical order in front of the gym. The ones up front were in order by achievements, their faces lit with the relief of scholarships and graduation parties with gifts and family and friends...and getting out of this town.

  I was numb. I had waited for this moment but now, I didn’t feel good inside. I didn’t feel complete, didn’t feel achieved. I felt like I’d slid by and barely made it, which was exactly what I’d done. I despised school. I was in the early release program for students who work after school, so we got out at 1:00 instead of 3:00 like everyone else. I was barely here and when I was I didn’t want to be.

  I know I sound bitter. Believe me, I know. But I was seventeen, graduating a year early, and on the fast track to being valedictorian or whatever else, but things happened to me that I just couldn’t handle. And so, there I was, sullen, slightly unhappy and skidding by.

  The ‘things’ I speak of, well, number one was that my mom left. She was an upstanding, stay at home mom, PTA loving, frugal grocery shopping, coupon clipping guru of the community. And she just left us, just like that. She decided out of nowhere that my dad had been holding her back all these years. She didn’t love him and she needed time to start a new life, without me there to pester her. So she did.

  She moved to California along with every cent in my dad’s checking account and the one supposed to be for my college fund. I wanted to laugh at the Cali cliché, but I guess it didn’t suit her for long. She moved somewhere else, but I refused to speak to her anymore when she called. All she ever talked about was how sorry she was, that she just couldn’t do it anymore, that she was happy now, that I didn’t know what it was like to live with my dad. Yeah right. I’d counter that I was the only one still living with him and she’d hang up.

  I was sure her newest boyfriend, who was ten years younger than her, could console her.

  So here we are, present day, graduation day. I was waiting patiently for the m’s to roll around so I could grab my diploma and hear the one person that’ll be in the stands clap for me, my dad.

  I glanced up in front of me to see Kyle looking back. He smiled. “You look like you’re in your own little world back there. You ok?”

  “Yeah, I’m just ready to be done with this.”

  He turned more fully in his chair, putting his arms on the back of it. “Come on. It’s graduation day. Shouldn’t you be happy?” he reasoned. I just shrugged. “You wanna do something tonight? My parents are throwing this lousy party for me, but I’m looking for an excuse to leave early.”

  “I don’t want to be your excuse, Kyle.”

  He paled, his brow bunched together. �
�Ah, Mags, I didn’t mean it like that.” He sighed. “My party is from five to seven. I’ll have plenty of time to do something with you, I just didn’t want it to seem so much like a date, you know,” he explained and looked at me bashfully. “In case you said no, again.”

  “Oh.” I felt an inch and a half tall. “Kyle, I…” I was this close to telling him no, once more but I thought about it. I had always told him no. I hadn’t been on a date in a year, every since my life fell under my mom’s pointy heels. He was always sweet to me and he was probably leaving soon anyway for college. What could it hurt? “Ok. Yeah, we can do something.”

  “Really?” he said shocked.

  “Yeah. What time do you want to go?”

  “Is your dad throwing you a party or something?”

  “No.” Ha. Yeah right.

  “Oh. Uh, how about I text you? I’m sure it’s fine, but I gotta ask my dad for the car. Mine’s in the shop.”

  “Ok, let me give you my number,” I said and started to pull up my gown to reach my pocket.

  “I have it.” I looked at him curiously and he grinned. “I asked Rebecca for it a couple weeks ago. I was gonna call you but I never, uh, got up the nerve.”

  He looked a little embarrassed and I couldn’t help but giggle a little at his obvious hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression. He was nice looking. No movie star stud, just a normal, light brown hair, brown eyed nice guy. We’d hung out a lot over the years in our group of friends, but never alone.

  “Well, maybe you should have.”

  “Would you have talked to me?”

  I didn’t want to lie and I didn’t want to give him false hope so I just smiled and shrugged, hoping to pull off a little flirt. It must have worked; he grinned wider. “Ok, I’ll text you tonight.”