by H. D. Gordon
Surah was silent for long moment. Then she let out a slow breath and opened her eyes. She didn’t look up at him, though. “I asked my father how they died,” she said, and Charlie had never heard her voice so small, so broken. “He wouldn’t tell me for a long time. He wouldn’t even talk about it. From others I learned they’d been approaching the castle gates, having been out on a stroll in the city when the Vampires and Wolves attacked. I heard they even made it to the castle gates before they were taken down.”
Tears had filled her eyes as she spoke, and now they spilled over, cutting tracks down her cheeks and over Charlie’s soul. “One night,” she continued, “when my father had too much to drink, I got him to fill in the details for me. He told me my mother and sister probably would have lived had they made it through the castle gates. He said the Hunters told him they were short one puller, and had that puller been there, the gates may have been raised in time for them to make it through… Syra hadn’t yet learned to teleport, and my mother refused to learn after the first times she tried it made her sick.
After that day I promised myself two things. First, I would become an expert at teleportation, which I have, and second, if I ever met the person who was supposed to be there to raise the gates when Syra and Mother were killed, I would kill him for not being there.” She looked up now, and Charlie knew what was coming. She was about to ask the question that would change everything between them forever.
“Charlie,” she said, “were you the boy who was supposed to be pulling the gates?”
Charlie let out a long breath and ran a hand through his dark hair. Finally, he nodded.
Her head dropped forward and the tears came faster now, dripping from her chin and landing on the front of her cloak in dark splotches. As her tears fell, so did the sun beyond the window in the west wall.
Just before it disappeared, cloaking the room in shadows, Black Heart came forward and took Surah’s chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him. Charlie watched as her eyes met his brother’s, and the hate he saw there was so hot it burned him from the inside out.
“Ask him why he wasn’t there that day, Princess,” Black Heart said, his voice low and deceptively gentle, as if he was unaware of the pain he was causing. “Ask him what he was doing that he couldn’t be there at such an important time.”
Surah looked to Charlie, and now it wasn’t just hard to look back at her, it was painful. Charlie rubbed a hand down his jaw, and his voice came out deep and ragged. The shame in his tone when he spoke was thick enough to choke. “I was still drunk from the night before,” he said.
And that was as far as he got, because just then, the sun slipped out of the sky, and the Magic slipped back into their world.
CHAPTER 44
SURAH
Surah gasped, doubling over and clutching her mid-section. Both Charlie and Black Heart did the same, the Stone around Black Heart’s neck glowing and sizzling. Surah’s neck also burned where her sister’s Stone hung against her chest, but she got the almost undeniable urge to close her eyes and bask in the feeling of the returning Magic. However, she could do no such thing, because if the Magic was back, that meant her father’s blood was being spilled.
And that was as far as she allowed that thought to go. If she was going to have a shot of getting out of here, it was right now. She gathered her strength around her and formed two fireballs in her hand, her teary eyes glowing at the sight of the Magic in her palms. Then she threw the balls at Black Heart and the Fae Queen, striking them in the chest and knocking them both off their feet. Next, she cast a spell to loosen the metal around her wrists and slipped free of her chains.
She stood, not allowing herself to think, and cast another fireball at Black Heart, who was quickly recovering. She knew she didn’t want to leave the Stone around his neck, but she wanted to teleport out of there right now, so she cast another spell immediately after that lifted the chain from around Black Heart’s neck. A moment later, she was holding her piece of White Stone in her hand. She hurried over to Samson, placing her hand on his shoulder, and only then did she pause.
If we’re leaving, I’d say now is the time, love, Samson told her silently.
Surah barely heard him over the sound of her heart. So many emotions were roiling in her. She was pretty sure her father was dying as she stood here unable to decide what to do, but for a moment, she was frozen. She looked at Charlie, feeling equal amounts of love and hate toward him. How could he have kept something like this from her after all they had been through? She had never felt more betrayed in all her life. She had never felt so torn.
Black Heart was finding his feet now, a smile on his face as he pulled himself up. “The King is dead!” he screamed, his words cutting through her haze and stabbing into her heart. “I think we should get drunk again tonight to celebrate! What do you say, Charlie-Boy?”
Surah’s hand tightened in the fur around Sam’s neck, and Charlie dropped his head. “I’m sorry, Surah,” he said.
More tears pooled in her eyes, but they were more out of anger than anything else now. She stared back at Charlie, a heat raging in her that was nothing like the heat he ignited in her before. “Not yet, Charlie,” she said.
And then she teleported out of there with Samson, leaving Charlie Redmine in the clutches of his crazy brother, thinking that if Black Heart decided to kill him, so be it.
As far as she was concerned, he would be doing them both a favor.
CHAPTER 45
CHARLIE
As soon as she was gone, Charlie turned to Michael, feeling no trace of love toward his brother. Not a bit. “Just kill me, you crazy sonofabitch,” Charlie said, spitting on the floor beside him.
Michael was still recovering from the fireballs, and was testing his own Magic by reciting a variety of small spells, which worked immediately. He sat down in front of Charlie now and crossed his legs under him, looking back at the Fae Queen for a moment. “You okay, my love?”
The Fae Queen stood and ran a hand down the front of her dress, scowling at the burn mark in the center of her chest. “Okay? No, I’m not okay! She burned me! I will have her head for that!”
Michael rolled his eyes and gave Charlie a look that said, Women. Charlie narrowed his eyes. Michael ignored him. “In good time, my love,” he told her. “Now leave us so I may speak to my little brother.”
The Fae Queen muttered a few things in her strange language and stalked out of the room, slamming the wooden door shut behind her. Charlie’s jaw clenched. He felt like crying, but refused to do so. “We got nothin’ to talk about,” he snapped. “And we ain’t brothers. Not no more.”
Michael put a hand over his heart, exaggerated hurt crossing his face. “That’s a mean thing to say, Charlie-Boy.”
“Screw you.”
Michael shook his head, as if he were dealing with an exasperating child. “You’re angry. I know. But you’ve been angry with me before, and we’ll get through this, like we always do. Don’t you see? It’s you and me, little brother. Like always, we are all each other has. Everything is going according to plan. You can’t see it now, I guess, but you’ll thank me eventually.”
Charlie laughed, because it was either that, or banging his head against the wall until the lights went out upstairs, which would probably hurt less than the crushing feeling he had in his soul right then. “You’re insane. I want nothin’ to do with you, so if you’re gonna kill me, just do it. Do us both a favor.”
Michael leaned forward, anger flashing behind his eyes. Charlie wouldn’t admit it, but it scared him just a little to see that look behind Michael’s eyes, and for the first time ever, he thought of Michael as everyone else did. As Black Heart.
Black Heart slapped Charlie upside the head, as if to knock some sense into him. “Don’t be stupid, Charlie,” Black Heart said. “I’m all you’ve got now! This is the way it’s supposed to be! Do you know how long I’ve been planning all of this? Do you realize the sacrifices I’ve made to get us where
we are today? You think it was an accident you got drunk on the night before the Vampires and Wolves attacked the castle? Do you think it was an accident I pushed you to take that job pulling the gates? When we were younger, revenge was all you could talk about, and now I’ve done all the work to see it through, and this is how you thank me?”
Charlie wasn’t even sure how it was possible, but his shattered heart sunk even further down in his chest, a hard lump forming in his throat. “What are you saying? Are you telling me you got me drunk on purpose? That you knew the attack was coming, and set me up not to be there?”
Black Heart jumped up to his feet, clapping his hands and smiling widely. “Ding, ding, fucking ding! Tell him what he’s won! Finally, he figures it out!” He leaned down now, putting his face so close to Charlie’s that their noses almost touched.
“I tipped them off, stupid. I made you take that job so that I could give the King of Vampires and Wolves an advantage when he made his move. I told him the inner gates would be short a puller, and I’m the one who watched the Highborns for two weeks straight so I could learn their schedules. It worked out even better than I’d imagined, because usually just the Queen made her rounds in the city at that time of day, but this time Princess Syra went with her, so they both were trapped outside the castle gates! Two for the price of one! It was the best case scenario, because they all got payback that day.”
Charlie’s head was pounding with this information, the world swirling in front of him as he absorbed everything Black Heart was saying.
“Didn’t you wonder why I was so happy that day? Didn’t you wonder why I seemed to be walking on cloud nine?” Black Heart continued. “Demons had burned our village, killed our parents and everyone we loved, all at the bidding of the Lamias, who were in league with the King of Vampires and Wolves. The Highborns were all untouched as of yet by the war, and I changed that! I was only sixteen, and I did it! Here is the best part, Charlie-Boy, so pay attention.
King William was in love with Princess Syra, but the two of them couldn’t be together since she was a Sorceress and he a Vampire, and her mother was totally against it. When he sent his soldiers to King Syrian’s castle that day, he didn’t know Syra would be there. He thought he would just take out the Queen, and then the two of them could be together, but the Brocken Vampires he sent ended up draining both Syra and her mother dry before they could make it under the gates! Can you believe it? Everyone who was responsible for our pain hurt that day! And it was all because of me!”
Charlie was beyond words. He didn’t think he could form a sentence if his life depended on it. He couldn’t believe that Black Heart had literally been moving them all around like pawns on a chessboard for nearly a thousand years, just biding his time before he called check-mate. If he hadn’t been sure of it before, he was sure of it now. The Michael he’d loved was dead. The brother he’d loved was dead, and had been for a long time. All that remained of him now was a black, ugly heart.
“And, now, Charlie-Boy, all the planning is finally coming to fruition. Now, it’s the commoners turn to take back control! Those who have gone unscathed will burn! Those who have been held down by social status will rise!” He grinned again, his white teeth flashing and spittle flying from his lips. “And I gotta say, Charlie-Boy, I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Charlie said nothing to this. There was nothing left to say.
All he knew was that he hated his brother more than he had ever hated anyone in his entire life, and he was pretty sure Surah felt the same about him. He couldn’t blame her, because as crazy as Black Heart was, he was right about one thing.
He couldn’t have done all this without Charlie.
CHAPTER 46
SURAH
Surah and Samson landed in her father’s chambers back at the castle, bursting in on a scene that was so surreal she almost thought she must be dreaming. Her father was lying on his bed, covered in scarlet that dripped from his severed neck and ran all the way down to his waist, soaking his white bed sheets in red. Gregory Brightstar stood over him, a dagger dripping her father’s blood still clutched in his hand, a wide-eyed look on his face.
Surah let out a scream that was loud enough to wake the dead, though on the gore-covered bed her father did not stir in the least. No thoughts at all occurred to her as she tore two daggers free of her cloak and rushed toward her uncle, tears streaming down her face, which was twisted in anger and agony. She screamed again as she reached him and stabbed both daggers through his chest as deep as they would go. Her uncle’s eyes widened to disks, his breath rushing out in one huge sigh. She twisted the knives, and blood poured from her uncle’s mouth, making a beard of red on his chin.
Surah let go of the weapons, and Gregory’s body slumped to the ground with a thud, his legs jerking twice before going still for the rest of forever. She paid him no mind as she crawled onto the bed beside her father, pressing her shaking hands to his throat and hoping beyond hope that there was still time. She wrapped her hand around the Stones at her neck and recited a healing spell, watching through blurry eyes as the wound on her father’s throat slowly healed itself. She laid her head against his chest and listened for his heartbeat, her own heart stopping as she heard nothing but silence.
She refused to believe it. Refused to accept it. It just could not be so. She began reciting every healing spell she knew, praying to the Gods to bring him back. Just bring him back. She would give anything, do anything. Just please, don’t take him away from her, too.
At that moment, the doors to her father’s chambers burst open, and Theodine Gray entered the room, five Hunters following on his heels. Surah paid them no mind, but Samson turned and hissed loudly, swiping at them as they tried to advance forward. Theo and the Hunters backed up, freezing as they took in the scene. Several times they made attempts to approach the bed where their dead king lay, but the tiger would not let them even get close.
After several long moments, as Surah sat beside her father, rocking slowly back and forth and muttering spell after spell like a crazy person in a white room, Theo quietly instructed the other Hunters to leave, and they did as they were told, their faces as white as paper, their heads lowered in respect.
Then it was just Samson, Theo, Surah, and the two bodies in the room. Theo took a step forward, and Samson growled again.
When Theo spoke, Surah heard him, but couldn’t comprehend the words. “I’m not going to harm her, Samson,” Theo said gently, holding his hands up in front of him. “I would never harm her. Please, let me help her.”
Samson looked over at Surah, who was still rocking back and forth and chanting lowly. He wanted to refuse the Head Hunter, but could see that Surah definitely needed help. In fact, if he was being honest, he had never seen her look as fragile as she did now, and it frightened him a touch. Her lavender hair stood out all over her head, and her face had gone as white as her dead father’s. Blood covered her hands and cloak, and some of it was even smeared across her face. Her violet eyes were distant, as if she were looking at the whole thing from far, far away.
Samson turned his back on Theo and approached Surah slowly. When he reached her, he put his large head in her lap and looked up at her with his big amber eyes, wishing he could suck the pain out of her and suffer in her place.
Surah paid him no mind. She just continued rocking. Continued chanting. At last, Samson could take it no longer. It’s too late, Surah, he told her. He’s gone.
Surah’s eyes flashed with anger so fierce that Samson took an involuntary step back, knowing the emotion was not for him, but aching from it nonetheless. A little admiration for the Head Hunter swirled in the tiger when Theo stepped forward and met Surah’s gaze levelly. He knelt down in front of her, covering her hands gently with his own.
Surah surprised all of them when she fell into Theo’s arms and buried her head against his cloak. Theo stood wide-eyed for a moment before wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. Samson stood off to the side,
watching the two of them with a sinking of his own heart.
He moved over to the window and climbed up onto the sill, staring out at the night beyond, where clouds had moved in, covering the sky, blotting out the stars there. And when Theodine Gray asked Surah what he could do to help, told her he would do anything to help, she stepped back out of his arms and took his hands tightly in hers.
“You can help me kill Charlie Redmine and his brother,” she said.
And Samson couldn’t say why, but looking out at the night as Surah said this, he got the strange, disturbing feeling that the clouds were not just covering them, but instead, maybe the stars had all died out, and were currently falling, dull and lifeless, from the sky.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A huge thank you to my family for supporting me and making me feel like I can reach my dreams. I love you all so much.
To the fans, readers and bloggers who have stood by me so faithfully, you’ve become like a second family to me. I feel so blessed to have you all in my life. I love you all.
To my mother, who cleaned this book up and made it better, the way you always do. I swear I couldn’t do this without you, Ma!
Thank you to Regina Wamba for this awesome cover. You know I love what you do, girl.
Finally, to my daughters, for whom I wake every day and do my best to take over the world, so that I may give you all the stars and the moon. You are my everything, and since day one, it has always been all for you. It always will be. Love you more than words can say, babies.
CROSSING STARS
A SURAH STORMSONG NOVEL
