A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows (Stars and Shadows, #1)

by Holly Renee

“They aren’t taking you as a prisoner, Adara. Being the chosen Starblessed is a blessing from the gods.”

My fate had never been mine, and my mother had accepted many luxuries in exchange for her daughter. Luxuries that my father fought against. That he lost his life over. I walked to the door and hesitated when my mother’s trembling voice called back out to me. “Do not run. They will find you, and we will both pay the price for your treason.”

“You should watch the way you speak about the royal family.” Threatening. Everything about him felt like a threat. “Or what?” I challenged and stared straight up at him as my breath rushed in and out of me. “They’ll imprison me? They’ll kill me? My blood is no good to them if it runs cold.” “You’ve lived a charmed life off the royal coin, have you not?” His tone was sharp and his gaze steady. The urge to smack him was overwhelming, but I refused to let this fae see how badly his words affected me. “You know nothing of the life I’ve lived.” He was fae, and he couldn’t possibly imagine the horrors that happened in our world. The Starless lived in poverty and fear. My family had been blessed by the starlight markings on my face and back, but we had also been cursed. The royal favor had provided us with water and food to ensure I didn’t starve, a roof over our heads to keep me safe, but it also stole my father from me. It stole my fate. My cheeks and nose were covered in what looked like freckles if it weren’t for their unnatural light golden color that seemed to flow against my skin. But it was my back that always shocked people. Those same markings cascaded down my spine in row after row of starlight, and it shot out at the edges as if it couldn’t be controlled. Some edges stayed tightly against my spine while others touched the curve of my ribs. Markings that almost felt like nothing to me, but they meant the world to everyone else. “Perhaps, I don’t.” He lifted his hand...

those castle walls will fall to their knees when they see you, as will all of Citlali.” “You didn’t.” I lifted my chin as I stared up at him. A small smile played on his lips as he searched my face, and I could see his gaze roaming over every inch of the starlight that marked my face. “Trust me, princess. It took everything inside of me not to fall to my knees before you.”

A smile danced along his lips as he looked down at me and his voice felt so rough as he spoke the next words to me. “I was the first to find you just outside the cleave, was I not?” “And that is an advantage?” “That was an honor.” He stepped closer to me, and his knee pressed between mine. “I may not be the Achlys that gets to claim you, but I was the first to look upon you. The first to dream of your star-marked face and imagine what it would look like beneath me.”

“It doesn’t matter that you are destined to be his. Every part of you is begging to be mine.”

“Because if I tell you the truth, then you’ll know what you’re imagining between us isn’t simply in your head, and you’ll feel guilty for betraying a man to whom you’re betrothed.”

“Everything seems like a bad idea, Eletta. We should at least enjoy a few bad ideas while we’re able to.”

I attempted to jerk away from him and his harsh words, but he refused to let me go. His arm tightened around me, and his breath fell from his lips in a harsh rhythm against my neck. “Why are you so cruel?” “This isn’t cruelty, princess.” He chuckled softly, and the sound felt like a warning. “This is me doing everything in my power not to steal you away from this place so that I can keep you for myself.” “Do you want to keep me?” My words were desperate and full of longing, but I couldn’t stop them.

He shook his head. “I’m already forced to watch you belong to my brother. I don’t want to watch them torture you as well.”

“I don’t give a damn if it was my father himself, princess. No one will hurt you and not see the end of my blade.”

It was only as we passed through the gate that I noticed what hung on spikes just outside the palace walls. Three heads, each detached from their bodies with a sure blade. We passed by them quickly, but not before I recognized the faces of all three men that now hung lifeless. The two guards whose names I didn’t know hung side by side. The two guards who had held me down while Gavril had fed from me. Their hands had been touching me only hours ago, but here they hung with blood still dripping from what was left of them. The third was harder for me to recognize, but once I saw the cold, calloused grimace that still marred his face, I knew the man to be of the royal court. Nobleman Etkin was staring ahead at me as we passed, and I looked away as quickly as I could. Three men hung from those spikes. Three men who all had a hand in hurting me, and I knew deep in my gut that the man responsible was the one who rode behind me. But he didn’t say a word as we passed.

“I can feel others. Others with magic.” I shook my head gently. “But it’s not the same.” “And with my brother?” “I can feel him, but it doesn’t compare. Everyone else feels dull compared to you.”