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

by Holly Renee

“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...