All the Stars and Teeth(108)

Father’s shoulders wither, though his gentle smile holds firm. “I have not been a fair king, but now it’s time for me to be a good one.” Tilting my chin up, Father presses a kiss to my forehead. The touch sears into my skin as if branding me. “I know you’ll take care of this kingdom, and I know you’ll be brave. I love you, my daughter, more than you will ever know, and I am sorry this burden must come to you so soon. But there’s only one way to help you win this fight. It’s time I finally did something right.

“Tell your mother I’m sorry,” he whispers. “And take care of her, please.”

I still, trying to process the words even as Father draws away from me. But there’s no time. Our makeshift world blurs, and fire claims my peripheral vision as I’m thrust back into the blazing throne room, where Bastian and Kaven duel through the smoky haze.

My eyes are drowned in sweat and smoke as I watch Father lift his sword from the ground. He twists it to press the tip of the blade against his stomach, and I buckle as horror freezes my limbs.

“Father?” It’s like I’m back on Arida’s beach, begging him to turn and look at me. But he shuts his eyes instead, a single tear rolling down his cheek. “Wait, please!”

Arida’s High Animancer, the King of Visidia, plunges the sword deep into his stomach. I barely catch him in time to help his body to the ground. His shoulders heave beneath my fingertips, just once, and I feel the very moment breath leaves his body and his soul disappears to the gods.

He did this to break his connection with Kaven. So that I could kill him without worrying about hurting Father or destroying his soul.

He did this because of me.

Somewhere behind me, Bastian’s yell slices the air. But I can’t look at him.

All I see is Father’s blood pooling over the marble, surprising the hesitant flames around him. All I see is how his body sags deeper into his blade and his hands fall limp at his sides. Fire makes its way to him, burning through his cape and plaguing his skin.

Even amid the flames, I’m cold as frost.

My chest constricts with breaths I do not take. Father’s blood slithers around my boots. I stumble to my knees beside him, staring until my vision goes as red as his blood.

There’s no point in looking at his chest—it doesn’t move. Or his eyes—which stare unblinking into the space ahead of him. He’s gone.

Dead.

And he’s left me the responsibility of an entire kingdom I cannot fail.

Rukan is heavy in my hand, pulsing with hunger I have every intention of feeding.

A monster stands before me with a vicious smile and eyes that shine silver as a full moon as they stare down at Father’s blood. It doesn’t realize that I am a monster, too.

“I’ve won.” Kaven’s words are as firm as a prayer. He presses his palms to the blood, looking at it like it’s a gift from the gods themselves. He raises his palms to his lips and coats his tongue in the very thing he’s desired most.

In Kaven’s distraction, a breathless Bastian draws a bone and quietly coats it in his brother’s blood. He must plan to curse Kaven to it, but when he raises the bone to try, he stumbles back with a hand to his throat, then his stomach. He’s choking, gagging, reaching for something I cannot see. Blood coats his lips and trails down his chin, though I see no wound.

Not another one. He can’t leave me, too.

Kaven turns to him, surprised, and smiles.

“What did you do to him?” I snarl, readying my dagger as Bastian drops to his knees and lets the bone clatter at his side. As he falls, I stumble back, throat constricting as it searches for air. My body seizes and shakes as warm blood glides down my own chin, as well. I’ve no idea how or when it got there.

Kaven says nothing. He keeps staring at Father’s blood, and his awe snatches my breath until I’m nearly suffocating. It takes all my power to force myself to stabilize, chest shaking as I lunge for him. All I see is red.

Red. Red. Red.

Red as the blood Father bathes in.

Red as the blood Bastian falls to the floor and chokes on.

Red as the blood that will forever stain my soul.

Red like the coat of blood I will weave over Kaven’s corpse.

I thrust Rukan into his leg and bury it in his skin with a twist. Kaven doesn’t even scream. He pulls me back by my hair, but I rip my dagger free and slice through the strands until his grip falls with hair no longer mine.

“Tell me what you did to him!” I scream it this time, movements erratic, vision spinning. I think I strike him again because there’s blood on my hands. Mine, his, Father’s. It all falls the same. There’s no keeping track of whom it belongs to, anymore.

Bastian slaps his hand against the ground and wheezes for air he cannot find. My vision blurs, and Kaven’s face flashes across it.

“The curse,” he whispers. “The moment you harm another creature, may this magic eat you from the inside out.”

My throat tightens with recognition. Those are Sira’s words, the ones she used to curse Cato.

“What are you talking about?” Bastian’s eyes are rolling into the back of his head, and I can barely focus.

Because I know the answer. My temples throb as my own eyes twitch back and forth, threatening to roll into the back of my skull.

“Bastian just triggered the Montara curse.” Kaven’s fingers dance along the hilt of his blood-crusted sword. He holds his chin proud, as if he’s thrilled by the blood we bathe in. By the chaotic destruction he’s caused.