Page 1 of The Breaker of Stars
Chapter One
Cypherion
One fucking bed.
That was what the tavern owner with the obscenely large ears said. Three times.
I supposed I shouldn’t insult his ears; it wasn’t their fault the only inn in the tiny northern town of Castani only had one room left.
With one bed.
Narrowing my eyes, I assessed the man behind the bar. Thick arms rested on the wood, a coarse beard masking the bottom half of his expression. But his eyes didn’t shift. They didn’t avoid my gaze, nor did they light with the challenge of trying to get more coin out of me.
Nothing suspicious, defensive, or calculating.
An uproarious cheer echoed from a table in the corner, bouncing across the wooden tables caged in by foggy glass windows fighting off the winter night. Warriors dotted the rest of the sparsely furnished dining room, the market-based town merely a pass-through for those on their way here or there. The voices echoed in my head, and I gritted my teeth.
Shoving my hand through my hair, I sighed. “Fine. That room will do.”
A delicate, stifled laugh sounded behind me, but I didn’t look at her. Just pulled the necessary coins from my pouch and dropped them over the bar.
“We left our horses tied out front,” I added.
“They’ll be cared for as if they belong to the chancellor himself,” the owner said. A casual turn of phrase, but one that caused a small intake of breath from my traveling companion. And my damn ears were too attuned to miss it. That, plus the mention of the Starsearcher Chancellor, Titus, had my own muscles locking, fingers itching for one of the many knives beneath my cloak.
Without another word, I turned.
“Thank you,” Vale whispered to the owner despite the memories that were certainly inundating her mind now. “May Valyrie bless you.”
Even low and directed at another, her voice crawled across my skin, calling to every disgruntled nerve ending, pulling me back to nights I didn’t want to relive. Her body beneath mine as she uttered promises she had no intention of keeping. Secrets she’d hidden when I’d come to her, vulnerable and asking for help.
I fisted my hands at my sides to avoid remembering how her skin felt beneath them and reaching?—
A low growl rumbled in my throat, and I stopped in my tracks, moving slightly to the side. Without looking directly at Vale, I waited for her to walk in front of me, then continued after her up the creaking wooden staircase.
Curse Ophelia for eternity, these past three weeks had been the hardest of my life, and I’d survived a wide variety of shit thus far.
Leaving my friends at the war camp in the southern mountains to await siege and plot against the now-dead Queen Kakias had been difficult. But the most challenging part was the Starsearcher before me and the battle within my own head. Heart. Whatever.
Not to mention the way every situation appeared to be working against me.
“One fucking bed,” I mumbled beneath my breath.
“What was that?” Vale asked, stopping at the landing atop the stairs and flicking a gaze over her shoulder. Those piercing olive-green irises sparkled even in the low light. Eyes I’d seen glazed with tears, fogged during readings, and burning in lust as?—
“Nothing.” I cleared my throat. “Key?”
Vale lifted a brow, and Damien’s balls, was she fighting a smirk? That was why I tried not to look at her too often—her face was too expressive. The slightest feeling stole her entire being, something I often wondered about given that she had fucking lied to us for months and no one realized.
Had it been so easy then, to mask her emotions?
Vale rolled her eyes, unlocking the door and leading us into the room. And there it was.
Why did so many inns only have rooms with one bed? This had happened countless times these past three weeks, no matter how often I distinctly asked for two—Spirits, even two separate rooms. Was every warrior on this damn continent currently traveling or were tavern owners too lazy to make up rooms with multiple sleeping accommodations?
At least this bed was larger than the last. Even tucked into the corner beneath a slanted ceiling lined with thick wooden beams, it nearly took up half the room. The rest was dedicated to a small table—for two, of course—and a stone fireplace, already lit. Shockingly, there was a small bathing chamber connected, likely only big enough for necessities.
A window sat at the foot of the bed, moonlight reflecting off Lumin Lake far in the distance and casting a white sheen over soft sheets that were too damn alluring for this. They drew visions of tan skin bathed in midnight and a laugh like starlight.