Blood of a Thousand Stars by Rhoda Belleza

Author:Rhoda Belleza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2018-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three:

THE COMPROMISED

“Not only does one worship the ancestors to honor the physical bodies from which they came, but also to honor the spiritual inheritance one receives. Lineage is remembered during the prayer, its lessons applied day to day. If such lessons lose their resonance, it is believed that one becomes lost.”

— Excerpt from A Comprehensive Guide to Kalusian Cultural Practices

FOURTEEN

KARA

KARA stumbled again, as the person hauling her forward gave the rope binding her wrists a sharp tug. The noise of the market had faded, and she’d lost all track of time. How far had they gotten from the warehouse, from the medcraft? Would the other medics ever find them now? Would they even bother to look?

She hoped that Issa, at least, had managed to escape. But she knew better than to count on it.

She shivered. A mist had rolled in—Kara felt it on her exposed skin.

Princess Josselyn. Whoever they were, they knew who she was. They’d recognized her. Had she come all this way just to die on a rock in the middle of nowhere, before she got to the overwriter?

Before she got to see her sister again?

That last thought surprised her. She hadn’t been thinking of Rhiannon—Rhee. Had purposely tried not to. Because Rhee wasn’t really her sister, and if Kara was able to follow through with the overwriter, Rhee never would be her sister—but Kara was still this halfway person, empty, trapped in between two identities.

And now she was literally trapped.

Kara gritted her teeth and tasted dust. Her muscles tensed, a steady tightening down the length of her.

She was led over a threshold into a small building of some kind. The walls felt close; the room smelled vaguely of something both acrid and sweet. It reminded Kara of the starchy vegetable stew she’d learned to make all those nights Lydia was working late. Her insides ballooned with grief.

Then a hand pulled the bag from Kara’s head. Her hair floated around her face, even more than usual in the slightly lower gravity. The room—a small space, empty except for a few chairs and a used wooden table—was so quiet she could hear the strands of hair crackle with static.

Her captors—four of them in all—were half-concealed by the heavy shadows. But one of them stepped forward, edging into the light. A smile twisted his face. The effort made the scar on his cheek turn white. Kara disliked him. She was pleased to see the dirt mark on his robe—he must be the one she had kicked earlier. He reached out a gloved hand and grabbed Kara’s chin.

“She bit me on the way over,” he said, turning back to his companions. “I should return the favor—”

Kara threw her head toward his nose, but he managed to jerk backward, and struck her down with a backhand before she could regain her balance. Her face slammed into the dirt floor, and the pain of it nearly shattered her. There was a metallic taste in her mouth—she’d clamped down on her tongue. Blood bubbled on her lips.

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