Page 68 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

Life made him resent ever being born at times. He would never fully fit in.

Arlo rubbed his thumb into Kellen’s wrist before letting go. “I don’t like it when you are silent. I always know you are torturing yourself in your mind.”

“It’s hard to watch you do it so easily,” Kellen finally said, meeting his gaze.

“What?”

“Pretend.”

Arlo took a breath, stepping forward. “It’s not as easy as it looks. If my blood has a talent at anything, it’s fighting and pretending to be something they are not. I need to be this way.”

What killed Kellen was that he understood that more than most.

Arlo took a step too close, especially in public. “But what would you have me do, Kellen? I am the chief commander’s son; putting on a show, pretending, is in my blood.”

“You know you don’t need to put on a show. You are not the first-born son. The commander’s responsibility does not lie on the second son.” He finally turned to meet his gaze. “Or the third. You don’t see me flashing a grin at every girl who wants my affections. I don’t need to do that. That is my brother’s job.”

Arlo’s cheeks turned crimson. “You are being unfair and you know it.”

“And you are being untrue to yourself.”

“And you are not?” Arlo scoffed. His voice lowered so that no one could hear the conversation. “I don’t see you standing hand in hand with a man. I don’t see your lips on his in front of the factions. I don’t see you in the middle of the room, letting them know anything about who you truly are. What I see is someone standing in the shadows of the room as always.” Kellen flinched, and the air in his lungs escaped him. Arlo inhaled and then exhaled deeply. “If you want to live in the dark corners of society, that is fine, Kellen. But I don’t have to. I know your day has been awful, so I wanted to come over here and see if I could offer you support, but I can see it is unwanted. This was a mistake.”

Just as Arlo took off to get away from him, a wash of something dreadful filled Kellen’s bones. Darkness unfolded around his vision, blurring everything out completely. Instantly, his skin prickled and his muscles seized.

It was happening, but it shouldn’t be.

He wasn’t sleeping. This couldn’t happen.

Kellen tried to clutch his head, tried to stumble forward to somehow prevent this from happening here of all places, when the room was swollen with warriors of Thorin.

He felt something shift and lock from within him, letting him know something had altered course. Something in the world had changed. Unbearable stabbing pains shot into his head as darkness invaded his consciousness, rendering him completely blind.

He let out a yelp as his hands found a table and he tried to steady himself. But he was gone. He was not with this world, but another one. A cold sweat took over his body like his skin was seeping, pouring water from him. He felt his knees hit the ground and he heard glasses smash around him, but it wasn’t the force of his bones hitting the hard floor that had him screaming.

It was what came to him in the dream.

It was a wonder that Gideon could laugh at all after the day he had had, but it was a nice surprise to know that he still could. Even though she was small, Sybil had swung him around so hard during a dance, almost wiping out the man with the fiddle. The harsh curses that had come from the fiddler as he picked up his instrument had Sybil clinging to his arms, in stitches laughing. He couldn’t believe how sore his jaw was from the amusement too, the smile still plastered on his face.

“I cannot dance with you again, Gideon.” She finally let go of his tunic to hold her belly from laughing pains. “I fear that you will break the legs of the accordion next, and I will not be responsible for that. I am a healer, not someone who breaks bones.”

His laugh broke through the music as it began playing again. “Oh, no you don’t. I am not being held responsible for taking out the fiddler. You may be small, but you had the strength of a warrior there. If it weren’t for you, that man wouldn’t be cursing me out.”

She playfully smiled. “Accidents happen.” Sybil smoothed a hand over his chest, and her lashes fluttered shut for just one moment before her hand dropped from where it sat.

“Although, if I were going to be strategic,” Gideon whispered to her, “I would take out the man with the accordion next time; he seems to be playing a little off beat.”

She beamed back at him, and his heart constricted in his chest.

A cough came from beside them, and she turned her head to see who it was.

Gideon reluctantly pulled his eyes from her face and did the same thing to see a member of the Fae Court standing before him. Gideon had no idea that the Fae even cared about what had happened here today, but nevertheless, they were enjoying the merriment. The man had white-gold hair, and his complexion was dark and glowing. He wore the cobalt-blue jacket of King Oberon’s men, and Gideon knew that he was probably going to report everything that he saw to the king.

He took a low bow, his twinkling eyes focused on Sybil. “May I cut in and ask the Empress of Earth to dance? They speak of her beauty and skill in Skyelir, and I have come to see it for myself.”

Sybil nodded her head, still holding that same smile that had been for Gideon. “I hope the rumours of my beauty have not brought you all this way for nothing, Your Grace.”

Why did Gideon’s heart twist in his chest as she acknowledged the Fae?

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