Page 38 of Shade of Ruin

Even my footsteps feel quieter tonight.

Maybe it’s the hush when the world has turned its eye on me. It feels like that kind of night. One where it feels like something important is going to happen.

And maybe it is. My fingers trace the little black marks of shadow on my wrist. Cole was pissed that I owed a debt to the Shade. I could see the fury in his eyes. But I’ve figured it out. The Shade is from the House that my mother is from. The one that I’m at least partly connected to. If there’s anyone that Ishouldtrust, it’s him.

I can’t deny that the shadows under that cloak pull at me and make me want to know who’s under it. The way his hands feel when he touches me is… dangerous.

I don’t even know if these debts are repaid in terrible ways. Maybe he’ll ask for favors from me just as I’ve asked for favors from him. That wouldn’t be so bad. Everyone knows that he’ll never ask for my life, and people join armies all the time to do terrible things.

With how Cole reacted today, I should be nervous, but I’m not. “Shade, I need you,” I whisper into the darkness as I picture him.

And I wait. The moments pass like always. Dozens of breaths later, I’m still waiting, and this time, something seems wrong. My heart races. Has he abandoned me? Another breath and he’s still not here. Is he angry at me? Another breath. Does he know what favor I want to ask him tonight? Fear coils in my stomach as I realize he isn’t bound to me. He’s never been forced to come to me, and while he said that I’m valuable to him, there’s no reason he should continue to help me. I’m already indebted to him. He has what he wants.

That fear becomes a knot as I suddenly feel very alone in the world. Cole has been with me from the moment I left Blackgrove,but it’s been the Shade that I felt comfortable around. Where Cole has pushed away from me constantly, has kept his secrets far out of reach, the Shade has never hidden anything from me. He’s taught me. He’s given me anything I asked.

The Shade does not make that shiver tighten around my spine. I feel like I can trust him even though there’s a cost to his help.

There’s the feeling of a window opening, and I sigh with relief. When I turn around, he’s standing there, just like every other time, but I don’t feel the softness behind the shadows this time. It’s anger or frustration. Something unusual.

“You called,” he says, that low voice rolling over me in a wave and taking the fear of loneliness with it.

I take a step toward him and say, “I need answers to questions. Will every answer give me a mark?”

The Shade pauses for a moment, his head cocked as though he’s listening to something I can’t hear. “It depends on the questions. Some questions have answers that are valuable. Others aren’t valuable at all. And then, of course, there are some questions that I will not answer.” He pauses for a moment and then finishes, “Unless I tell you otherwise, I’ll consider all the questions this evening worth a single debt.”

I take another step toward him, the need to be closer to him nearly as strong as when I looked into the eyes of the drakeling.

“Cole plans to pretend that we’re betrothed. Is this safe for me? I don’t know the ritual that is required.”

The Shade nods. “It is easily broken, but only one of you may do so. No one else can break the bond, and it is public. It is a clever ruse to keep a Wyrdling safe in Draenyth.”

I run my finger over the marks on my wrist. I can feel him in those marks. The bond that ties us together is more than just an accounting. They’re more than proof of the debt. His magic is inside me.

“Why is he training me to fight? There’s no possibility of me being strong enough to even last an extra few seconds against a Fae.”

The Shade glances down at the ring on my finger. “It is possible that he knows your ring is holding back your scent and power. Cole Cyrus is a clever High Fae, and that ring prevents you from accessing nearly any of your Fae power. Not just magic. But your strength and speed as well. If you were to take it off, it is likely you would survive much longer than you’d expect. You are still far safer with him as an escort, but if you aren’t near him, training will help you survive if you take off the ring.”

What? If he knew about the ring, then why didn’t he say anything? Why didn’t he say anything about knowing I’d been marked by the Shade either? More secrets. Every answer only leads me down a rabbit warren of new questions.

“And why is Cole trying to take me to Draenyth? It can’t just be to escort me there so that I can help my cousin.”

The Shade moves slowly, gliding over the ground and leaving shadows curling into the air like oily smoke before they settle back onto the ground. He is completely silent. Completely in control. He reaches for me and runs his black-tinted nail over my cheek while I stare into the darkness under his hood.

If any other male in the world had touched me like that, I’d have pulled away. “You’re special, Maeve Arden. Whether you know it or not, you are not an ally to throw away in the coming wars. And he is still learning about you, still finding outyoursecrets. He’s deciding whether he can trustyou.”

He glides even closer to me, that pounding drum inside me filling my body with desire. Shadows wreathe us, their oily blackness a reminder of his powers as they curl around my legs and arms, slowly tightening. They constrict and hold me still as he looks into my eyes from under the cloak. I want to reach outand pull back the hood to see the Fae underneath. I want to finally look into those eyes.

The shadows hold me back. They’re black ropes tying me in place even as lust for him takes over inside me. His nail runs down my neck and without warning, the Shade drives it into my skin. It’s in and out of my neck in a split-second, and a sharp pain rips through me.

This time, I jerk away, not sure what he’s doing. There’s a flash of crimson in the moonlight as he moves his hand to the shadows under his hood. He’s licking it. Tasting my blood.

“Why did you do that?” I ask, my voice rising for the first time since I’ve met him. “Why did you taste my blood?” The shadows holding me still loosen and fade away into the night, leaving me free to move.

“To be sure of what I suspected,” he says slowly. “And I was right.”

I put my hand to my neck, to see how badly I’m bleeding, but it’s more like a pinprick than him stabbing me. I glance at those razor-sharp nails. Why did hetaste me?

I shake my head. No.Focus, Maeve.I can just ask since I owe him a debt. “What did you suspect?” I ask.

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