Page 98 of Shade of Ruin

I reach out to the one place I know. The one place I can imagine perfectly. Cole’s bed. I reach out with my mind, and… I can feel them. The shadows under that bed. Put there by the sunlight that streams from the windows of his room.

I make them mine just as easily as I’d made the Shade’s shadows mine in the ecstatic spring.

The Shade becomes nervous, and I understand why. The oppressiveness is getting stronger, but a part of me feels like I belong here. It’s like this is home to me, like I can breathe in the silence.

I need to leave. I need to bring the Shade to the real world. Cole will be back soon. How long has it been? Maybe I’ll be able to touch him.

I yank on those shadows, and like pulling myself out of a hole in the ground, I draw us from the darkness into the light of the room. And we’re standing next to each other beside the bed, our feet still in those shadows that I pulled us through.

“You’ve just done something only a handful of people in the world can still do. Even at the height of the House of Shadows, very few of them could shadow walk more than a mile or two. And you just moved almost fifty miles. Congratulations.” He takes a step away from me.

I feel out of breath, almost like I’d just gotten done running. It’s like the air’s been sucked out of me. When I look up at theShade, I can see him assessing me. He says nothing, but I watch as his shadows coalesce at his feet, and he steps into them.

I’m all alone. That’s when I realize I need to put my ring on again. I take gasping breaths, and slowly I feel like I can breathe again. What would have happened if he’d taken me further? And why isn’t he exhausted?

I close my eyes and let out another breath. This was not the day I’d been expecting. But maybe it’s exactly what I needed. A moment away from Cole to think about everything. To put everything into perspective. To learn the last and most difficult bit of shadow magic.

I raise my hand, and for the first time in a very long time, there are no shadows rolling from my fingertips.

“Now I really need to take a bath,” I mutter as I open my eyes. I glance down and see the midnight black dress. “Well, that’s the last thing anyone needs to see me in,” I say, and let it disappear completely, leaving me naked in Cole’s chambers.

It’s been a long day, but it’s been a good one. When I slip inside the bathing room, I’m happy that the water is still steaming hot. But when I sit down in that water, I know I need to make some very important decisions.

Do I let the Shade win? Do I ask him to put me on a Throne?

And the one that I can’t stop thinking about. What do I do after I talk to Calyr? Because I don’t think I can still be with Cole if I talk to Calyr. I’ll be hunted, and he has an unforgettable scent.

Or do I choose selfishness? Do I ignore the fact that Hazel is dying because of me?

Impossible questions that have to be answered, and they need to be answered very soon.

Chapter 41

The Gold calls to me when I close my eyes. Like when I was a boy. The mountain of treasure, and him lying on top of it. This time, I am not asking for a trade…

~King Gethin, personal journals

Tomorrow’s going to bea whirlwind of chaos. Another dress will have to be made, this time without me being there, thankfully. Cole has scheduled me for an appointment to a “preparationist”, someone I’ve never heard of before. I guess that’s not all that surprising, though. Living in Blackgrove versus Draenyth are distinctly different experiences.

More than any of that, though, tomorrow night is mine and Cole’s last night together in Draenyth, and it’s going to be spent at that ball around so many of both of our enemies. Unlike everyother day here in the capital city of the Immortals, we can’t hide from the other Immortals.

My experience with nobles has been anything but pleasant. Both of the times that I’ve been around Rhion, violence loomed heavily, and the only time that we were around Casimir, he tortured Cole. Why would I think the ball would be any different?

The night seems to feel the weight that hangs around us as we sit on top of the guardhouse roof, just like we did that very first day in Draenyth. The stars light up the sky, but the moon is nowhere to be seen, and the world feels darker than normal.

Tonight is different, and the night knows it. We spent hours with Lee and Darian at the Firelight Café, full of laughter. Full of stories from their childhood. Mari’s back on her feet and just as feisty as ever.

And yet, when we sit here, that looming darkness hangs too close to us. Tonight is the last night that’s completely ours. Completely free. The last real night for decisions.

The clouds blot out the starlight, and other than the pinpricks of light that dot the city streets, the world seems to hide from us.

I wonder if my words can be heard all the way to the ground with how silent the world is, so when I speak, it’s barely more than a whisper. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

Cole huffs, but he’s smiling still from our time at the Firelight Café. “I’m not scared of a Midsummer ball. I’ve only been to a few hundred of them. But…” He pauses, and the smile fades. “I’m not ready for you to leave, Maeve.”

The decision. More than any other that’s been offered, this is the piece that I have to choose. For me to meet with Calyr as we’d planned and then escape the city or to choose the selfish path and let Hazel die.

If I’m to find my way into Calyr’s cave, I’ll have to reveal my magic. The entire city will be on high alert. And then if I run…There’s no way that anyone will think it’s someone other than me.

---