Page 97 of Shade of Ruin

A dress like none that could be made. Then I see the Shade standing behind me. Shadows swirl around me, and they settle on my forehead, becoming a midnight crown. The Shade stands behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist.

Yet his hands don’t touch me. He stands so close that I’d swear his cloak should touch my skin, yet it doesn’t. “You could be the Queen of Shadows, Maeve. You could take your mother’s place, and I could help you.”

Shadows swirl from the ground to my arm, holding it tight and moving my wrist into our view. “You are not the only one who owes debts. I’ve spent nearly thirty years collecting more debts than you can count for this moment. I’ve given everything I am to put you on the Throne. All you would have to do is say yes, and I would stand next to you. No one could defy us. We could bring the House of Shadows back to life.”

His words sweep over me so much more seductively than his shadows can anymore. He’s offering me complete power. Even Rhion and Cole owe debts to the Shade. I could be the Queen that rights all the wrongs.

I turn around and stare into those shadows under his hood, just as I have so many times in the past. “Who are you?” I whisper. “You ask me to trust you. To take a Throne and have you stand beside me. Yet I owe you debts and I don’t know who you are. That is not the way you stand beside someone.”

He shakes his head. “Not yet. Not until you decide. Then, and only then, will I be able to be free of this cloak.”

“I can’t do that, Shade. I can’t choose you without knowing who you are. Without knowing what you’ve done or why youhold these debts over me. Are you going to force me to take the Throne? Is that what they’re for?”

He takes a step back, his gaze moving to the ground in front of me. “I’ve done what had to be done. Everything I’ve done has been because it was necessary.”

“Including forcing me to take a Throne?” I ask again.

“No,” the whisper comes out hard, almost like it’s painful. But then the Shade looks up. “I will not force you to take the Shadowed Throne. I promise this. As humans promise.”

I blink and a grin crosses my lips. “As humans promise… Interesting. If only humans could make that promise instead of earning debts,” I say as I raise my wrist.

And he shrugs. I’d swear he’s smiling under that hood. “I do not make the rules, Princess.”

Princess. “If I decide to take the Throne, what do I do?” I ask.

“The same thing you’ve always done. Call my name in your mind.” So simple. So impossibly simple.

I shake my head and turn back to the water, back to where I’m wearing a dress made of shadows. A dress made for the Princess of Shadows. A shiver runs through me. That could be me.

But it’s not. I’m still just a Wyrdling with some shadow magic. Sia knew. Deep down, I know, too.

“How is it that no one can smell your shadows, Shade? Everyone warns me about mine, but you don’t need to wear a ring. You don’t need to keep your scent hidden.”

“My cloak is pure shadow magic. No one can smell it.”

I chuckle and shake my head. Then why does it always smell like salt and cedar? “Well, are you going to explain how you shadow walked? I know you showed me, but it’d be nice to do it myself.”

He nods. “You create revulsion shadows and step into them. That’s how you get to the void between worlds. Then you create shadows where you want to go. Use them to pull yourself outof the void. Never stay long enough for the void to pull at your resolve. Even a momentary slip is enough to leave you stuck there until you give into the darkness.”

And then I’ll die.

“That’s all? And I can go anywhere in the world?” I ask. That I could have crossed the world in an instant like that is crazy. I could have skipped the entire walk to Draenyth. Weeks of blisters and sore feet.

“The longer the distance, the more power it takes, but yes, you could go from Draenyth anywhere in a moment if you had enough power. Remember that if you take someone else with you, you could lose them to the darkness. The longer you’re there, the more likely it is to happen.”

I nod my head. That makes sense. “What happens if I walk away from everything, Shade? What happens if I don’t take part in the wars that are coming? What if I pretend like I’m just a human and go live in Blackgrove with my family again?”

The Shade is quiet for a few moments. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing. Then again, maybe war isn’t coming. Maybe in fifty years when your family is dead, and you’re still young, you’ll come back to Draenyth. Maybe fifty years of hiding your magic will have you desperate to come back, to find your place here.”

He’s quiet for a few more moments. “Or maybe we all die because of it. I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone does. But youarethe daughter of the last Queen of Shadows. You have a place in all of this. There is a reason that I was listening for your voice. All these years, I’ve waited.”

Can I walk away? Should I believe the Shade that I’m that important? I stare into the darkness under his hood. Is it that I can’t walk away from the Shade and my place in the Immortal world… or is it that I can’t walk away from Cole?

I say, “I guess we might as well try this whole shadow walking thing,” and I send out revulsion shadows onto the ground. TheShade steps toward the circle of darkness and reaches his hand out, coated in shadows just as before. I put one hand in his, and the other is wrapped tightly around my mother’s ring.

And I step forward, pulling him into the darkness with me.

Just like every other time that I’ve had to do something with shadows for the first time, nothing is as easy as it sounds. The darkness is more oppressive than anything I’ve ever experienced before. Complete and unending nothingness.

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