Page 94 of The Sorrow of Shadows

“Twenty-one, Your Grace.”

“If you want to get on my good side, don’t call me that,” I say with an exaggerated eye roll that has Aurelius snickering behind me.

She nods enthusiastically, and I continue my questions. “Do you possess any powers?”

“I do. I can bend light. I’m not the strongest, but I can do this.” She demonstrates her Gift, her hand raising and disappearing before my eyes. Her power seems to work similarly to my shadows, but with light; she’s bending the particles around her body in such a way that she appears invisible. It’s quite impressive, but rather useless in the dark.

“How far does your ability extend?”

“I can manipulate my entire body, but I can’t do anything beyond that.” There’s potential she could make for a decent spy with some training.

“Can you create light?”

She shakes her head. “No, sadly I cannot. I’ve tried, but it seems I’m not strong enough.”

“Your strength is not defined by your power, little mouse. It’s quite the opposite, actually.”

She quirks a brow at me. “How so?”

“Everyone is born with certain talents, butskillis developed. Those with raw power, but no discipline to learn control over that power are wild and useless. Most of the time, they’re dangerous. Therefore, they are actually the weakest because I can do nothing with them. Those born with less natural ‘talent,’ but the discipline to learn control and grow their powers are far more useful. Our Gifts are like our muscles; the more we exercise and train them, the stronger they grow.”

“I had never thought of it like that, but I guess that makes sense. So, are you saying I could grow my abilities beyond what they are now?” There’s a hint of excitement in her question.

“I think it’s possible. Whether or not you do is dependent entirely on you.”

She nods in understanding, and I continue my questions. “Can you fight? Have you been trained?”

“I have two older brothers, so I’ve spent my fair share of time wrestling and sparring with them. I wouldn’t say I’ve been trained formally, but I can hold my own.”

A few moments pass in silence as I consider her potential. She’d be starting later than most soldiers and she’s severely underfed, so the training would take everything from her until she started gaining muscle. It wouldn’t be easy, but she seems eager.

“I’ll consider it, but only after I see what you have to show us and once I’ve had a chance to evaluate your abilities myself. I won’t lie to you; it will be difficult. You’d be starting at a disadvantage, but I’m not one to deny anyone a chance.”

Nameah nods enthusiastically. “I understand! That’s good enough for me. I won’t let you down, General.”

We ride for another hour before Nameah announces, “We’re almost there. It’s in the clearing just beyond this group of trees.” Her face is serious and sullen.

A nervous energy consumes me as we make it through the trees to the clearing beyond. What we see has a sob fighting to break free and bile racing up my throat. I dismount Luna in a hurry and fall to my knees as I empty the contents of my stomach on the ground.

Aurelius is behind me, rubbing soothing circles on my back. “It’s okay, Princess. I’ve got you,” he whispers for my ears only.

After another minute, I find the strength to look up and fully take in the site before me. On a wooden cross hangs the headless body of my second. His arms are stretched out to the side, nails driven through his wrists to keep his body in place.

The stench hits me as soon as I take a step closer. Close to a week has passed since his head was sent to me in a box—and there’s no telling exactly when he was killed—so the process of decay has fully begun. The putrid smell of rotting flesh invades my nostrils and has me gagging. If I had anything left in my stomach, it would surely be coming back up. My eyes water from the smell at first, but quickly shift to actual tears streaming freely down my cheeks.

Up close, I can see his body more clearly. It doesn’t appear that he has any other significant injuries, which leads me to believe he wasn’t tortured. I pray to any gods that will listen that it meant he had a swift death. If he wasn’t tortured, it means they weren’t looking to get any information from him.

So, then why was he murdered at all? Was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Did he see something he wasn’t supposed to?

I turn to Aurelius. “Who would do this?” It’s all I can manage to get out.

“I don’t know, Princess. But we’ll figure it out.” He pulls me into his warmth and places a soft kiss on the top of my head.

“I’m glad Jade isn’t here to see this,” I whisper.

“No one saw who did it, in case you’re wondering. He was just here one morning. My family lives close enough that we would have heard something if there was a fight, but there was nothing.”

“Why didn’t anyone try to take him down?” I feel anger rise in me that they would leave his body like this. The wildlife has already started picking at his corpse; they should have done something.

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