Page 28 of A Vow of Shadows

“Wait!” I scrambled to my feet, closing the distance between us as he continued toward the exit. “You went to my home? Did you see my parents? How are they? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to my home?”

“Because I didn’t want you to come along.”

I stopped short. “What? Why? It’s my home.”

“Yes, and you left it. You really think the best place to hide from Death is exactly where he expects you to be?”

I hadn’t considered that. He’d mentioned my home, and every nagging thought I had about leaving my parents returned tenfold. I could, however, see the logic in his decision, even if I didn’t like it. “Fine. What of my parents?”

The Ferrier regarded me, and I searched his face for the answers he withheld.

“What is it you want to know? Do you want to hear how they are mourning your departure as if you had died? Or that they’ve moved on completely as though you’d never existed? Neither answer would ease your worries, likely they would exacerbate them.”

“You act like those are the only two options.”

“Are you so eager for news of your former life, Miss Fil’Owen? Or should I call youLadyFil’Owen?”

I bristled, hating the formal title. “Just Kat is fine.”

“Please allow me to make myself clear,Miss Fil’Owen, I will not be addressing you so informally. Not now nor any time in the future. We are not friends. We are… temporary allies.”

“Well then, my dark ally, I thank you for your continued assistance toward our mutual goal. However, in the future, I would appreciate not being kept in the dark, as it were.” I shothim a wry look. “Particularly regarding matters involving my life and family.”

“The life and family you abandoned?” It was his turn to return the sardonic expression.

I huffed, a rebuke on the tip of my tongue, but he had already faded away into the shadows.

Stomping my foot, I released a roar of frustration. The remaining shadows scattered at my outburst, and my cheeks reddened in mortification. “Why is he so irritating?” I ask them, hands curling into fists at my sides. “I’d like to punch him in his frustratingly beautiful—”

Hisface.

Hehadlooked familiar, but not from a dream, I realized.

I flew through the doorway. Rooms blurred together as I raced through them, an endless display of neglected opulence and flickering candlelight. My lungs burned by the time I reached the stairs, and I cursed my pathetic endurance as I began the trudge up to the second level.

A surge of icy cold engulfed me. The world turned black, and I screamed as my feet left the floor. My hands scrabbled for purchase, unable to find anything through the inky black.

Just as quickly as they’d come, the shadows fell away, depositing me upon the landing of the second floor. I whirled and caught the last of them scattering to the darkest corners.

“Thanks for the lift.”

Snatching a candelabra from a small table, I silently thanked my past self for leaving a few tapers lit when I’d left. I took my time retracing my steps to the end of the hall, stopping at the door opposite the Ferrier’s rooms.

I scrubbed my hands down the front of my skirts, wiping the perspiration from them. If what I suspected was true, it changed nothing—meant nothing. Yet I couldn’t help the anxiety thatbubbled up inside of me at the mere thought of unraveling part of the mystery of the Ferrier.

The door swung open at my touch. I held my light high, keeping the shadows at bay as I entered. My footsteps didn’t falter as I crossed to the painting. I already knew what I would see, but when I saw the Ferrier’s face, it was like the entire painting had been made anew.

No longer were these strangers. Well, I had no idea who the woman was. Some former lover, I assumed. Perhaps even his wife? But here was the Ferrier, human, alive, andhappy.

How did one go fromthisto being the Master of Shadows?

Did that mean this enormous manor had been his? I’d assumed it had belonged to the couple in the painting long ago and that the Ferrier had taken it over as his residence when they’d passed. Clearly, I had some part of the story wrong if the Ferrier was the owner all along. He was still here, even after life—or a normal lifespan.

I looked at the woman again, the beautiful woman teeming with joy and life. What had happened to her?

My little adventure had created more questions than it answered. Now, my curiosity was thoroughly piqued.

Everything I knew about the Ferrier told me to leave well enough alone, but I knew I couldn’t just let all these unknowns lie if I were going to spend an entire year living with him. I itched from all the questions burning inside me.

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