Page 97 of Where Shadows Bloom

“I’ll do it,” interjected Ofelia, squaring her shoulders. “I’ve told him about Lope. About our story. And I want to help you, even in the smallest way.”

My stomach turned at the thought of her speaking to some monster on my behalf, but the conviction in her eyes was unshakable. She smiled at me. My heart fluttered.

“Lope,” she said, her eyes never falling from mine, “there’s something else I want you to know.”

Whisper to me everything;

Whisper me the world.

Let’s lie side by side like always

And tell me every story of your heart!

“The Shadows,” she continued, “they act as messengers for the Shadow King. It’s not just breaths they steal. They take stories.” She ran her lip under her teeth. “The stories are bound into books. And I read Carlos’s book. He loved you, Lope. And he knew that you loved him, too.”

An invisible blow beat against my chest, like a Shadow knocking me down. The ache of missing him burned in my stomach. I could not make sense of the despair and the relief warring through me. His voice, his own words, but in some storybook, made at the behest of a monster-king.

I wished he were here with me. I wished he could have known Ofelia as I did. I wished he could have knownmeas I was now.

But I had not loved Carlos in vain. Nor would I love Ofelia in vain.

This time, I would save my loved one. I’d save her from the dark, faraway grasp of the Underworld.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Please be careful,” she whispered.

A warm fire was beginning to kindle in my chest. She loved me. She’d said it, and it was true.

I was worth being loved.

“I’ll be with you soon,” I vowed.

She nodded. “I know you will.”

To the king, the best place for a door to the Underworld was a garden. A garden where no one could enter.

For Eglantine and myself, we chose a room that no one cared to enter.

The courtiers cared more for the king and his parties than for books. So the library became our haven.

We shut and locked the tall doors, moved aside tables, and cleared a spot on the wooden floor between two bookshelves in the far reaches of the room. With Eglantine’s help, I unfastened myself from the metal trap of the armor encasing me, and, in my waistcoat, chemise, and breeches, finally felt like myself again. The boots I kept, sturdy leather and easy to run in, except for the protective metal plates atop.

Eglantine’s hands trembled as she placed a candlestick on the floor before us.

“I’ve never... I’ve never successfully spoken with theShadow King before,” she whispered. As if he could hear us now. Perhaps he could.

When I looked at her, Eglantine’s gaze was miles off into the distance. “For years I searched for Mother. I hoped for so long that she was alive. And all this time, she was so close to me. Just behind a door.” She raised her head, a long silver-blond coil of hair falling before her dark eyes. “I’m so close.”

I carefully touched her arm. “I intend to go alone, Eglantine.”

She frowned. “What? No, not when my mother is so near!”

“We do not know what it will be like below. The presence of Shadows is guaranteed. Even if the Shadow King has promised us safe passage... I think it is wise if you stay behind. In case something should happen. I am fast, and more importantly, I have years of experience with the Shadows.”

She shut her eyes, exhaling, her shoulders drooping in defeat. “Promise me you’ll bring me my mother?”

I pressed my fist to my heart. “I promise.”

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