Page 16 of Once the Skies Fade

“Well,” she started, seemingly unperturbed by my rude tone. “We never discussed the price for their identity and location.”

Huffing out a loud sigh, I rolled my eyes at her. “Which is?”

“Your shadows,” she said plainly, and I nearly choked on my breath.

“My what?”

“You think I can’t sense the power you’re so keen on hiding? You’re a Shadow Keeper,” she said.

“I don’t know what—” I started, but a growl rumbled deep in the woman’s chest, stopping my words short.

“Stupidity doesn’t suit you, Your Majesty,” Minerva said icily, but her cold stare soon melted into a kind smile as she reached forward and took one of my hands in hers. “Don’t fret, love. I don’t need them all. Just a bit will do.”

“Why?” I stammered, wincing at how fearful and weak my voice sounded.

She offered a single, breathy chuckle. “That is not part of this bargain. But don’t worry. It won’t hurt, and you won’t even notice it’s missing.”

Slowly she turned my hand to reveal my palm, and I stiffened. My breath caught as the magic in my blood thrummed against my will, as if Minerva was calling it forward. Clenching my hand into a fist, I forced my power back and braced myself for the mage’s reprimands.

None came.

Instead, her other weathered hand fell atop my closed fist and she caught my eyes with a sympathetic look. “This power is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing you need hide or deny.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and whispered roughly, “I’ve never denied them.”

Minerva smiled sweetly. “Did you tell Brennan about them? Did you show him what you can do?”

Guilt stabbed my chest like a branding iron pressed against my sternum. I had planned to tell him, but worry had stayed my tongue and now he’d died never truly knowing me.

Pathetically shaking my head, I whispered a “no.”

Her hands squeezed mine gently. “Why do you fear the gift you’ve been given?”

I pulled out of her grasp and opened my hands. Over each palm, darkness gathered, swirling, churning, billowing clouds of black.

“It is simply a shadow.”

“Simply a shadow?” I repeated, incredulously. “Simple shadows do not do this.”

With those words I commanded the shadows to extend beyond my hands straight for Minerva’s throat. Dark tendrils wound around her wrinkled neck, tightening and squeezing until her breath hitched sharply. Her dark eyes widened, and her lips quivered for a moment before finally turning up into one of her unnerving smiles.

Then with a twist of her hand, she summoned a burst of light that sent my shadows retreating back into my veins and cackled almost triumphantly.

“Whether it be shadows or light or air or water or land, your magic does your bidding. It cannot do anything that you do not will it to. The shadow is not bad in itself; how you wield it could be.”

“But the price to wield it?—”

“What price? Powers we are born with come from nature and require no balance to be maintained. But the magic we harness outside of ourselves? That, Your Majesty, demands something in return.”

Impatience gnawed at my nerves. Isa would worry if she arrived home to find me not there. I needed to hurry and finish my business here. Pulling in a deep breath, I opened my hand once more and coaxed several wisps of darkness to surface and swirl over my palm. When I met the woman’s gaze, I could have sworn a challenge brewed in her eyes.

“Take your payment, and let’s be done,” I said sternly, leaving no room for further discussion.

Minerva raised one bony shoulder high toward her ear before twisting her hand around in the air and producing a small vial. She removed the stopper and offered a slight nod. Without a second thought, I sent my shadows forward, filling the vial with my darkness, never taking my eyes off the mage, as if she might disappear as soon as she had this bit of my magic.

No sooner had she closed up the vial than it vanished, a small blade taking its place in her palm. Before I could react, Minerva snatched up my fingers and sliced the knife across my fingertip. The sudden pain forced my mouth open, but no sound came as I watched drops of my blood fall to the map on the table.

At first nothing happened; my blood simply sat upon the parchment in tiny dark pools. I was about to question the mage,when they finally shifted. Slowly the droplets of my blood crept across the map, all heading for the same location.

---