Page 90 of Shadowlands Omega

“Yeah.”

“What’s she doing here with Zelie?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’m about to find out. I’ll tell you when you’re back. Just knock.”

Cyprus looks like he’s going to say something, then doesn’t. He nods, and I step out of the room and grab the edge of his cloak. He jerks away from me like my hands have been covered in acid then dipped in shards of glass. “What?” I say, feeling my frustration mount with Yaron, with the day, with the refugees and the troubling news that they bring.

“Fuck. Did you just touch me?”

“Yeah.” I glance to the left and to the right, feeling dumb — feeling likehe’sdumb. “You’re my brother.”

He’s not listening to my reply, but rubbing at his shoulder roughly. “Fuck. Kiandah, you can’t touch me. Or any Alpha. Or anyone at all, really. Yaron’s fucking losing it.” He drops his tone so he can’t be overheard, though there isn’t anyone in the small stone alcove, anyway. “He’s given a castle-wide edict that anyone that touches you will lose a hand.”

I blink at him, stupefied, wondering if this isn’t some kind of joke. “Is this a joke?”

“Do I look like I’m joking? I’m going to have to burn this fucking cloak. He’s already pissed at me for taking you out of his room at that inn. He told me personally that if he didn’t need me here while he’s out, he’d string me up in the dungeons by my heels.”

“Wait. What? He’s out?”

“Yes. He left as soon as we returned. He and a small war party are in Paradise Hole, trying to root out where the undead are being stored. Apparently he scented the undead on some of the refugees and a few more of the port workers came forward, admitting to having seen some of the undead loitering in the woods of Paradise Hole. I think that people are actually starting to panic about the undead now that the news of Ruby City’s fall has spread and the threat feels more real. When it was just a matter for those northern idiots to take care of, people were fine staying quiet about the undead and the Fates. But now that they’ve taken Ruby City? Our closest ally to the north? It must have people spooked.”

I nod, but I’m still too shocked to properly digest his words. “Yaron…Radmilla told me he was in his chambers in the throne room.”

“He was. He left them a short time ago.”

I feel a little unseated, like the floor beneath my feet is sloped and I’m falling towards something.A trap.The thought blitzes me and I shake my head, unsure of what I’m feeling and why I’m feeling it. It’s just Yaron being erratic, I conclude as I softly shut the door behind me. I’m feeling betrayed by him. We shared…what we shared…after he took lashes for my family and asked me to be his bride and I confessed that I was falling…amfalling…fell months ago…years…

Then poof. Gone in the light of day. Like a dream. Or a nightmare. Only because the feelings he made me feel were so very real and now they feel like they’re no longer reciprocated.

“Kandia? You all good?” Cyprus says. He puts his hand on my shoulder then cringes and curses at his palm as he lifts it. The whole episode makes me snort-laugh.

Cyprus glares at me. “Laugh all you want. It’s onlymyhand we’re dealing with.”

“Get out of here, crazy.” I kick him in the butt.

He points at me sternly from the top of the stairs. “You never used to talk to me like this before you became the Lady of the Shadowlands. Don’t forget, you’re still the same girl who laughed so hard when that bag of flour burst all over me, she peed herself!”

“I’m not Lady of anything yet! Now, get out of here!” I say, turning my back on him as he slips down the staircase and returning to my sister and new friend.

“Kiandah? Are you okay? Come eat,” Zelie says, gesturing me back over to them. I see they’ve finished off about half of the tray in my absence and I quickly dive in before it’s no longer warm.

I glance at the little girl who now lies back in her chair, looking like she’s going to fall asleep right there. I smirk.

“Hi there,” I say to her.

“Kiandah, this is Margarite,” Zelie offers.

I give the girl a gentle smile, trying to ignore the strange feeling I get while watching her. It’s like…I know her — not just from the inn, but from somewhere else. “Hi there.”

The girl’s eyes get big and then she sits up. “Hi. I’m Margarite,” she says in her Ruby City drawl. It’s such a cute accent, cuter in her voice, which I’m starting to think may be even younger than I initially thought.

“What do you think about the food?”

“It’s so yummy. I wish my people could cook like this.”

Huh. A strange phrasing, I prompt her on it. “You mean your parents?”

“That’s right.” She nods, eyes lighting up as she smiles.

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