Page 51 of Heart of the Shadow King

Out of habit I splash water on my face from the stone washbasin. Droplets hit my hard features without sensation. Huffing a laugh, I close my eyes again, draw a long breath . . . and let go. As the air eases from my lungs, the crystals retreat, fading back into my body. Soon I am flesh and bone to the naked eye. But inside, my heart remains safely stone-wrapped. For now.

I’m not hungry. A meal has been left for me, but I ignore it. I don’t need food. I need more time. More instruction. I need to continue exploring and deepening these skills.

Eagerness pulses in my veins as I don my cloak and hood and step to the door of my chamber, but the sound of voices on the other side stops me short. Frowning, I press my ear to the panels.

“You know a gift of beauty can be a curse in its own way, if you think about it.”

Theodre. Gods blight him, he’s out there yet again. He’s taken to haunting the passages around my chamber with irksome persistence.

“We have a legend in our world,” he says, his voice slightly muffled. “The Tale of the Peerless Beauty and the Dreadful Beast. Have you heard it?” Nothing but cold silence answers, yet he continues with undaunted enthusiasm. “I’m not much of a storyteller, but the long and short of it is the Peerless Beauty ends up captured in the Beast’s enchanted castle until such a time as she can break his curse. It all turns out right in the end, with the Beast revealed to be a prince in disguise, and everyone lives happily ever after. Still, I always rather felt for the Beauty, don’t you know? That’s a lot of pressure on her to figure out the curse-breaking business.” A longsuffering sigh. “I relate to her more than ever now. Imprisoned in a strange palace, far from my home and family . . .”

“How did the Peerless Beauty break the curse?” That’s Hael’s voice, a rumbling growl.

“By falling in love with the beast, naturally.”

“And who do you see as the dreadful beast in your version of this tale?”

“Oh, well.” Theodre clears his throat uncomfortably. “I don’t know if there’s adreadfulbeast, as such, or really any beast at all. I mean it’s not a point-for-point comparison or . . . or . . . that is to say, I mean . . .”

Deciding to have mercy on my brother, I fling open the door. Theodre, who had until that moment been leaning languidly against the wall, startles upright. A look of absolute relief floods his face. “Oh, thank the gods! I was beginning to think you’d never emerge.”

I shift a frigid stare from him to Hael. My guard stands on alert, her expression as fixed as ever. She does not return my gaze but focuses intently in front of her. I return my attention to Theodre. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you, of course.” He smiles charmingly. “I thought we might breakfast together. You know, for old time’s sake?”

“It’s evening.”

“Is it? It’s so damned hard to tell.”

“And we’ve never breakfasted together. Not once. In our entire lives.”

“Surely we ate together in the nursery, didn’t we?”

“You did not share a nursery with Ilsevel, Aurae, and me.”

“Didn’t I?” Theodre scratches the back of his head. “Can’t say I recall all that much of our childhood. But I could have sworn you and I were quite close once upon a time.”

“No.”

“Well, no time like the present to strengthen those familial bonds, eh?”

My lips thin. I don’t have the patience for this. Withjorstone still wrapped around my heart, I find it difficult to feel any sympathy for my idiot brother.

“I have business to attend to thisdimness.I will thank you not to bother me or my bodyguard again.” With those words I sweep past him and proceed down the passage. Hael falls into step behind me, and I don’t bother looking back to see Theodre’s expression. At least he’s not stupid enough to follow, I’ll give him that.

I make my way swiftly through the palace. My routine is well known to the household by now. I recognize more than a few of the faces I pass. Everyone pauses long enough to offer me a silent curtsy or bow to which I respond with curt nods. Their staring eyes follow after me, but no one tries to speak or interfere with my progress. I’m like a ghost haunting this world—my presence makes the living uneasy, but they’ve learned to adapt and make the best of it. And I am grateful for their pointed disinterest in all my comings and goings.

I turn into the last passage leading to the gardens only to stop abruptly. Two figures stand between me and the arched opening. The first is the huge, stone-hided form of Targ. I would know the priest anywhere by his massive physique and the straggling white hair hanging lank across his naked shoulders. He looks more troll than trolde, but somehow retains his otherworldly beauty. His soul radiates an emptiness that once struck me as awful, terrifying even. Now I recognize it for what it is—layer upon layer ofjor, carefully wrapped around his heart. Built up over decades until it finally reached the very core of his being. He is as close to true stone as any living, breathing creature may come.

Roh stands beside him, tall and graceful and draped in fine black garments that display her figure to perfection. Her soul is much less carefully protected, but I sense the effort, however imperfect. She turns her beautiful head slowly. Her pale eyes brighten at the sight of me. There’s a flash of some emotion I might once have been able to feel but which now I must guess at. Surprise, yes, but something more. Something unsettling. Something like . . . eagerness? No, that can’t be right. Roh has always hated me. Yet, I cannot ignore the smile that curves her lips. It’s a snake’s smile but not unwelcoming.

“Princess,” she says, then shakes her head and corrects herself.“Aruka.”

I recognize that word. It meansqueen. A title Roh has never before conferred upon me.

The dowager approaches along the passage, Targ following in her footsteps like a living mountain. Hael appears suddenly at my back, warm and solid, and I am thankful for her presence. The queen stops several paces from me. Much to my surprise, she drops a graceful curtsy. When she rises again, a smile wreathes her face. “I am told,Aruka,that you spend a great deal of your time at the Urzulhar Circle these days.”

I nod silently, uncertain how to react. My doings are no secret; I simply didn’t think anyone but Hael was paying attention.

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