Page 29 of Ties of Shadow

“Vile,” he supplied.

Yes, vile Shade. I changed into night clothes and shoved myself into bed. Perhaps the Shade couldn’t follow me into dreams. Perhaps I wanted him to. Perhaps I should stop thinking about him.

As I drifted off, I heard him again, amusement thick in his voice.“Just rest, Aelia. We will practice. And meanwhile, until you find your footing, I will keep you safe.”

And again, like an idiot, I believed him.

Chapter fifteen

Storms Rumble

“Madame, if you would come with me.”The chirping sound preceded a slap of wings hitting my face.“Madame, please, wake up.”

I blinked hard. The room was dark and my eyes were gritty. I had not slept very long. Before me, Jamison Harold Crocus Marcus Delaney the Third dive-bombed me again. I waved him back and sat up. “I’m awake. I’m awake.” Thunder shook the walls of my room, dust slipped between the cracks of the ceiling and fell in waves, and I startled out of the bed.

“Come now, we must go deeper into the manor.”

“What’s happening?”

He fluttered to the doorway.“This way, Madame.”

I grabbed a black silken robe and followed him into the hall. A menagerie of animals—those of the day and of the night—filled the halls as they traveled down the stairs to the lower levels. “Jamison, what is going on?” I asked as we entered the fray of the creatures running down the stairwell.

“The prince, Madame. He has returned.”

I stopped in my tracks, earning several angry hisses and squawks from the animals that suddenly had to detour around me.

“He’s here?”

The bat rolled in the air and flew to my face, baring his tiny teeth.“Nearby. He wouldn’t fight so close to the master.”

“Where is the Shade?”

“Protecting us, of course.”His eyes bounced to the ceiling.

I tilted my chin up the stairwell, biting my thumb as I considered his words. “Fighting and storming, you mean.”

“I said what I mean, Madame. Now come with me!”He grasped a bit of my hair with his feet, but I brushed him aside and turned around, racing up the stairwell while dodging the animals running down. I had to see what was happening. The prince was here. Was he here for me? I was still angry at him…but what if he came to apologize? He wouldn’t be able to get close enough to apologize if this madman of a shadow monster didn’t stop battering the prince and his soldiers with his magic.

Inexplicable pain flared up within my chest and left leg. I paused for a moment, then continued to run. Jamison screeched irritably behind me, his grumpy murmurs constant in my mind. I glanced out a window to see bursts of shadow coming from above. Passing the third floor, I climbed the stairs leading to the tower and pushed open the door. The room was small; its furniture dark and sparse. A stand with a water pitcher and glasses stood beside a tall chair in the center. Four enormous windows opened in each direction, and the Shade sat facing the eastern opening. The floor billowed with smoke, and I stepped uneasily. My eyes told me that the floor was moving, but my shoes landed securely on the wood planks.

Pain dragged at my arms as the shadows outside the tower whipped forward, battering back a blazing ball of fire that erupted from the other side of the canyon. The Shade was panting, his hands moving before him, twisting and ripping the air with curled fingers. Shadowspoured from him and through the windows. His magic further blackened the dark early morning sky.

I peered over his shoulder. On the other side of the canyon, the prince and seven galers moved in formation, sending fire from the prince’s palm billowing toward the castle. One flame surged at the tower and nearly licked it before the Shade stood and pushed both palms downward toward the floor. The night fell upon the flame and doused it, knocking back three of the galers. Even the prince stumbled.

The Shade collapsed back into the chair, one hand shakily held before him, holding a wall of shadow before us. He turned an icy glare over his shoulder, his voice lower and more dangerous than I had ever heard it before. “What are you doing here?”

“I…” What was I doing? Stopping him? Helping him? Waiting to hear Leon’s apology? “I don’t know.”

The Shade scoffed, and his other hand swept across, thwarting another attack. “Your lover returns.”

A grimace escaped before I could school it. “He’s not my lover.”

“He’s intent on rescuing you.”

Raising a brow, I stepped beside him. “Do I need rescuing?”

He chuckled darkly as he shoved his body forward, sending a burst of black energy at the men.

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