Page 31 of Ties of Shadow

What would it feel like if I did that? I clenched my fist to refocus. I followed the line of his temple and was startled to find his bright green eyes on mine. A wry eyebrow rose, and my cheeks flushed.

He closed his eyes again with an amused huff. “She’s a loamer.”

It took me a moment to recall who he was talking about. “The queen has earth magic? Like my father?”

The Shade grunted. “Even so. When did you come to the castle again?”

“I was just about to turn seven.”

The Shade nodded. “And how did you find the gardens?”

“They were enormous. They took up much of the castle grounds, like they had once been grand, but they were unkept and dry.”

“Exactly.”

Exactly? My mind was sluggish, and the confusion was frustrating. “Exactly what? My father is a fair loamer, but he—well, he isn’t well, but he isn’t dying.” Earth magic was uncommon but not that rare in the world. Just…rare here.

“Well, he’s surrounded by potions, isn’t he?”Jamison hissed the accusation, and I immediately rallied in defense of my father before I started to wonder if it could possibly be true. My father wouldn’t steal from Her Majesty, would he?

The Shade pushed himself up out of the chair with effort and spoke to Jamison. “Please inform the others they can return to bed if they’d like. Or if they prefer, they can stay and rest below. It’s been an adventurous week.”

“As you wish.”Jamison eyed me suspiciously before ducking out the door.

“Can’t you just tell them with your mind?” I asked, unable to keep a tinge of sauciness out of my tone. He was so invasive in mine, already.

He chuckled darkly. “Of course, Ican.”

“So why didn’t you?”

He struggled toward the door and limped down the stairs, holding tightly to the banister. “For one, I’m tired.” It was probably my bleeding heart because I swore my legs ached with his.

I skittered after him, the tower suddenly darker without him. “And for two?”

“The only thoughts I am interested in right now are yours.”

I froze wide-eyed; his chuckle echoed through the stairwell. “Come on, Aelia. Let’s see what the cats dragged in for breakfast.”

As we entered the kitchen, an extremely fluffy, spotted, enormous gray cat was—in fact—dragging a small deer onto the large wooden kitchen island. The Shade scratched the cat’s ears and whispered something I couldn’t hear. As he reached for a knife, a screeching, human-sounding yowl came from behind us.

“Put that down right now, young man, before the wind pushes you over and you cut off your own hand!”

I whirled to the door. An ancient man bustled past me, his knobby finger pointing at the Shade as his thick, wiry eyebrows partially covered his black eyes. The man’s head barely rose to the Shade’s chest. “You know better than to push me—me, in my decrepit state, just a toe away from the edge of the grave!”

I froze in place. One: because a human being I didn’t know lived here was standing before me. And two: the way he was scolding the Shade—scourge that he was—was liable to get us killed.

But the Shade justlaughed.He set the knife down, and the older man beamed in a self-satisfied way. In a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for an elder, he began to masterfully prepare the meat.

The Shade’s eyes glimmered with amusement and he settled himself onto a stool as I stood gawking.

As the older man worked, he glanced up and waved his knife as sharply as he did his finger between us. “Well, son, you gonna introduce me to the fine woman, or do I need to do it myself?”

“Uncle, meet Aelia. Aelia, meet my Uncle Koll. Entertainer, animal tamer, and—”

“The only reason you can cook at all.”

The Shade’s grin grew. “Not untrue.”

The Shade can cook?

---