Page 36 of Ties of Shadow

The shadows buffeted my legs, and I glanced at his face. It wasangry.The Shade’s jaw muscles feathered as his eyes fixed on a distant point, the green and black swirling within them like violent storm clouds.

Fear slid down my spine, and I moved to skitter away. I knew anger. But he caught me again and brought his arm gently around my head to hold me tighter. “I’m sorry, Dayspring. I’m not angry at you.”

I sniffed. “You’re not?”

“I’m angry for you. On your behalf. Against those who should have…” He swallowed, and his hand drifted on my cheek, casting scattered thoughts through my mind. “Kept you safe. Stayed their hand. Not your fault. Kill the ones that hurt you.”Before thethoughts were pulled back again. He said aloud, “Should have hugged you.” His fingers pulled through my hair softly. “Should have held you.”

I let out a loud, ungraceful sob before pressing myself more tightly into him. I tried to wrap it all back again, safely secure behind a veneer of polite curtsies and braced smiles. The tears, however, continued to fall unbidden. Awkwardly, I half-laughed. “Your shirt is getting soaked.”

“I’m very rich. I have another.”

“Probably some snot.”

“I live with animals. Namely, Uncle Koll.”

I giggled and sighed, pressing deeper into his embrace. Closing my eyes, I felt the tears begin drying on my cheeks. Questions tugged at me, but I was unwilling to voice them and disrupt the moment of safety I had found. How was he so rich? How did he come to Nuren? And how did he so badly insult the prince that all blame now rested on him? But I held my peace and watched the shadows dance about the table.

“Did I hear someone say my name?” Uncle Koll clunked up the stairs with a cane, and I flew away from the Shade. I desperately wiped at my eyes before turning with a practiced smile.

The Shade offered him a chair, which Uncle Koll sank into in heavily. He rubbed his knees and clasped the Shade’s hand with an affectionately aggressive pat. “There’s a good lad.” His eyes landed on the table and widened.

“That is some fine work there.” He tilted the potion back and forth. “It seems thicker than the ones you make for me.”

My mouth popped open, recalling the potion from the kitchen earlier. “You need racerbristle potions?”

“Why do you think he has so many plants, my dear? My earth magic is not as strong, so the sickness of the earth doesn’t make mequite as ill.” He raised his cane to eye level. “But it’s why I have this sun-cursed device I depend on so much.” He looked between the two of them. “May I?” The Shade looked at me and waited.

“Of course you may.” I pushed one toward the Shade who lifted it with a shadow to his uncle.

The first sip was loud and wet. “Well, hers tastes better than yours.”

“Taste is not important for healing,” the Shade muttered darkly.

“It is better foradhering,my boy. Sadly, I may be switching potion masters. But I will still take you up on your cheesecake skills.” Uncle Koll smacked his lips. “What is it missing in this one that you have in yours though?”

“Burnt aspen,” the Shade answered

I tilted my head. “Doesn’t that interact with the rototuber?”

The Shade shook his head. “It acts as a binder, prolonging the effect of the potions. In my sleeping draught, it expanded the rest from four hours to eight.”

I gaped at him. I had seen him use some potions during the spyring attack but had vastly underestimated how competent he was. He didn’t need me at all. The thought stung.

“Not true, Dayspring.”

I blinked back tears, and Uncle Koll spoke again. “You know, that one time you added micahra, that one dust, to that…poison, I think. Didn’t it actually heal the skin instead of burn it?”

“But micahra…” I started. We’d used it when we arrived here when my father had made a poultice for his arm wound. “I didn’t think you could drink it.”

“Maybe in smaller portions,” the Shade rumbled.

I tapped my lips. “Maybe with lemonseed to augment the bones.”

“Or perhaps the root of the kilterberry might help,” the Shade added.

“Kilterberry?” I asked.

“The one with the stars for leaves.”

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