Page 52 of Ties of Shadow

“Your thoughts are still safe with me, Dayspring.” He turned his back to the castle and leaned against the stone, not relinquishing his hold on me. His thumb traced my fingertips. Sighing, he closed his eyes. “I ruined your present. I didn’t even finish before I got offended and—”

“Ran away.”

“—stormed, mysteriously and mercurially, like a very masculine man, away.”

“Sure.”

“It was exactly what I have been encouraging younotto do though. To face things. To address the past. Apparently, I hadn’t addressed my own.”

I squeezed his hand and brought my other hand on top of it. “I understand. It’s not an easy thing.”

The Shade shook his head. His hair was tossed by the movement, and a gust of wind filtered his intense gaze. “Why did you drop the barrier?”

“I wanted you to know everything, to know where I stood, to feel what I feel.”

“Strength in vulnerability.”

“It’s the only strength I have,” I sighed.

He tugged me toward him, and I stumbled into his warm embrace. “Dayspring, you’re going to need to start being nice to my favorite person.”

“But I am nice to Uncle Koll.”

His wry eyebrow peaked. “If you continue to besmirch her, you will be encouraged ruthlessly.”

I grinned, and whined, “Oh no!” Then it struck me that he had just called me his favorite person. My heart stilled, and my cheeks heated.

“Oh yes.” The hand that had rested so hotly along my elbow traced my shoulder and pulled lightly on a strand of my white hair. “Aelia, you are gifted and smart. You are an endless well of kindness and forgiveness.”

“You may cease your encouraging now, sir. I quite understand.”

“You have a passion for every detail and small joy that you can see. You’re positivity and light, while I have lived in the dark for so very long. I wanted to give you a small piece of what you had given to me. I-I noticed you cling to your necklace in the darker hallways, and walk from lamp to lamp to stay away from the corners. You shook so much in the cavern, I thought to abort the whole mission and carry you back out to the sun, where you belong, surrounded by your own essence.” He turned toward the distant mountaintop, black on the dark blue sky. “I wanted you to have a vision of what I see in you, a light in my darkness, a tangible box of”—he chuckled, dragging a hand down his face—“of hope. When you wanted to give it away to those wyrm-cursed leaders of the castle, and the rude courtiers that hurt you, and the village that doesn’t know what to do with your giftings, I reacted poorly. They don’t deserve a shard of your light. They don’t deserve a moment of your time or a thread of your thoughts.”

He looked back over his shoulder until his gaze found the castle again. “I admit I also thought only of my ownbitterness.” His eyes glinted in the starlight they gazed into to mine. “But you only meant to restore me.”

“I only want to help my friend,” I said quietly.

He tugged me closer, his hand releasing mine to slide across my low back, sending exploding tingles up my whole spine. “Your friend?”

My mouth was as dry as flour. “Essentially a brother.”

He scoffed and raised a brow. His fingers traced my jawline and swept the hair behind my ear, tickling the marking on my neck. How I wished it might be ours. I closed my eyes, trying to think of bunnies and spyrings and cleaning chamber pots…

The Shade laughed loudly into the night. “You forgot I can hear everything.” He leaned forward, his breath tickling my jawline. “You forget I can feel everything.”

Thoughts splattered around me as I became a puddle beneath the heat of his touch. My lip protruded. “That’s not fair. When will you release all of your thoughts to me?”

His smile tightened before it sharpened to a charming smirk. “You’re not ready for my thoughts, Dayspring.” He shook his head, his black hair becoming unkempt in the moment. My fingers itched to touch it. “I’m not ready for my thoughts. I’ll let you know when that time comes.”

A pang jolted through our connection from some internal pain of his. I leaned forward, setting my chin on his shoulder as I rose on tiptoes to embrace him. “I’ll be here.”

He inhaled slowly before wrapping his arms around me in return. “I—”

“There you are!” Uncle Koll bellowed from the stairwell. “I wanted to show you!”

Uncle Koll pranced up the last steps and we jumped apart, mouths agape as he broke into a waltz with an invisible lady on the rooftop. “Look at me!” And I did. He looked flushed and moved without a limp.

The Shade lurched forward. “Truly? Did it work so well?”

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