Page 57 of Ties of Shadow

Uncle Koll tapped my shoulder. His voice, though low, echoed in the dark. “Did I ever tell you the time that Sh—”

The Shade cleared his throat.

“—that the Shade used his powers to cheat in a game?”

I pursed my lips, intrigued. “You have not.”

“Well, the first time he discovered them, he was four. He was helping to make some soup, and we thought it was just a storm cloud when he started to cry. But we discovered that shadows were his magic type when he was around five. That’s still very early—as you know—for magic to show itself.” It was common for magic to develop between ten and sixteen years of age, maybe seven if they are stronger. Five was nearly unheard of. My horrifyingly old age of twenty was impossible. “We were playing King’s Castle, and his washer had just knocked out my galer. But then I noticed that tiny shadows had shifted my pieces off the board. I told him he couldn’t do that, and he was so upset he kicked the board and screamed. The whole room blackened, and I thought I’d gone blind! Poor soul scared himself too, and he tripped and fell over the chair he knocked over. Thankfully, I caught him. We sat there as he settled down, and the shadows reabsorbed into this tiny, sobbing little boy on my lap.”

Uncle Koll chuckled, the sound mixed with amusement and sadness. “Scared us half to death. And it certainly scared the maid who dropped the tea tray.”

“I can imagine. I wasn’t taught much about shadow magic. Except that there was only one.” And that he was evil. I squeezed the Shade’s arm, happy to have corrected that assumption.

“Oh certainly, shadow magic, light magic, even the elemental magics can have their nuances,” Uncle Koll continued. “But the shadows scared his father, to be honest—terrified him, more like it. Thought people would judge him.”

The Shade’s voice rumbled in the cavern. “The beginning of the end.”

Uncle Koll hummed his agreement. “The Shade was his own sort of trouble. Take a mischievous five-year-old, give him tangible cords of shadow, and you get many a disgruntled chef as a cookie starts floating off the table and out the door.” He laughed, casting a very sharp side-eye at the Shade. “Or moving chairs out behind their favorite uncles as they are about to sit.”

The Shade smiled with an edge of orneriness.

“Is the thought magic…yours then too?” I glanced up to see him nod. “Did that show up at the same time?”

His eyes were evergreen in the light of the lamp as they met mine, and his lips pressed flat in thought. “I’m not sure when that arrived…”

Uncle Koll shook his head. “He always seemed to have a second sense about what was going on—even as a child. I’m not sure if that came with knowing people’s thoughts or before. Shadow magic can certainly be a tangible thing, but just like a human shadow is a representation, shadow magic extends to thoughts—the representation of the inner person. Though I suspect it’s why you often played alone or with one or two others. You were easily upset in large groups of people.”

A pang of loneliness struck me. His loneliness? It would be hard to hear the thoughts around you as a child—good, bad, ugly, andotherwise. The more people, the more thoughts. “Must have been overwhelming.”

“It was,” the Shade agreed.“Now I’m pleased to only hear you,”he murmured into my mind.

I rolled my eyes.“And Uncle Koll.”

“I’ve heard his thoughts my whole life. I’m glad to hear someone new.”

“My only appeal—novelty.” I said quietly, forgetting to think it.

He stopped and let Uncle Koll walk ahead of us. The man was now carrying on about some other dinnertime disaster the Shade had caused. The Shade placed his other hand on mine. “You have many appeals.” His eyes took their time looking me over, each glance a caress. “For example, you have very nice leather boots.”

I snorted and pushed us forward. “You gave them to me.”

“Maybe, but you are wearing them. I wouldn’t look nearly as delicious.”

“Is it snack time?”

“Are you on the menu?”

My cheeks heated, and my thoughts—as well as my heart—stopped beating. What is the game I had fallen into, and why was I enjoying this? Grinning, I tucked the light away and reached into my pouch. I pulled out a piece of dried meat, holding it in front of his mouth.

“To satisfy your hunger.” My gaze seized upon his lips. His eyebrow quirked as he smiled back. Without realizing it, we had stopped walking again. He grabbed the food with his hand before kissing my fingertips, one at a time. The Shade splayed open my hand and placed gentle tingling kiss upon my palm. A shadow pulled back the edge of my sleeve.

A wolf growled, and I startled. I turned to see him standing on defense, his hackles raised and teeth bared toward the tunnel. Screechingreached our ears right before a chant of“Food, food, food”ricocheted in my mind. Many things were coming this way. Spyrings.

Not again.

“Time to run, Dayspring.”

We sprinted down the path, clattering legs close behind us. The Shade pushed Uncle Koll forward, throwing up a barricade of shadow behind us. Several too-long pinchers slammed into the wall and started to reach through. Sweat beaded on the Shade’s brow. The manor animals kept pace with us as we turned left and right. Bertha frolicked in delight, looking back as if she wanted to return to the spyrings.

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