Page 59 of Ties of Shadow

The Shade smiled. “Shall we be off then?” He offered his elbow, then turned back. “Uncle?”

Uncle Koll was still squatting. “Well, ha! It seems I have gotten down…and now…I cannot get up.”

I rushed back to help lift him—unnecessarily, it turned out, since the shadows wrapped him and lifted him aloft, while I…guided…kind of.

I laughed, feeling awkward and presumptuous. “Looks like you don’t need me.”

The Shade’s expression turned hard, his green eyes glinting in the light. “I don’t need you to help lift.” My soul ached. I knew it. “But that does not imply or even suggest that I don’tneedyou.” A wayward shadow slipped past my cheek in a sweet caress. “I need you very much.”

Uncle Koll walked through the shadow waving his hands. “Yes, yes. True love. Star crossed. Et cetera, et cetera. Please save the wooing of your lady for outside. I have no desire to remain here while you two figure this out.”

The shadow drifted to my palm and tugged, and I grasped it until it led me to the warmth of his own rough hand. “You need me?” I said stupidly but hopefully, knowing I was begging for attention.

“Like water. Like sunlight.”

I pressed my lips together. “Are you a plant?”

“Comeon.” Uncle Koll demanded as he stormed ahead. Our eyes met as we traversed forward. I watched as the sharp edges of his face flickered in the lamplight. His dark brows pulled down in determination, his jaw scruffy and begging to be touched. My fingers burned with anticipation. But I held back. This man had been kind when he could have been cruel. He had been helpful when he could have abandoned me. And certainly, he cared for my wounds when I showed up mostly dead on his doorstep. He helped me make potions, and perhaps even a near-cure for the queen. He made me a lightbox because I felt afraid. Certainly, this man meant much more to me than I had expected.

I sighed, long and deep. Indeed, I liked him. I was a fool, but I liked my evil shadow overlord very much. And not even because he had saved my life or housed me. I had come willingly—pursued, certainly—but even before my life was on the line, at the ball, he had felt like a safe haven. The Shade had already claimed me as his, perhaps I should make him mine too.

The mark prickled on my neck.

Perhaps I would.

Chapter twenty-four

Badness and Weakness

We paused for several minutes, trying to determine which cavern we were in. These walls were spiraled, almost like the inside of a shell, smooth and inhuman. My hands dragged along them, confused. Where were the tool marks from the workers? The other cavern had clearly been cut with hammers and chisels. Even loamers, who would do the bulk of the moving, relied on tools for the finer work. What had made this? A natural vein, perhaps?

“Can you use your earth magic to determine how much farther we have to go?” I asked Uncle Koll. “Would that help us determine where we are?”

He shook his head. “This far down, I can feel…too much. The earth is like cheese with holes in it. Or water with bubbles. I feel the voids and fullness, but I cannot reach the surface. Below us is hot.”

“Hot?” The Shade turned sharply.

“Extremely hot. My palms are sweating. It’s starting to run down my back and into—”

The Shade clenched his jaw. “We don’t need those details, Uncle.”

“I don’t like hot. Let’s get out of here.” Uncle Koll pointed along a green line on the map. “Assuming we are here, let’s head that way.”

Goosebumps prickled my arms. Assuming seemed a bit treacherous. But the bats ahead of us had reported no new spyrings, so on we went.

We walked for what felt like an hour. My feet ached, and my brow began to sweat as the air around us continued to warm. “Is it only me, or—”

“Not just you, my dear. We are in deep trouble, I think.” Uncle Koll placed one palm on the wall. “If anything, we much are deeper than we were before.”

A left, then right, we went up and down, and then we entered another spiral cut tunnel.

“These walls are so odd.” I said, running my hands over the waves on the surface. “What tool carved them?” The men shared an uneasy look. “What?

Uncle Koll pulled at his collar. “It’s nothing, my dear.”

“That look wasn’t nothing.” He waved his hands and walked away. “What aren’t you telling me?”

The Shade sighed, “I’m not sure it will help you—”

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