Page 75 of Her Shadow so Dark and Lovely
He might as well have melted into the stone. I test the moss wall with my shoulder and it gives. I push through. On the other side, a cave opens up, looming overhead. Water runs away from the puddles at our feet and tiny baubles of light glow, creatures or subterranean flowers nestled amongst the crevices and dragging trails of old man’s beard moss. The Cupbearer must have cultivated it for it to be so full of life.
“We can speak more freely here,” Corus says, voice barely raised above the trickle of the water.
“But not move?” I ask. He has yet to continue walking.
He frowns, the sigil lantern swinging at his side. He’s at ease here.
“I don’t know what you’re running from,” he begins. He holds up a hand as I open my mouth to speak. “And I don’t want to know. I can see you’re both in a state, but you should know that it isn’t much better out there. They distrust magical folks, and they’ll have never seen the likes of you. I can help you leave the Citadel, but I can’t promise you safety.”
“I would not expect you to,” I say, shifting Lorel’s weight. “But there is no safety behind, either.”
Corus looks at the bundle of woman in my arms, his face grim.
“Are you sure it’s wise to remove her from the Citadel?” he asks, looking back at my face.
“How do you mean?” I keep my tone careful.
Corus keeps quiet for a long moment and then sighs. “It’s nothing.”
I do not move when he turns to walk on. “Corus. I require an explanation.”
“I’m sure I’m wrong,” he says.
“Wrong about what, exactly?”
Corus turns back with a noise of exasperation. “She’s a Dawnchild, isn’t she?”
I find now that I am the one who does not wish to answer.
“I recognise her. I lived in the Suntide Court, once.”
“Once?” It comes out as dangerous as I mean it. I shift, turning my body in case I need to turn back through the catacombs. “I find I require further explanation.”
Corus runs his hand down his face. “Don’t usually tell people any of this,” he mutters. “I did work in the Court — until I had to smuggle my wife and child out.”
“Ah.”
Silence stretches out between us, the sound of the water filling the space. Corus gives me a hopeless look. “She was fae, and she gave my son strong magic. The Dawn King pays attention to things like that in his court. I suppose he turned his attention to Lady Meline after we left. I knew them. Her parents.” He nods at Lorel. “Her mother had strong magic, too.”
I stare at him. Dark lady have mercy on me. Lorel had thought her father was the man who raised her, another Dawnchild. But Corus is implying something far worse. I knew little of the Court. Nothing of this borrowing of wives. Apparently, neither did Lorel. I hold her tighter.
“And so you became a smuggler?”
Corus shrugs. “I did what I could, but it’s a harsh world out there. I lost my wife to it, eventually. Neither of us would have changed a thing.” He pauses, looking surprised. “Don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
“Because you were worried that I am stealing one of the Dawn King’s children,” I say.
“Yes, well?—”
“I am. She cannot stay there.”
Corus takes us in again, blood-soaked and weary. “You can never let them know what she is,” he says.
“Is there any reason anyone should know?”
“Not from my lips,” Corus says.
I nod firmly. “Good. Then lead on.”
