Page 69 of Enchanted Shadows
Kessara shook her head. “No. My mother and brothers called me Zara growing up. It’s a family nickname of mine. And also no, I do not want to be called princess.”
“Do you like being called Zara?” Molly asked gently.
She shrugged. “There are worse things to be called. Kessara is fine too.” Her eyes darted to mine before she added, “Just pleasenotprincess.”
Jessina asked, “Are you just going to stay until it’s safe to go back to Agria? Do you even want to be in Wylan long term?”
The princess shrugged. “I cannot answer that because I do not know the future. I would like to stay and finish training with this team, but the entire reason I came here was to keep my little brother safe. If he is not safe without me by his side, I will likely return.”
Kessara took a handful of more questions, until Wren finally asked me, “So when is the wedding? Do Mom and Dad know?”
I gave my head a shake. “Within a few days. And no, they do not. I assume I will have to tell them the truth like we are doing with you now. They know me too well to not sniff it out. But between the king and queen, my parents, Team One, and this team, the rest of the realm needs to believe this marriage is real. Granted that is still more variables than I’d like, but hopefully the ruse is only needed until Kessara’s prick ex leaves.”
I made sure to look them all in the eyes. “I don’t care if you have to tell yourself this is your first team mission like you’dtraditionally get in the second session of training, because it is. Well, second really. The first mission was arresting Wren’s ex. This mission is keeping Kessara safe.No oneoutside this group can know that it isn’t real. Got it?”
“You’ve got it, lovebirds,” Sam grinned. “But won’t that be obvious when she stays at the barracks instead of with you?”
“She will have to stay at the barracks to finish out training per the regulations. After that, she will stay with me.”
Someoneoooohed.
“Close quarters,” Molly whispered to Wren next to her. “Ups the ante.”
“Stop that,” I told them both. “This isn’t one of those racy novels you have been passing around thinking I didn’t know about it. Stop plotting when there is nothing to plot.”
Molly grabbed at her chest as if I had stabbed her.
Wren’s eyes went from me to Kessara and back again. “Okay,General.”
“Before we get our run over with,” Kessara added. “I would like to apologize. I am so sorry I lied to all of you.” She took a shaky breath. “I didn’t expect to grow to like all of you this much.”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” Jessina responded. “You might have darker hair and blue eyes now, but you are still our Zara.”
Sam had a hand in the air now.
I cocked my head and resisted the urge to make them run extra. “Sam.”
“The same Zara but more powerful. So shadow magic,” she grinned. “Can we see it?”
Kessara took a few steps toward a tree. “Gladly. Suppressing both Enchantments has been hell these weeks.”
She formed three clumps of shadows, and all three moved quickly to different directions, one enveloping her and moving her away.
“Oh!” Elsie exclaimed. “I know this game. This is like the cup game. Which shadow clump has Zara.”
They took their bets, but mine was on the one in the thickest shadows. All those times I had thought she liked sunsets, when really she was waiting on the dark. Kessara’s Enchantment thrived in darkness, as did she.
Sure enough, I was right.
Molly gasped as soon as Kessara could be seen again. “The king’s magic in the forest. It wasn’t his. It wasyours.”
Smart, smart woman.
“Yes,” Kessara admitted. “My birth father, the dead king, had black magic and shadow magic. That day you saw the shadows calling to me. It was me. Not him. I just didn’t think you’d like an Enchantment which reminded you of the dead king.”
“He had shadows too? If that’s true, your shadows are thicker than his were,” Molly pointed out.
“Because mine are stronger and I know how to properly wield them. I can show you whatever you’d like later,” Kessara said with a shrug. “Shall we get the run over with?”
