Page 67 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
“It’s a rare ability.” I swallow nervously. “I was just wondering if you perhaps had met my father while he was still alive. Master Reinhart, Head of the Wiolant House. He was a great scholar—”
I cease breathing altogether when Shade slams me to the wall. Shock slices through me as his fingers close around my neck. My hand moved to the hilt of my sword instinctively. I feel the threat to my life.
Help me, Rainer. Help me, Svenn,I cry out silently.
I should have gone straight to my room. This is the price I pay for sneaking around.
Fear splinters through my heart as I look at the assassin in front of me. Shade is glaring at me like he would actually bury a dagger deep into my heart. Lighting flashes, making his features appear more ominous.
His usual dull eyes sharpen on me like a hawk, focusing on every detail on my face. He is looking at me but he’s not really seeing me. I’ve never seen him like this before.
Something is wrong with him.
“It’s me… Shade.” I breathe.
He tilts his head, his eyes still in that trance. His fingers grip my throat tighter, crushing my windpipe.
A low snarl slips through his teeth. “Wiolant?”
It feels dangerous to admit that, to even nod.
“It’s me… Rhianelle…” I whisper to him. “I am a friend.”
But he doesn’t hear me. Shade runs his thumb smoothly over my pulse. Goosebumps erupt on my skin at the touch. Not the romantic kind. This feels intense and deadly, like he’s figuring out a way to snap my neck.
“Back in the sewer… you made me promise to stay alive for the next one hundred and twelve days,” I remind him.
He continues staring, his eyes blank. If he doesn’t let go, I might actually have to hurt him.
“It’s one hundred and seven days now,” I say, desperate to find a way to escape the deadly grip of the Grimsbane.
A long pause.
Then his brows pull in and he blinks. When he opens his eyes again, color reenters his gray irises.
“Your Highness?” he asks, his voice hoarse.
The assassin releases me and stares at his hand. A light cough wrecks through his throat, shaking through his body, and he crumbles to the floor. I take the opportunity to pull away and escape.
For some reason, I turn back to look at him. The Grimsbane lays on the marbled tile, breathing heavily, knuckles white as he fists the bed sheet trying to push himself up. I should have just run and left him there. He tried to kill me…
But he looks so vulnerable and weak that I can’t bring myself to do it. I ease him from the floor and lay him down gently on the bed.
His body trembles and he is on the verge of passing out from the exertion. He suddenly snatches my hand. “I’m sorry.”
I find myself speechless as I look at him. Shade was happily eating the meat pie earlier. That burst of violence came after hearing Reinhart Wiolant’s name.
“Has my father wronged you, Shade?” I squeeze back Shade’s callous, scarred hand.
A brief flash of indignation flashes through his eyes at the mention of my father again.
He gives a small nod.
My heart nearly ceases beating in my chest.
“Did he hurt you?” My lips quiver at the question.
Pain and sorrow mingle in his eyes, and he falls to a complete silence. I can feel my blood turning colder and colder the longer he doesn’t speak.
