Page 12 of A Kingdom of Shadows

"Tibith, grab me as many sticks you can find," I order, my knees slamming onto the ground as I grab one and carve out the bark. The mud on my skin is still wet, making it hard for me to keep my grip steady as my fingers slip.

A roar of pain comes from behind, and I look over my shoulder. Darius has injured the centipede on its side, but it still isn't enough. "Any day now, Goldie!" he says as Tibith appears with sticks larger than his small figure can carry.

Perfect.

I steal one from his pile, thanking him as I place my blade between my teeth and rip a piece of material from my long-sleeved tunic. I tell Tibith to hold onto it while I carve a small hole through the oak wood. Kneeling up on one leg, I rest the wood beneath my foot and put pressure on it as I rub the stick with both hands against it, faster and faster. Once I see the black smoke, I huff out in relief and blow, breathing life into it.

"Come on, come on, come on—" I pause my frantic mutters when another shriek vibrates the forest. Sweat trickles down my brow, and Tibith whimpers in panic.

A flame soon enough ignites, and I freeze. I glance at Tibith and almost smile, but I know I need to act fast. I stretch my hand over to the other dead logs and take one as Tibith hands me the piece of clothing back, and I use it to wrap around the log.

I shoot up from the ground, lighting the makeshift torch on fire, and don't even stop to think as I jump into the mud ditch, joining Darius. His eyes jerk over to mine. There is a slight shift in his brow line as the creature focuses on me. He tries to haul it back to himself, but I push the fire in the centipede's direction. It screeches in horror, spitting its venom at me as I twirl away from it and jam the fire straight into one of the tentacles. The centipede roars, flailing its body around as it heads straight for me. I roll onto the mud, dropping the torch as I look up in time for Darius to lunge from his feet, aiming his dagger toward the wound. The thrashing centipede doesn't see it coming as Darius latches onto it, piercing the thick graveled skin and sliding it down as blue gunk begins to gush out.

The creature shakes, roaring as its tentacles spurt acid in every direction to defend itself. Darius yanks the dagger out and plunges it into one of the tentacles as the centipede goes down with him, slamming onto the mud and causing slime to splatter everywhere—mainly all over Darius.

Breathless, I rise, letting my eyes roam over him. His brows pinch in disgust as he picks at the unpleasant viscous substance from his clothes. Even with Tibith's cheers over our victory, I can't help it. I burst into uncontrollable laughter.

I start to laugh so loud and boisterously that birds fly away from it.

I laugh until my stomach squeezes, and I can no longer breathe.

I laugh... like I'd once done at the den.

Wiping my eyes from my humored tears, I dial down my laughter and look at Darius. His head is tilted, staring at me with an expression I can't quite read.

"What?"

He shakes his head, and a smile now beams at his lips. "Nothing, it's just... you should laugh more often, Goldie."

I cease my grin, slow and carefully at the lack of his usual mockery despite those words. My fingers slide up to the corner of my lips, the tips caressing the cracked mud on my skin before I withdraw the hand away and clear my throat. "We should carry on before it gets dark. Who knows if there's more of these giant centipede creatures around."

He keeps quiet, nodding as he looks at the deceased creature, and I try my best not to think about the freeing sensation I felt just then for a moment.

* * *

The fire burns bright in the center of the clearing and illuminates the night. Terranos is already colder than what I'm used to in Emberwell, and though Darius's powers are useless in these forests, he also knows how to make a firepit from scratch. but I doubt he needs to warm up when shifters already carry heat from within.

I make my way toward him when my stomach rumbles ferociously, and I huff at the only block of cheese we have left from what Gus gave us.

Darius doesn't seem to hear it as I settle beside him, bringing my knees to my chest. After the earlier dispute, I'd gathered the only other set of clothes I had left in my satchel and bathed in a nearby river—a white shirt and corset with a pair of leggings.

Warming up my palms by the fire, I look over at Darius. His breeches and shirt are now clean while Tibith sleeps on his lap.

"You should get some rest this time," I say.

He stares at the flames in a hypnotic state. "I'm not tired."

Liar.

"You haven't slept in days." I had not seen him for a whole week after the trials, but I couldn't get past the hollow darkness beneath his eyes when I saw him at the meeting with Gus. "I know because I can barely ever sleep myself."

He breathes out an incredulous laugh and finally looks at me. "A few hours ago, you fought me inside a mud pit. Why are you acting like you worry over me, Goldie?"

"I could ask you the same every time you've saved me."

We slip into silence, and his eyes pry away from mine.

My chest squeezes when there's no retort that will annoy me, and I wonder... I wonder if he's not the same because of what happened. Everyone deals with grief differently. While Illias and Iker dealt with it more openly, Idris and I never did—still don't.

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