Page 50 of A Kingdom of Shadows

A melody coming from one of the rooms stops me. A slow yet mesmerizing sound that grows louder the closer I get to the doorway at the end of the hall.

I reach for the handle and silence Aias and Tibith with a wave of my hand. "Stay here," I whisper and enter, closing the door behind me. Standing ahead of me, facing the large stained-glass window, sits Darius playing the piano. A tone that weaves through my heart in the most heavenly way. As I look around, the whole room is reflected with the different colored lights from the stained window. An art piece detailing a coronation of an elf as white lilies and vines decorates the borders.

"Are you just going to stand there and watch, Goldie?" Darius says, and the music stops. My eyes narrow, and I wonder how he knows I have entered. "I saw your reflection on the piano."

Ah.

I walk towards him, passing a harp and a few other instruments in what seems to be a music chamber. Darius doesn't turn to face me, so I slip beside him and sit on the piano stool. "I didn't know you could play," I say.

"I can't." He is so focused on the keynotes in front of him. "That was all I knew."

"Whose music, was it?"

"My fathers."

The answer surprises me.

"It's the only other time I can remember where my mother mentioned him."

"Have you..." I halt my words, trying to think carefully about what to say. "Ever tried to search to see if he is alive?"

He shakes his head. "After Rayth and Lorcan, I spent most of my time learning to survive. Searching for my father was never a plan I had in mind." When he finally decides to look at me, too much is happening in his eyes. It's devastating, even as he fakes a smile. "Why waste my time with someone who left me?"

"And flying again? Is that something else that wasn't in your plans?"

His smile slips. "It's been too long, Nara."

That is why he has held off from flying since he was healed. Flying is no longer so simple for him when all it does is bring back dreaded thoughts.

"And it reminds you of that day." I lean into him, my tone soft and understanding. "Doesn't it?"

He stares at me and doesn't utter a word, but I know he agrees.

I hold my wrist, looking down at it. "Do you want to know why I always covered this scar?" I don't wait for his answer. "Because I thought it made me weak, like a constant reminder of what happened to my father. But now... now I realize it never did. It made me determined." My eyes flash up at Darius. The color of his usual tanned skin is now a beauty and a painting through the slash of pale blue bouncing off the window art. "It made me a fighter."

My heartbeat quickens from how his features soften as he looks at me like he is not used to this but can't run away from it, not how he would after a theft.

Rarely have we had moments like this, and even then, there has always been something to stop us.

He exhales a short huff of air through his nose and shakes his head, his voice a low mumble. "You are starting to sound like Gus there, Goldie."

I give him a half smile. "Well, I am certain he would say the same if he was here. Now." I stand, clearing my throat as he watches me with peculiar amusement. "Get up and be the shifter that everyone was so afraid to even speak of in Emberwell."

He laughs, slowly rising to his feet. There is not much space between the piano and the stool, and the intensity in his gaze as he looks down at me sends a tick of nerves up my back. "They were never afraid, Goldie," he says, "most wanted me. Well, most but you."

Yes, most such as that Lillian I had eavesdropped back in Emberwell. "That is because I wanted to kill you—still do at times."

Humor burns bright in his eyes as if he has caught me in something dire. I shake it off, stepping out from the stool and heading for the door.

"Nara," he says as my palm touches the handle. I half turn to find him in thought. "If you had the choice to stay on land or travel the seas, which would you do?"

My eyebrows draw together; still, I smile at the question. "Travel the seas. And you?"

"Land," he answers. "There is something about the warmth of the earth I enjoy."

A smile lingers on my face. "I suppose that is how Crello felt with Solaris."

He laughs, agreeing with me, before I leave the room and wait for him to join me outside.

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