Page 97 of A Kingdom of Shadows

Tilting my head, I try to ask him what it is, but something unexpected happens. His eyes... turn gold. "Your eyes, they are no longer brown?" I stretch out my hand to his alarmed face. "And you—you look different—"

"Darius!"

I coil backward at the furious cry of a man from the side who looks like he could be my father's age save for the copper hair cutting above his shoulders. He storms towards us from one of the stalls and grabs the boy—Darius—by the arm. It's rough and clearly hurts Darius as he winces from the touch.

"What did I tell you about leaving the cottage?" the man says, his tired features hardening as he shakes Darius.

"Stop, you're hurting him!"

The man's head slowly tilts my way as if he hadn't registered me before. He eyes me up and down then scoffs. "Get out of here, girl. This doesn't concern you."

"Actually, it does." I step forward, my chin raised high, as Darius looks at me with fearful eyes and shakes his head for me not to say anything else. "I am his friend, and friends protect each other."

The man stares, stupefied. And then, he laughs so loud it hurts my eardrums.

"Friend?" He glances down at Darius for seconds, minutes. His grin is not at all comforting. "Why don't you bid your friend a farewell, then, Darius?"

Darius looks up at the man, the confidence from before now completely gone as he ducks his head. The man shoves Darius toward me. I give him a judging look, wondering if he is Darius's father. If so, they look nothing alike.

"I'm sorry," Darius mumbles, looking lost and distraught.

I'm not sure why he is sorry. He shouldn't be, not for that man.

He huffs out a breath. Golden eyes interlock with mine. "Close your eyes," he whispers, and a heavy weight pulls them shut as if I cannot help it, no matter how much I fight to keep my eyes open. "If this works, then you are not to remember who I am, this moment, or my name. You were playing with your marbles alone. You lost one and will now go look for your mother." Silence. "Goodbye... Goldie."

A wave of air tickles my skin, and an arcane of wildness blooms. I'm staring at a street full of merchants and buyers as I blink back to reality.

I spin on my feet, slowly and confused, as I look down at the rose in my hand.

How did I end up here?

Chapter Thirty-Seven

As the Galgr wails, I'm drawn away from that recollection, and I open my eyes to see the creature's scatter. Next, my arm is grabbed by Darius as he hauls me out of the lake. I gasp, feeling the cool air wash across my face as we swim to the edge, and rest our forearms against the grass.

Our breathing is all you can hear, yet my heartbeat is the loudest it's ever been.

Darius's laughter-tinged voice breaks through the thickness of my daze. "We should really have a point system for how many times I save you."

You are not to remember who I am, this moment, or my name. You were playing with your marbles alone. You lost one and will now go look for your mother. Goodbye... Goldie.

Goldie...

"I remember." My voice rips out of me in a rushed breath. I look toward Darius; his face twists as I try to stabilize my breathing. "It was you all those years ago. You made me forget who you were."

It takes him a moment to understand what I am saying before his expression falls. Water droplets slide down his face as he parts his lips, and I push myself onto the grass, storing the stone away in my pocket.

He knew me.

He made me forget him.

And it took a Galgr to bring that memory back.

"Nara," Darius says, a rugged plea in his tone as I start walking off.

Hurt sinks into my skin like the talons of a creature—a dragon. His.

And his scent... it'd always been so familiar.

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