Page 12 of A Story of Sinners

“It’s afternoon right now,” Redmond continued, “but you wouldn’t know.”

I planted my hands on either side of me and pushed up, desperate to see more. Redmond trotted back over to the bedside and grasped my shoulders, pushing me back down. “Don’t.”

“I’ll have to get out of bed eventually.”

He chuckled. “I understand, but there truly is nothing to see. Only darkness.”

My body collapsed against the bedframe, and I groaned. “You didn’t want to tell me.”

“I knew you would blame yourself.” He shook his head. “Nothing has truly come of it, besides darkness. At least, not yet. There have been no shades nor shadow creatures, no shade gods. The only thing that has changed is the sky.” Redmond tilted his head as he reconsidered his words. “Well, besides the losses in the Scourged Forest. Every time the king—Aiden—sends a legion of soldiers out, they never return. He’s stopped sending soldiers all together. The only thing we can do now is wait and see. There’s no telling what will happen next.”

My teeth ground together as I thought about the shades. Malachi was a shade, as was I. If anyone knew why the shade gods and shadows weren’t attacking, it would be him. Unfortunately, he was missing, along with whatever critical knowledge he held. I cursed under my breath—I’d had him so close and hadn’t bothered to ask questions.

I looked to Redmond. He didn’t know about Malachi, and I wanted to keep it that way.Nobodyknew about him. I hadn’t uttered his name in well over a decade, but something told me I would be forced to, soon.

The memory of Malachi standing outside my cell cracked something in me. If he’d ever bothered to come back, I would have gone away with him. That place had been more desolate than even my darkest nightmares. I’d never felt so entirely alone.

“Where were you?” My voice broke, and Redmond’s face dropped. “Where were you when I needed you most?”

Redmond reached out and squeezed my hand, a soft smile pressing his lips. “I was in the same place as you, just one floor up.”

My forehead wrinkled.

“I was never allowed to visit you, but I bribed the guards to let me in. The first set of guards were sent to the Scourged Forest and they never returned. They were replaced by new guards, strict little sack heads who forbade me from visiting you.” Redmond chuckled. “So every night, I snuck in, shooting them with darts dipped in sleeping potion. I would visit then return to their bodies and draw on their face. Sometimes, I slipped them a diarrheal potion. It wasn’t long before they caught on.”

I chuckled for the first time in a very long time. He would. “How long were you in the dungeon?”

“Only three days,” he answered, taking in my ratty, starved state with a raised brow. “You were only alone for three days.”

It seemed so much longer than that. I shook my head; pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

The door creaked opened, and Brandon peered through the crack, his eyes scanning Redmond and me. When we didn’t say anything to halt him, he entered.

“Is she doing well?” he asked Redmond, completely ignoring my presence.

Redmond looked to me and smiled. “She is.”

“Good.”

Redmond cleared his throat and packed away his belongings. “Well, I should be off. I’ll visit later, Dahlia.” He bent down and kissed my forehead, squeezing my hand. “I’ll see you soon.”

Brandon tracked Redmon’s path as he exited. Once the door closed, he dragged his hand down his face and groaned, as if dreading what came next. He turned to me, completely drained of energy.

“The king wishes to see you.”

Chapter6

Dahlia

Rising from bed hadn’t been easy. Brandon called for the ladies in waiting, hoping to make me look presentable.

My body had been plopped into the bathtub and scoured raw, but it was nearly impossible to rid it of the grime. My hair was caked at the roots, with yellow scales crowding the scalp, and the ladies were forced to abandon the process of washing it halfway through. Cleaning it would be a feat requiring at least a day’s work. I was dressed in a simple black gown that hung off my body like a sack of potatoes.

My legs wobbled with each step I took towards the throne room, but Brandon held me against him, his arm braced along my lower back as we moved at a snail’s pace.

“That’s it,” he encouraged. “We’re almost there.”

I grunted in response. Every move made pain ricochet through my bones, but Aiden insisted I come right away. The urgency seemed suspect, considering there had been three months where I’d been readily accessible to anyone who wished to speak with me.

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