Page 14 of Shadow Kissed
I steady my beating heart and will myself to pull it together. “The army is here to take you. They have come early. So, it looks like if you are to wed, you’d better do it soon.” I spin on my heels and jump out of the window, scaling down the house like my behind is on fire. I don’t look back despite hearing Arkynn call out for me from his window. I run home with my heart in pieces, knowing that nothing will ever be the same now.
I stumble through the door into my house and my mother exclaims in fright from where she is cooking breakfast. “Reya?” I can see her confusion as she takes in my dust covered clothes and unruly hair. When she realises I am not myself, she places the pot down by the fire and rushes to me, embracing me inher arms. “My darling, what’s the matter? Why do you look like you’ve been trekking in the wilderness?”
“He’s marrying Mayla,” I say, as I clutch her. “He’s marrying the one girl in the town that I hate more than any other.”
“Oh Reya,” she whispers as she hugs me tighter and pats my back. “He’s not the one for you. Perhaps its better this way. You and he could never have been.”
“I know that,” I admit, as I press my face into her neck. “I just wanted him to want me like that. I wanted him to be the one who took my womanhood and then I would always have that to cherish.”
My mother pulls back slightly, and she cups my face with her hands. “You are worthy of so much more than him, Eretreya Briar Lockwood. You deserve the love of a king.” She drops a kiss on my forehead. “Now, care to explain to me why it looks like you haven’t been home all night?”
“Mayla and her evil group cornered me and took me beyond the wall last night. I was left alone, tied to a tree, for the mutts to find me.”
My mother’s face pales. A look of sheer terror washes over her. “Reya,” she says, grasping at my tunic with both hands, “This is important. Did the mutts find you?”
I nod my head. “They did, but then a rather unpleasant shadow army commander came to my rescue and scared them away with his shadows.”
At the mention of the shadow army, my mother inhales a sharp breath. “Do you have it on? The necklace?”
I nod my head, pulling it from under my top to show it to her. Why is she so concerned that I am wearing it? “What’s wrong? What aren’t you telling me?”
She sighs and cups my face in her hands again. “You are special, Reya. More special than you could ever know, but no onecan know who you really are. Stay away from those filthy shadow bloods. You can’t trust them. You hear me? Stay away!”
“What on Asen are you talking about, Mother?” I ask, at confused by what she is saying.
“I’ve done my best. I’ve suppressed it all these years.” She lets go of me and paces back and forth before the fire. “Tell me what happened last night. Every detail.” She ushers me to sit at the table, then sits down beside me, taking my hands in hers.
I go over the night’s events from start to finish until the point that I left the commander at the square and went in search of Arkynn.
“I must go to the mines. We need more amethyst and obsidian,” she says to herself, nodding her head and reaching for her shawl and basket.
“Mother, what is the matter? What is all this about?” I ask her, jumping from the chair and grabbing her arm before she can leave.
“I need you to trust me. Stay away from the Shadow Borne while they are here. You hear me?” I nod my head in bewilderment. “Promise me, Reya, now!”
“I promise, Mother. I have no wish to be anywhere near them. I hate them,” I assure her, placing my hand over hers. “I do trust you. More than anyone else in this realm.”
Mother nods her head, satisfied. “Get your brothers up and fed and take them to school. Carry on as normal. I’ll be back before evening.”
“Okay,” I agree, as I watch her dash out of the house. I stand in the doorway and watch her hurry through the town towards the mines, barely acknowledging anyone she passes. What in the Mother Goddess of Crystals was all that about? I shake my head, feeling none the wiser about my mother’s strange behaviour. Maybe she’s starting with a fever?
I get my brothers up and ensure they eat their breakfast before I walk them to school. Their nonstop chatter about school and friends that fills the entire walk with a sense of normalcy after last night’s events. Having dropped them at school, I decide to return straight home, keeping my promise to my mother to stay away from Raegal and his army. As I turn the corner to our house, my steps falter when I see Arkynn sitting on the floor outside my front door with his head bent, staring at the ground. I retreat, intending to go back the way I came, but a twig betrays my presence, and he locks eyes with me.
“Reya!” He jumps to his feet and stalks towards me, but I hold my hand out to keep him away.
“Don’t,” I beg. “Nothing you can say can change what you have done. Do you know how she bullied me at school, ostracised me, and made me an outcast? Of all the girls, why her? I know you don’t love me like that. I knew this day would come when you’d choose a girl, but why her?” My voice quivers and I try to clamp down my emotions. I will not allow him to see me break.
He takes a step forward and reaches out his hand. “You don’t understand, Reya.”
I chortle, taking a step back. “Oh, I understand. While I was out beyond the wall last night fighting for my life, you lay with her and gave her forever.”
Arkynn shakes his head, a deep frown marring his forehead. “What do you mean, you were out beyond the wall?”
I scoff and kick at the dirt with my boots. “Mayla and her friends played a little game last night. They cornered me, stuck me in a trunk, and took me deep into the forest and tied me to a tree. They left me there to die.”
Arkynn appears as if someone kicked him in the guts. “No. She wouldn’t go that far?”
I laugh. Even now, he’s defending her. “Mother of Crystals! Is she that good in bed that you can’t see sense? She orchestrated the whole thing and left me out there. She’s always hated me and had it in for me.”