Page 17 of Shadow Kissed
I shake my head, watching the boy as he tracks Eretreya as she wanders around the room with the little boy grasping her hand. The other boy—Arkynn looks bereft as he devours her with his eyes.
“Our little Shadow Kissed looks mighty pretty tonight, doesn’t she, Raegal?” Jasiel says, leaning into my ear.
I snatch my eyes away from her. “Is there a point to this observation?” I ask him dryly.
Jasiel grins and his eyes join mine in watching her. “I just noticed that for someone who dislikes Asen women, you sure like to watch her.”
I don’t rise to his teasing. “There is something different about her. Do you sense it?”
Jasiel chuckles. “You mean, apart from the fact that she is beautiful?” I side eye him and he smirks. “You tell me. You laid with her last night and touched her with your shadows.”
I release a sigh. Last night had been a test like no other. She’d stood there in my muslin shirt, the candlelight hiding nothing of her curves. Then she’d lain beside me, and my shadows had latched onto her and didn’t want to let her go. I fought with them as they sought to claim her.
“It was odd though, last night,” Jasiel comments. “The way the mutts were behaving. I’ve never seen the packs hunt together like that. Plus, the way they tracked her to the camp. They are lazy creatures and normally they give up and look for an easier feed.”
He’s right. It wasn’t their usual behaviour. I wonder if they’d have attempted to attack the camp if it hadn’t been for the fact that my shadows covered her scent with my own. She still smells of me. She’s washed since she’d lain with me, but I can smell my scent on her from over here and my shadows liked that—a lot.
“Any news on which bastard left her out there in the first place?” I hiss.
Jasiel bobs his head side-to-side. “There’s some talk that the auburn-haired girl over by the exit has a deep hatred for our little miss.”
I tap the chief’s shoulder, pulling him from his conversation with the other men at the table. “Who is the young lady over by the door?”
“Ah, she’s a beauty, isn’t she Lord Commander? You’ll have to set your sights elsewhere, I’m afraid. Young Mayla is betrothed to marry Arkynn. It is their wedding we celebrate tomorrow.”
“Now it’s making sense,” Jasiel says in a low voice. And he’s right. As I watch the boy—Arkynn—follow Eretreya’s every move, it is clear that his heart doesn’t lie with his betrothed, whois flirting with another boy in plain sight. Arkynn staggers to his feet, banging his empty glass on the table. With his sights firmly set on Eretreya, he stumbles across the room, bumping into the crowd.
“Want me to intervene?” Jasiel asks me as we both watch him make his way towards her.
“Not yet,” I reply. I’m keen to watch this interaction between them. I observe Eretreya stiffen as he comes to stand before her. She leans back against one of the large steel posts that supports the domed roof above us. I observe as he places his hand on her hip and my shadows itch to be released. I feel their desire to wrap around the boy’s throat and drag him away from her. Eretreya looks up at the boy with firm resolve and whatever she says to him pains him given the look of anguish on his face. He grips her chin with his fingers, forcing her to look up at him, and I see the hurt in her eyes. That does it.
I jump to my feet and, as I stalk across the room, I hear Jasiel chuckling in amusement behind me. The bastard will no doubt not let this one go for some time. My shadows fight for release, surprising even me with their strong desire to hurt the boy. I reach them just as I hear the boy ask her to go outside with him where they can be alone.
“Is everything okay over here?” I ask, tapping the boy on the shoulder. Arkynn sways on his feet as he turns to face me.
“Everything is just fine, Commander. This is a private conversation, so run along.”
Eretreya takes a sharp breath, and he returns his attention to her, dismissing me. From over his shoulder, she looks at me and I can sense she doesn’t want him here. My shadows growl viciously inside of me, begging me to let them out and wrap themselves around his throat.
“Sunshine. Just come with me to talk. We’ll go to our place. It’s ours and no one else’s. I swear I’ll never take her there.”
I flinch at the way he calls her Sunshine. It hints that they are close, and my shadows don’t like the idea of that at all. “I think the lady would rather stay in here.”
Arkynn turns again to face me with a sneer. “I think this is none of your business, Lord Commander. This is between my Reya and me.”
My Reya, he says. My shadows ooze from my fingers, urging me to hurt him. “Eretreya, would you like this young man to leave?”
“Yes,” she says, her eyes meeting mine over his shoulder and I see Arkynn flinch at her words. “You need to find your bride to be, Arkynn.”
“I think that would be a wise idea, given she has just left the hall with another young man,” I add.
Arkynn straightens up and his eyes attempt to fix on the door.
“There you are brother.” The man who had been dancing with Reya before I cut in comes up beside me and places an arm around Arkynn. “Come on, time to get you home. Big day for you tomorrow.”
“Fuck tomorrow,” Arkynn mumbles as he allows his brother to lead him away. I don’t miss the way Eretreya inhales deeply when he leaves.
“Are you okay?” I ask her. Does she have feelings for this boy? A wisp of my shadows reach out, attempting to touch her, and I rein it in with some resistance.