Page 24 of Shadow Kissed
That gets my attention. My eyes snap up to meet his. “You think someone did this on purpose?”
Raegal shrugs his shoulders, his eyes never leaving mine. “I think something, or someone. caused the protection in the walls to fail last night. The mutts have been behaving strangely since the incident in the forest.”
A cold chill runs through my body. Does he suspect it’s all linked to me?
“What did that girl mean when she said that you had done this?”
I do my utmost to keep on a straight face and I guffaw. “I don’t have a clue. Mayla and I aren’t exactly friends, but why she said what she did, I haven’t the foggiest. I would imagine people say strange things when they are fleeing for their lives.”
He nods again, not saying anything. His silence and continued scrutiny causes me to flush red. “Could your presence here have anything to do with it? Maybe your shadow magic caused the protection to fade?” I feel like such a bad person for trying to put the idea into his head that maybe some of this was his people’s fault, but better that than he thinks it’s my fault.
He stops outside the doors of the school, forcing me to face him. “We have been present in Asen towns many a time and our presence has never affected the protection of the walls.” He pauses before he opens the large wooden door and holds it open for me. “I think something called those mutts here last night. Something or someone.”
I clear my throat. “Well, I best get this little one inside. I’ll see you soon, Lord Commander.”
“Raegal,” he says, causing me to pause in my stride. “I think you and I have moved past formalities.”
“Very well. Raegal.”
Something flares in his eyes upon hearing his name on my lips and I flush and lower my gaze, rushing past him. What was that? Did the commander and I just have a brief connection?
Iavoid Raegal as best as I can over the course of the next day. When we hold the ceremony to say farewell to our loved ones, he and his men choose to sit at the back of our temple. They have their own gods and beliefs, but I think it’s kind that they attended the burials and paid their respects. Perhaps my opinion of Shadow Borne folk is misplaced. Maybe they have some redeeming qualities, too.
I still can’t believe our mother isn’t here anymore. Last night before I went to bed, I looked inside her desk drawer, and it was full of notes about how to strengthen the effects of amethyst. Pages and pages of notes about replenishing energies without awakening the source. Anyone else looking through these notes would say it’s the ramblings of a woman that had lost her mind, but my mum was as sharp as anyone I know. I take her notebook and place it with my things, determined to read more when I get time.
My dreams for the next two nights are ominous. In my sleep, I travel through the night, able to sense where the night mutts are. When I find them, I’m astounded. They’re gathered together. Over a hundred of them. They seem to be waiting for something. Then my dream shifts, taking me to that clearing in the woods where the strange split in the air emanates a low hum.
“Wake up!” says the eery voice again. “Wake up and free them.”
“Free who?” I say out loud in frustration. “Who are you, and what do you want with me?”
“Wake up!” It hisses again before falling silent.
I sense a presence behind me and warm breath against my neck.
“Who are you, dream walker?” The deep, male voice asks me. I shudder as his power runs through me. I sense an unexpected surge of warmth on my back.
“I’m no one,” I reply shakily. I want to turn around and find out who this man is. Whoever he is, he is powerful. For some reason, however, I cannot move.
He laughs then. A cold, sinister laugh that sends an icy chill rushing through my veins. “Oh, I don’t think that is true. I have searched for you for a long time.”
I wake up abruptly and scan my surroundings in a state of panic. I breathe a sigh of relief when I realise I am in my mother’s bed, in my house, with my two brothers sleeping soundly either side of me. It was just a dream. A strange one, yes, but a dream all the same. It felt oddly real. I touch the back of my neck where I felt the stranger’s warm breath. I frown when I notice a small black line on my wrist. What is that? I wet my finger and rub at it, frowning when the mark doesn’t wipe away. I carefully climb from the bed, being mindful not to wake my brothers, then cross the landing into the bathroom. Quietly shutting the door, I pour fresh water into the basin and I scrub the mark with a cloth. I scrub and I scrub, but the damn thing doesn’t go. Whatever it is, it’s left a permanent mark on my skin.
The town is still in mourning, so the inn remains closed today. I get the twins ready for school and then head over to the great hall to see what I can do to help. The hall is already full to bursting when I arrive. I sneak in at the back and I scan around the crowded room. So many people wear a haunted expression from the horrors they have witnessed and the loved ones they have lost.
“Hey.” Arkynn comes to stand beside me, studying me as I concentrate on our chief. “How are you?”
I shrug my shoulders, sighing. “We’re surviving.”
“The Lord Commander and his men were up most of the night, reaffirming the walls’ protection,” Arkynn says. I glance around the room until I find him. He’s standing up at the front, speaking quietly with Chief Veles. He has dark shadows underhis eyes. I rub at my wrist where the strange dark mark is, and he instantly looks up, his eyes meeting mine across the packed-out room.
“Attention everyone,” Chief Veles shouts, clapping his hands together to get the crowd’s attention. The chief and his wife lost a grandchild in the attack, so I know he is feeling as distraught as many here, but he has to put on a brave face and play his part. “We’ve faced a terrible event here in our haven of Terleigh. I know many of you have lost loved ones and we have many injured that are being cared for by our healers. I would like to thank the Lord Commander and his Shadow Army for coming to our aid. I fear we would have lost many more without their help. They have also worked throughout the night, ensuring the protection of our walls.”
“How do we know it’s safe?” Someone in the crowd shouts.
“Why did the wall fail?”
“Is because of what happened to our Shadow Kissed?”