Page 33 of Shadow Kissed
Just as Jasiel is about to make off with his woman for the night, one of their soldiers, who I recognise from the night they found me in the forest, strides into the inn and makes a beeline for Raegal. Throughout my card games with Jasiel, he sat silently with a tankard in his hand, watching us play. Despite his silence, I’m conscious of him the whole time.
Raegal frowns at whatever his soldier tells him and glances over at Jasiel, who has delayed going up to his room to see what is going on. “I’m afraid your lady friend will have to wait a while longer for your company, Captain.”
Jasiel sighs, and then pulls the dark-haired beauty in and kisses her passionately. “Theres more of that if you want to waitin my room for me.” His men at the table all jeer and make lude comments. I should be embarrassed, but I’ve been working in a similar environment for two years now. I’m fully aware of what men are like when they get together and have had a few drinks.
Raegal gestures with his head for Jasiel to follow him outside. Something’s amiss and I’m determined to find out what.
Raegal sighs when he sees me come out behind Jasiel. “Eretreya, get back inside the inn,” he orders me wearily and points at the now closed door.
I cross my arms over my chest and rest my hip on the wooden post of the inn porch. “No, I don’t think I will. What’s going on? Is it the mutts?”
His eyes narrow in suspicion. “What makes you think that?”
I shrug my shoulders, refusing to look away in case it makes me look guilty of something. “I don’t know. You said they might be hunting me.”
He continues to stare at me before he turns his attention to Jasiel. “Over a hundred of them are out there, on the forest’s edge, surrounding the protected walls.”
Jasiel swears under his breath, and I feel his watchful eyes land on me. “I don’t know why you are both looking at me like that. I have no idea what’s going on. Maybe I have tastier fears than others.”
“Do you have many fears?” Jasiel asks me, turning his full attention to me.
I snort and look heavenward into the night sky. “What do you think? All my life I’ve known I’ll have to leave my home and family. Taken by another realm to God only knows what fate! So yes, I have fears, many of them. The main one being I have no control over my life or my destiny.”
They both stand there in stunned to silence. I refuse to meet their gaze and instead kick at the dirt with my boots.
“Put extra men around the walls. If we have any shadow dust in our supplies, place it around the perimeter of the town,” Raegal orders his friend.
“And Reya?” Jasiel asks, flicking his eyes back to me.
Raegal pinches the bridge of his nose as he thinks. “I need to get her to Shadow Valley. The sooner the better. Our defences are stronger there, plus there are so many Shadow Borne it will hopefully mask her scent completely.”
“I’ll ensure we continue our journey and collect all the recruits.”
“Wait, what? We’re leaving for Shadow Valley? Just us two?” I push up from the post and rub my arms, feeling a chill.
Raegal smirks at my question. “Scared to be alone with me?”
I snicker and roll my eyes as if to say, ‘of course I’m not,’ but inside I’m a ball of tension and anxiety. Raegal barks his orders out to Jasiel and then turns back to me. “Can you please go up to my room and stay there while I get things in order?”
I want to say no, just to defy him, but I nod my head. “Sure. I’ll be the good little chosen one and go to my room!” I don’t give him a chance to respond. I push the door open and head back inside the inn. A couple of Raegal’s men call after me, challenging me to a game of cards, but I ignore them all, taking the stairs two at a time. I pace the room when I get there. Why are the mutts following me? What do they want with me? What am I to them? Raegal and Jasiel both look at me with suspicion and intrigue. My mother said I must never let them know who I am, but how can I do that when I don’t know what she means?
In the end, I take a seat in the armchair and reach for the book I saw Raegal reading earlier. I blink in surprise when I read the book’s title, the history of the realms. I open the book and flick through the pages until I come to the one he’s folded over. ‘The history of the night realm.’ Deciding there is nothing else for me to do. I settle down and read.
I jump in fright when the door opens. I’d been so lost in the book I hadn’t even heard him climb the stairs. His grey eyes land on me and then on the book in my hand. “Learn anything?”
“Lots,” I reply as I close the book and sit up in my seat. “Is everything okay? Have the mutts stayed back?”
He nods his head. “They remain at the edge of the forest, but they’re agitated and restless. I’ve asked Nyra to come and pack your belongings. We’ll be leaving soon.”
I nod my head, watching him pick up some of his belongings and place them in his traveller’s sack. “Is it wise us travelling ahead alone? No offense, I know you are the all-powerful Lord Commander, but two of us against hundreds of mutts doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
He looks up from his packing to frown at me. “We’re not travelling on horseback. We will travel by shadow and be there in a matter of minutes.”
“Travel by shadow. What exactly does that mean?” I ask him, pretty sure that I will not like the answer.
He bobs his shoulders like it’s no big deal. “Those of us from the higher ranks can use our shadows to travel from one part of the realm to another.”
I shake my head. I have never heard of this before. I feel like there is a lot I don’t know about the Shadow Borne. I don’t like the sound of this shadow travel method at all. “How does it work? Because, well, I’m Asen, I’m not born with shadow magic.”