20
Nox
Our group ascended the small hill on the outskirts of the training grounds. With my Shifter eyesight, I spied cobblestone paths leading to a village, rocky paddocks with sheep, goats, and cattle, and right in the center lay a patchwork of bright, flickering bonfires. There were hundreds of people flocking to them, with all sorts of instruments blaring as the Noctus Vigil began.
Thecae and Devora led the way, while Everett and Arowyn stood at my side. Most of the other trainers and trainees had gone on ahead. The five of us quickly reached the top of the incline and made our way to the center of the town square.
Shadows from the nearby mountain ranges cloaked the town, but the full moon and lit torches carved a pale path through them. The stars twinkled above us without a single cloud to block the sky. The low hum of insects and night creatures, the rhythm of pounding drums, and the whispers of so many Shadow Wielders floated around me like music.
I couldn’t help but glance at Devora. She’d taken her hair out of the bun, letting it flow in waves down her back. When she turned to look at us, her eyes sparkled beneath her glasses, her cheeks pink and lips parted in wonder.
My gaze was glued to her. I hadn’t seen her like this before. She seemed…happy. Or at least, verging on something that could make her happy. Something like hope.
I hated the word she so often used.Prisoner. But the longer I saw her outside of the confines of that tower, the more I realized what I’d done to her. How I’d treated her.
She deserved it, a voice in the back of my mind kept saying.Rissa is your friend, and she betrayed her.We’ve done much worse to traitors before.
That reasoning was beginning to hold less and less power over me, now that I’d seen how willing Devora was to help us. That outrage, that grudge, that hatred of disloyalty…it was an innate part of my Shifter half. It was still there, churning and searching for an outlet. But it was slowly turning into something else.
Shame.
“It was the only piece of my past I ever had.”The blanket Devora’s parents had left for her, the single possession she had linking her to her family. It was funny how such a small item held such great significance. And I’d taken it from her. I hadn’t even thought to let her gather her things when I swept her out of Mysthelm. I’d been so focused on what she’d done, soangrywith her for hurting my friend.
I remembered when I’d been taken from my home. We were still mourning our father’s death when Scarven’s men burst into our seaside cottage and snatched my mother, sister, and me away.
Like Devora, I was taken with the clothes on my back and nothing more. No keepsake from my childhood, no favorite toy, nothing to remember my father by.
I scrubbed a hand down my face and finally ripped my eyes from Devora as we approached the rows of bonfires. Irefusedto be anything like Kane Scarven. Yet sometimes…sometimes I wondered if we had more in common than a shared father.
“The rituals are beginning,” Thecae whispered, nodding toward the largest of the fires where a grouphad gathered. “They’ll read the names of those who have died since the last full moon, and then families of the deceased will burn their tokens.”
“And then what?” Devora whispered back.
Thecae flashed her a smirk. “And then we celebrate. These lives are not to be mourned. They’re to beremembered.”
Someone stood on a raised platform in front of the center fire with a scroll in his hands. A hush fell over the crowd. He cleared his throat, and the drumroll started again, quieter this time.
“Finnian Alabar.” There was no introduction, merely names spoken in his reverent tone, with the rumble of drums as a backdrop. “Wynn Calestro. Loren Davros.”
On and on the list went, and each time a new one was said, a cloud of shadows formed above the bonfire in the shape of their silhouette. The families of the deceased stepped forward, one by one, to burn their offerings in the flames. Some tokens were too small to see, while I could tell others were pieces of jewelry, letters, or books. The fire crackled louder with every item, emitting sparks and bursts of smoke.
When the list came to an end, the people all murmured as one, “You are not forgotten.”
Hundreds of whispers washed over the space like rolling thunder. The drums fell silent. A long horn answered from somewhere behind us, and the crowd exhaled.
Silence.
And then?—
The musicians started up in full swing. The Shadow Wielders around us burst into applause, separating into groups with hollers of excitement. Some called out names in greeting, while others broke out bottles of wine.
The atmosphere instantly shifted from melancholy reverence to raucous nightlife.
My lips curved into a grin. Nowthatwas something I could get behind.
“Are yousmiling?”
I jerked my head to the sound of Devora’s voice and found her raising an eyebrow at me.
