Before I can even think to spin away from her, she’s gripped my shoulder with one hand. Pain flares in my chest and then explodes through me. I gasp, expecting the tip of a sword to exit between my breasts at any moment. But as I look down in shock, I’m yanked back by an invisible force, and the last thing I see is blistering rage on Tarek’s face as he reaches for me. Then everything around me swirls black.
ChapterThirty-Two
Ilose consciousness. Or I think I do as my surroundings disappear in a blink. In the next blink, however, I’m somehow still awake. The pain immediately disappears at the same time I realize that I’m no longer standing in the armory of the Scorpions’ castle. Gone are the gray stone walls mounted with every kind of weapon imaginable. In their place is a bleary alley, reeking of hot refuse and piss. A briny breeze whooshes around me, pulling strands of my hair from my plait while, thankfully, offering some temporary relief from the stench. My blurry vision begins to sharpen, and I discover a choppy blue body of water on the other side of a distant, bustling dock.
I whirl, pulling the sword sheathed at my hip as I do. Eacon backs away from me, her hands up in surrender and an apologetic look on her weathered face. I grasp at my chest, still unable to believe that she didn’t just run me through with the sword that she pulled on Tarek. It felt like she did, and yet I can see the weapon is once again tucked safely in its scabbard on her back. I’m all at once enraged and confused and…scared.
I look around the alley we’re standing in as though it can offer some kind of testimony that I’m okay, that I’m safe. My thoughts whir as I take in the small buildings on either side of us. The gray wood planking on the exterior looks brittle and sea-weathered. White chalky salt has started to build up in the cracks and crevices, slowly eroding the integrity of the siding altogether. The walls look like they could give at any moment.
“What the fuck just happened?” I snarl at Eacon, eyeing her warily while gripping my sword tightly. I don’t know what she has in store for me next or what she intends to do now that she’s shed the beloved savior mask she wore so well.
“I’m sorry to have sprung that on you, Auset. I was going to explain everything before it happened, but Tarek reacted far worse than I anticipated, and there wasn’t any time.”
Gulls squawk above us as they drift lazily in the cloudless blue sky. The smell of fish starts to encroach on the stench of the alley we’re standing in, and I look down, grateful that my boots are protecting me from the mystery puddle at my feet.
“I swear on all the realms, if you don’t tell me where we are and what’s going on right now, one of us won’t be leaving this alley alive, Eacon,” I warn. “And before you convince yourself that you’d win this fight, I’ve been holding back for a while when I train with the others. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
I’m lying but she doesn’t know that. Her brow furrows, and I get the impression that she’s more bothered by my admission of holding back than the threat I mean to pose.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Auset. I would never do that,” she gently assures me. “We’re in Salak, which is on the southern border of the Night Court. I thought you might need to get away for a bit, to breathe without one of the brothers watching you like some circling falcon that’s tracking prey. I needed to do some work, and I figured you might not mind getting your hands dirty for a good cause.”
“What?” I demand, even more bewildered by her explanation. “But how did we get here?” I ask, gesturing with my sword to the buildings bordering the strip of dirt we’re standing in.
“Thura,” Eacon answers, as though whatever sound she just made should solve the mystery for me.
Eacon stares at me for a moment, clearly waiting for the moment where understanding dawns over my features, but that doesn’t happen. Her brow crumples under the weight of confusion as she studies my face and clear lack of reaction.
“Thura,” she tries again, but I shake my head, still not following whatever crumbs she thinks she’s laying out for me right now. “You can shadow walk, and you’re Sanguinna,” Eacon starts again, and I begin to wonder if she’s senile or if speaking in riddles is a talent I never knew she possessed before. “Those abilities, your powers…including any others you’ve been keeping secret,” she states pointedly with a cocked brow that clearly communicates her disapproval of secrets. “These things are your thura,” she expectantly explains as though she’s once again waiting for the word to trigger some kind of lesson or memory on the subject.
Too bad I still don’t have the foggiest fuck what she’s talking about.
“Tarek can shadow walk, manipulate heat, lightly compel, and cloak—those are his thura. Riall can also shadow walk and is Sanguinna, like you,” she continues, studying me carefully.
I shrug. I knew some of that, just not that those things had a general title.
“Thura,” she chirps again. “You know, the abilities that you and only some other fae have? My thura allows me to jump from one place to another simply because I will it. It’s called tracing. You and the Scorpions can do something similar; however, your thura requires shadows to move from place to place. I thought Tarek would have explained all of this by now?” Eacon declares, her own features steeped in bewilderment too.
“Thura?” I repeat curiously, the word sounding odd and yet tasting right on my tongue.
Eacon shakes her head and lets loose a deep, tired sigh.
“It seems you’re not the only one who’s been holding back,” she observes, looking past me like she needs a moment for her astonishment and dismay to settle.
Unnerved by that statement, my thoughts turn to Tarek. It would seem that there’s more to his absences than simply being busy with Scorpion matters. I thought he was working on his brothers’ behalf as well as mine, but there’s obviously more to it than that. Suspicion collects in my chest, and I’m surprised to find hurt there too. It’s not as though the Scorpions owe me anything, but I didn’t think they were hiding things from me, especially important things like this. It’s not even just Tarek that kept it from me, Curio and Riall obviously know all about thura too. Why wouldn’t they tell me?
Eacon clears her throat and pushes her shoulders back, visibly collecting herself before me.
“Thura is the term the fae use in reference to the abilities that some have. It grows rarer in our kind with every year, and it’s said that no two abilities work exactly the same. I thought Tarek was already working with you on this,” Eacon confesses, and I immediately shut down the disquiet that further surges through me.
“Why did it hurt?” I ask, as I absently rub my chest again.
“It doesn’t always. I thought since you can shadow walk that my thura would feel similar. I’m so sorry I didn’t think to warn you that it could be uncomfortable the first few times.”
“Uncomfortable?” I exclaim with a huff. “I thought you stabbed me.”
Eacon cringes. “Forgive me, Auset. I wasn’t thinking, only reacting to Tarek’s anger. I should have explained everything ahead of time. I would never hurt you intentionally.”
I debate for a breath if I can trust what Eacon is saying. She looks sincere, but what just happened was intense. As alarming as all of it was though, my instincts aren’t screaming that I’m in danger. Eacon could have run me through when she had the chance, and yet I’m still standing, unharmed, and learning that there’s a word for what I can do.
