Feeling relieved, Matthias let his wings drop, tension releasing from his body. It was still so odd at how these people kept proving to him that everything his father had ever taught him was a complete lie.
“I forgot to ask if you were going to be okay patrolling the Veil, considering it’s your kingdom we are protecting The Grey from?” Adalia asked, pulling him from his train of thought.
“You mean my father’s kingdom. I don’t care about it. Thanks for asking, but I’ll be fine,” he answered.
Adalia nodded and moved towards the doorway. Matthias hesitated for a moment as she stood looking up at him with her mossy, brown eyes. Her scent wafted through the atmosphere. A mixture of vanilla and blueberries.
“Are you going to grab me again?” she spoke cooly, holding his stare.
Matthias pushed off the doorframe and took a step towards her, arms still folded. “Would you like me too?” He was so close that he could feel the body heat between them.
Adalia lifted her chin a little and was about to reply when a Lightner soldier interrupted.
Matthias stepped back and winked at her as he headed outside. Taking a deep breath, he went and stood beneath the shade of a large tree while he waited for her.
She appeared a few moments later, avoiding eye contact, and they shot into the sky, heading for the Gates at the Lucius Veil. They reached it and landed, boots meeting the ground with a heavy thud. Blue was waiting for them. Matthias watched as Adalia interacted with him. The young boy beamed as he chatted away about life and the horses he took care of, and she responded with such kindness and enthusiasm. Matthias stood back and let Adalia retrieve the horses, smiling at Blue when the boy made eye contact.
There was no way anything his father had ever said about how horrid these people were was true. This was proof. The Lightners were the complete opposite of what the Thorns were. He could see and feel it.
A stirring in his chest caught Matthias off guard, and he drew in a sharp breath.
“Are you alright?” Adalia’s head snapped to face him.
“I’m fine, it’s nothing,” he answered.
Matthias pulled himself up into the saddle of his brown coloured horse and gave it a pat. The eccentric movement in his body was happening a lot more frequently, and he was a little concerned. The sudden thump inside his chest hadn’t ever happened until she came along.
“Let’s ride.” She flashed him a grin and took off through the gates.
It was a beautiful day in The Grey and many Shadowkin were ambling through the streets, perusing the local merchants’ stalls. Fishmongers called out their goods for sale and the baker carried a wooden tray of freshly baked sourdough on his shoulder, offering three loaves for the price of two.
It dawned on him that, even in The Grey, he hadn’t heard the constant clang of metal against metal. It was not a sound that he missed at all.
Adalia walked her horse beside him as they patrolled the Veil that ran along the borders of Oscuro deep in the forest.
“How long have you been in Lucius?” he quietly asked.
“This will be my twelfth year.” Adalia smiled at him.
“And Nikolas?”
“His ninth.”
Matthias did the calculations. “So, three years in Lucius without him. Was that hard?”
“It was, but I visited him all the time when I came to The Grey, not that he could see me. I checked in on him until the very moment he passed and stepped into Lucius.”
He watched her mind wander to the past, and it only made him want to know more about her. How did she come to be the person she was today?
“May I ask how you came to, Lucius?”
Adalia shifted in the saddles before turning to him. “There’s no grand story. I simply grew old. My time was at its end. I told Nikolas, and he sat by my bed all night. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I was inside Lucius.”
“How old were you when you passed?” he asked as they plodded along.
“Oh, so now you want to talk about age?” Adalia chuckled. “I was ninety-four. So technically I’m one hundred and six, I’m no spring chicken in Shadowkin years . . . are you shocked?” Adalia taunted him.
“Are you shocked that I’m one hundred and nine?” He said with a boyish grin.
