She unclenched her fists, shaking off that memory, and stared back in the mirror. Somehow even in those few minutes she was distracted, the mauve color had paled even more. At this rate, it would be less than thirty minutes before it was gone.
But with the way the piece of the Veil wall thrummed against her skin, it would be a lot longer before she could fall asleep. Her traitorous thoughts were still lingering on the sun-blessed man, not to mention the chill he left on the obsidian, and now the rest of her skin had to be left…unfulfilled?
She stripped her clothes and remaining weapons, leaving them in a messy pile on the stone as she slipped into the bath. Lavender filled her senses as she sank into the cool water, hanging her head off the edge of the tub as her fingers dug through her hair. She just needed distractions.
Brela didn’t flinch as the stool squeaked and slid behind her, gentle hands and a brush stroking the white-blonde strands.
“Didn’t expect you home until morning,” Elias said. “Was he that bad in bed?”
She let out a grumble. “He had to go and be agentleman. We still had some fun, though.”
He paused his brushing. “Not enough, though.”
It was more of a statement than a question.
“Not enough,” Brela whispered, her hands gripping the edges of the tub.
Elias was silent for a minute, his fingers gliding over the bruises on her neck, before he finally spoke in a growl. “I hate him.” Brela didn’t reply to the new topic. “I hate what he does to you. I hate that he holds power. I hate that he…” Elias trailed off.
Her voice cracked at the thought of Ovir. “I know.”
He sighed and resumed brushing her hair, changing the subject because he knew it would do no good to talk about something out of their control. “I never knew about shadow magic dulling other gods-blessed gifts.”
“It was a well-kept secret until Anfroy and Rooke discovered how to get hellthorn in the air. I’m sure they would have tried to pollute the lake if that hadn’t been so successful,” Brela replied. “There was one other shadow-blessed in our city, but he died when I was almost six. Kevrid was his name.”
“Raid?”
Brela nodded. “Snuffed him out with small, hellthorn-laced smoke bomb. Then they hung him between what was left of the watch towers at the temple… I don’t know if it was the soldiers or the birds who removed most of his insides.”
She swallowed hard. Sometimes Kevrid’s screams still haunted her nightmares, just like the feeling of being crushed by the walls and people surrounding her in the cellar as they tried to silence their cries.
“He taught me some of the basics of shadow magic after they discovered what the shard had done to me.” She let out a soft breath. “I remember my mother’s shriek when I did a shade spell for the first time. Earlier that day, I had watched my father train some of our neighbors how to move their hands to call shadow magic with their last remaining shadow stones. When I woke up from a nightmare that night—one where Anfroy soldiers had come to take me away—I did those hand movements so fast that I made my entire room disappear. She only found me because my eyes were glowing purple.”
Elias let out a muffled grunt and stood up. “You don’t use the shade affinity often.”
Brela shook her head. “It’s harder to control and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I haven’t used it since you and I were nearly caught at Lord Ihon’s manor. I couldn’t taste or smell anything for two months after that. I still preferred that over Farrah’s glare when we got back.”
He chuckled. “I still think that small armoire was more comfortable than thescoldingwe got from her.”
“You were certainly comfortable in that tight space,” Brela commented, enjoying the flash of memory—their bodies in tight quarters, sharing breaths, trying desperately not to give away their position while also incredibly aware of the heat growing…
“As were you, Brela.”
Then that body was sitting next to the tub, his forearms finding their perch on the edge as he wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“Oh, well done on the distraction, my friend,” Brela replied, returning his mischievous grin with a smirk of her own.
She spent a moment admiring Elias’s broad shoulders, tight muscles, and the gorgeous patterns of ink that lined his bare chest. Her fingers reached up and brushed over the lone tattoo on his right shoulder, the swirl of strength and herbal affinities that he had let Brela design and paint into his skin. Not formal by any means—the temple would have called it blasphemous—but Elias had practically begged her to ink it herself.
“What about the command affinity?” Elias asked. His eyes didn’t leave hers, the surprise still written on his face that her eyes weren’t glowing deep purple.
She shrugged. “Never used it before last night, and I’m still not sure I did. I doubt it’s possible for anyone tocommanda celvusa, but there were always stories about shadow-kind commanding lesser creatures. They also believed it took an insanely powerful magic. Besides, shadow-kind can’t command creatures from this realm, only ones from the shadow hell, which meant you also had tosummonthat creature first. Most of the famous legends ended with the summoned creature ripping the summoner to bloody ribbons before ever reaching the command part.”
“Your shadow legends are terrifying,” he mumbled. “They told these stories to children?”
Brela nodded. “Before the wall, the shadow-kind believed the celvusa were servants of the shadow god Ryia. Legends claimed that she would send them to punish criminals or keep children in line. Many Veil Worshippers believed that Ryia molded the celvusa into the wall for added protection. If that’s true, maybe the wall can spit out more than just shards.”
“I thought Ryia gave up her status among her sister gods to create it,” Elias said, standing as he retrieved the towel Brela pointed out.
