It went on for hours. Only Shade’s shadow protected me from burning in the bright sun. Sometimes, I watched the sparring, other times, I closed my eyes and imagined I was somewhere else. Anywhere else.Anyone else.
Terym had received exactly what he wanted. The soldiers were unbeatable. Even when struck by a killing blow, they continued as if nothing happened. No sign of pain. No flinch of fear. They were mindless in their fight.
“That’s enough!” Lenek’s voice boomed, exactly how I expected a general to sound, but the soldiers didn’t stop. Metal whistled through the air as swords clashed against timber shields.
They didn’t listen because it wasn’t their master who had spoken.
It wasn’t me.
“Stop.” I didn’t yell the command, and my voice didn’t carry. I spoke as if only to Shade, who hadn’t moved from his towering place beside me.
The fighting ceased. Blades were sheathed and shields hoisted until the soldiers stood in silent attention once more, as if the last few hours hadn’t occurred at all.
The general scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not being able to command them will be a problem.”
Terym hummed, surveying the still field with his hands clasped behind his back. “We’ll have to find a way for Adelia to command them from afar. I have plans for her, and they don’t involve going to Yinora.”
They weren’t talking to me, so I didn’t speak, but the king’s words stuck with me, my thoughts rioting enough to drown out the rest of their conversation.
He hadplansfor me.
It had to be the other two wishes. He must have ideas for them already, because what else was there? I had nothing else of value to offer him. At leastIdidn’t. Eleanor …
No. He couldn’t know. How would he? Everyone who did was already dead. Everyone except me.
It took me a moment to realize the men had stopped talking. In fact, they’d left entirely. I turned in time to catch their backs retreating between two tents.
“Bye, then,” I muttered under my breath. Shade released a strange choking sound, and I frowned up at him, but his face was set in his token blank expression.I must have imagined it.
“Lia!” My head snapped in the direction of Eleanor’s voice. Relief and love warmed me, filling me to the brim. I hadn’t realized until I saw her running toward me how much I missed her. Not even two days apart and I was antsy.
She hurried across the field, Meline struggling to keep up. Pierce waited by the line of tents, arms crossed, with his eyes trained on my energetic sister.
Despite my stiff legs, I jumped up, opening my arms when she reached me and fell into my embrace. Bouncing curls smothered me in the scent of strawberries, fire, and freshly baked bread. She must have skulked around the cooking fires this morning. Fallon would have loved that.
It didn’t take her long to pull back and hound me with questions. “How was it? Did you break the curse? Where did all these soldiers come from? Why do they look like that? Is it the magic?” She paused to take a breath, and her hazel eyes caught on Shade behind me. “Who’s this?”
I glanced back at Shade and found something akin to wistfulness staring back at me. One blink and it was gone. I wished he wouldn’t do that. I had an inexplicable urge to know absolutely everything about him, and those small moments of concealed emotion were just a drop in the vast lake I suspected was this intriguing man.
“This is Shade,” I said, stepping aside. “Shade, this is my sister, Eleanor.” I didn’t expect a response from him. At most, maybe a blinking stare. So when Shade bowed his head to Eleanor, my eyes widened. Not a respectful incline like he had shown the army, but a full display of deference. King Terym hadn’t even received such acknowledgment.
Eleanor nodded slowly, just as confused as I was. “Where did he come from?” she murmured close to my ear. The signs of his differences, hisotherness, were obvious. Even in the bright light of the midday sun, smoke could be seen curling around his skin, shimmering each time he moved.
“Not here,” I said just as low, glancing to the soldiers still loitering around us. Nathanial was particularly watchful from his place several feet away. Grabbing her hand, I pulled hertoward my tent and the small amount of privacy it would afford us. The party shadowing us grew as Wista joined, though none of them followed us inside when we arrived at our tents. None except Shade.
Eleanor frowned, then addressed him directly. “Can you give us a moment?”
He surprised me again by listening, giving her a small nod before he exited the tent. He stood just outside the entrance, like he had when I bathed, with his arms crossed and back to us. The light humming accompanying him was a comfort through the distance between us.
Eleanor’s expression sobered, and she grabbed my hands. “Lia, I’m worried about you.”
I’d expected her to ask about my trip into the forest, not worry about me.
“Me? I’m fine.” My words weren’t even remotely convincing, even to myself, but I wouldn’t admit the truth.
“No, you’re not. You’ve been having attacks since we arrived. I know you think I don’t notice, but I do. It hasn’t been this bad since before you broke up with Ergo.”
I forced a laugh, tugging my damp hands free of hers and rubbing them down my skirts. “They’re not that bad.”
