I found Shade’s reflection in the mirror. He stood at the tall windows, back to us as he watched the sun disappear below the horizon. He had taken to doing so each day, sunrise and sunset, he didn’t miss either.
His shoulders were tense. We’d been arguing all day about tonight. He didn’t want me to send him back into the lamp, insisting he could better protect me outside it. I didn’t want to risk angering the king even further by going against his wishes.
Don’t get me wrong, I hated it. Loathed sending Shade back into the confines of that small black trinket. But we needed to play a careful game so we could escape. Shade knew that, but he despised the need for it. I planned to bargain with the king tonight… if I could work through my panic enough to do it.
“All done.” Wista squeezed my shoulders and sent me a tight smile. She knew how hard tonight would be for me afterwitnessing multiple attacks that took hold over the past few days.
I stood from the stool, ignoring the flash of blue from the ostentatious jewel nestled around my throat. My “betrothal gift” from the king was as absurd as it was unsurprising. It arrived with the dress this morning, a robin-egg sized blue stone surrounded by a dozen smaller white ones. The setting sun reflected off the jewel, spitting blue sparkles onto the stark white walls.
Wista dabbed perfume along my neck and inside my wrists, rose overpowering the ever-present scent of the lilac and sandalwood of Shade’s smoke.
“I’ll wait by the door,” she murmured before leaving me alone with him.
The skirts of my dress rustled as I made my way toward him, the corset constricting my still-sore ribs. The dress itself was a declaration. The perfect representation of virtue and my place as Terym’s betrothed. Beaded ivory silk hugged my bodice tightly then flared into a full skirt, the material darkening into a deep blue along the length. Everything about the necklace and the dress had my stomach roiling. Despite its beauty, all of it gave the impression of a young submissive bride.
I gripped Shade’s hand, the lamp in my other hand a heavy reminder of what came next. When he turned to face me, his nostrils flared, eyes darkening as his eyes roved over me, then his mouth drew down in a frown.
“What is it?” I pulled my hand free of his to smooth my skirts. I despised the dress, the necklace, and everything it represented, but I couldn’t deny that it was beautiful. I had never dressed so lavishly before, and a small part of me hoped he would enjoy seeing me in it.
“You’re beautiful.” A bloom of warmth spread from my chest at his words, quickly followed by confusion when he continued to frown.
“And that’s a bad thing?” I asked.
“I don’t like his colors on you.” His voice took that gravelly edge, and I sent him a small smile.
“Neither do I.”
Fingers danced along my cheek in a featherlight touch, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning into it. Being with him like this was too easy, the draw like a moth to a flame. I just feared what would happen if he got too close.
“Promise you’ll release me if you’re in danger.” There was a command in his tone, one I hadn’t heard from him before, and it did things to me. Things I had forbidden myself from feeling around this man. I bit my lip to stop myself from doing something I shouldn’t, like kissing him senselessly. I caught his gaze, those beautiful orbs walking the line between gray and silver. I had come to learn the change occurred with his heightened emotions, only swirling silver when he felt particularly strongly about something.
What did he feel now?
Shade’s touch ghosted my chin, his thumb pulling my lip free from the grasp I had on it, the rough pad a stark contrast against my sensitive skin.
“I promise,” I whispered, the words a caress to his skin still lingering over my lips.
Molten silver swirled, and his pupils dilated as he focused on my mouth. He pressed his thumb against my lips, the pressure a promise for more, of which I was dying to receive.
My lips parted of their own accord, and I had an insane urge to suck his thumb into my mouth. Before I could act on the impulse, Shade’s body shimmered, swirls of smoke billowing and curling to encompass him entirely, morphing intobeautifully cloying smoke and engulfing me in darkness. His scent flooded my lungs, the sandalwood more potent. It was laced with another scent I couldn’t describe, but one I could only associate with Shade. So uniquely him.
As the smoke dissipated, a light caress started at my cheek and went down my neck and arm to the back of my hand. The familiar stroke of calm sent gooseflesh rising along my skin. Then the smoke disappeared back into the lamp I clutched at my side. Only then did it begin its thrumming vibration, the sound offering me little comfort in the absence of Shade himself.
It was a relief to find out Shade didn’t need my blood to return to the lamp, that he could do so of his own volition. Releasing him would always need a sacrifice, a requirement of the magic binding him to it, and I could always send him back in the same way, but he could decide to go back if he wanted.
I tucked the small lamp into the safety of a hidden pocket of my dress, curtesy of the castle’s seamstress, and went to meet Wista at the door.
Chapter 22
We walked the halls in silence, which were unfamiliar since last time I walked them I’d been in a daze. It was just as disorientating as the first time, the castle a maze of turns I didn’t think I would ever be able to navigate alone, no matter how often I walked them.
The halls had been empty until we turned the next corner, where two of the palace guards stood either side of a large set of timber doors, just as they had outside Terym’s tent in the camp. My chest tightened at a sight so similar, and I froze.
Terym would be behind those doors.
My heart rate increased, pulse thumping so loudly even Wista’s steps couldn’t be heard anymore.
Icy-blue eyes flashed before me.
