‘About your conviction that ripping me away in a cloud of your shadows could ever be defined as bringing me home,’ I said, articulating my pent-up resentment. My voice shook from fury held too long. ‘You did not bring me here, Alec. You kidnapped me, and it’s time you face the truth.’
His eyes downturned as he paused, slouching. ‘But we’re your family…’
I sat on the bed, leaving two feet of distance between us for comfort. ‘We are family. But you can’t keep ignoring that what you did wasn’t right. And I know it wasn’t just you; I know that father sent you to get me, but it doesn’t change the fact that none of you included me in that decision.’
Alec looked ahead, unsure what to say. ‘Would you rather go back tohim?’
The question hit harder than I expected, cutting through my anger like ice. ‘He pawned me off.’
‘It doesn’t answer my question. And we both know it wasn’t that simple.’
‘Are you seriously defending him?’
Alec straightened, looking conflicted. ‘No. But there isn’t much I wouldn’t do if Miriam or you were cursed.’ It warmed my heart that he thought of me so fondly, that so quickly he’d started regarding me as family. ‘Besides, he didn’t even know you when he sold you.’
He was right; I never looked at it that way. But it changed nothing. ‘It speaks to who he is as a person. I could never be with somebody I couldn’t trust.’
‘So you’re admitting that there’s something going on between you two…’
‘Oh, please,’ I said, slapping his shoulder. ‘You’ve seen us in the woods and his office. Did that look innocent?’
‘Ava, honey, I think you’re the only one innocent enough not to see it as innocent,’ he joked, wiggling his brows.
It made me laugh. I was inexperienced, and I knew that. I had never met anyone I wanted to learn and explore like I craved River. ‘You’re a necromancer, right?’
Eyeing me suspiciously, he nodded.
‘I found my snake in his forest. Can you ask my little scarf what he was doing there?’
‘I’m trying hard not to be appalled at your lack of understanding of basic shadow powers. Didn’t Miriam show you her library? There’s a lot of material for you to study there,’ Alec scolded me before smirking. ‘But I do know a thing or two about that forest.’
‘I take it you don’t speak to strays then?’ His glare signalled refusal. ‘Okay, tell me about the forest.’
‘It’s my biggest success. Nearly cost me my life, but isn’t it just glorious.’ Awe prevailed on his face as he spoke. ‘I told you I was friends with your king. Well, every time we stayedat the castle, that cemetery in the middle kept enticing me. As young and easily seduced as I was, one night I sneaked out to give some of the spirit shadow forms. But I didn’t control my powers as well as I do now, and they started to pull me under. Everything in that forest wanted a body. The souls were competing for a shred of my shadows from every angle.
They nearly stripped me bare, actually. Your little friend is one of my strays. Though he obviously prefers you.’ Alec raised his hand to pet the snake around my shoulders. ‘I have a shelter for them, you know?’
‘You have a shelter for shadow strays?’ The thought was so unexpectedly sweet it made me smile.
‘Well, we have more shadow strays on the Isles than alive ones,’ he defended himself.
‘Can you take me there one day?’
‘Let’s go now,’ he said, covering us in darkness.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Avari
Spending the evening surrounded by a menagerie of shadow animals, with fur made of mist and eyes like starlight, I couldn’t believe how many Alec owned. There were tens of canines, felines, birds, and reptiles. Even my ever-composed snake swirled around me, fascinated by the shelter. Though he never left my side, I started to suspect he never would, and, to my surprise, I found the thought comforting.
I didn’t want to sour the mood; the world finally slowed down, and I wasn’t ready to shatter it with talk of what came next.
I needed my dragon.
The silence without her gnawed at me, and I refused to wait for shadows that wouldn’t obey.
Sitting on the floor and throwing balls for eternal puppies, a series of pings on Alec’s phone disrupted our peace. Getting so many, one after another, was never a good sign.
