by LJ Swallow
Nerissa watches curiously as Galen unbinds my arm and smears the salve across the cut. The wound tingles from the mint and then begins to heat. He watches my face, studying my eyes. "All right?"
I nod, and with a smile, he refastens the bandage.
"You don't seem as injured or affected as the lightbringer," she says. "That's strange. He’s a man. Your body is weaker."
"I was only nicked with the dagger containing the poison."
"Nicked?" She inclines her head at my arm. "That is a deep cut."
I flinch as she holds her hand out and takes hold of my arm. Nerissa shakes her head slowly and looks between me and Galen. "Magic. I have met enough Ebon to know when I’m touching a shadowmancer. She's one, isn't she?"
My mouth dries and heart speeds. I told the guys that these people wouldn't believe the story about my ordinariness.
"How can she hold shadow magic? She isn't an elf. Only elves can," Nerissa continues.
I snap my head up. "If I'm not an elf, I'm not a shadowmancer, perhaps?"
"There are rumours that the Ebon queen isn't an elf either. Nobody knows what she is. Perhaps you're related?" Her laughter chimes across the room.
Galen's silent discomfort adds to mine. Why am I getting this story from a stranger in a cursed town?
“We’re most suspicious of you, Galen. The Ebon have spies. We know this. They infiltrate our town to keep us subdued. You are an elf."
Galen tips his chin. "If I were Ebon, you'd sense it. I am not."
"I never said that. I mean you could be working with them. Your friends should be suspicious of you, especially travelling with a shadowmancer.” She tips looks at me. "Tell me, why are you with them? Who are you?"
"That is of no concern," puts in Galen.
"I beg to differ. She is born of shadow. A Daughter?”
"I am not. I don't practice any magic," I protest.
“We have a problem. If they are seeking your party out, and she is a Daughter, you bring danger. I must talk to Amos about this.” Nerissa screws the lid back on. "We can return to dinner and you can help the lightbringer. Then it is my husband's decision if you stay in town overnight or go."
She leads us up the stone stairs and heads along the hallway back to the dining room. I grab Galen’s sleeve. "Explain to me who these people are. What did the Ebon do to them? She said they can't leave the town. How do they grow crops? Eat?"
"They refused to leave the shire when the Ebon took over. Instead of slaughtering them, as they had others, the town was left but under their control. They rely on the Ebon for everything, trapped in this twilight world. Nobody can leave. That's the town's punishment."
"Leander told me all this earlier, but I don’t understand why the Ebon left the town alive? Half-alive."
"We believe the Ebon like to have towns situated to catch wayfarers who cross through their territory. The townsfolk can pass on an early warning to the Ebon that strangers enter their land. I think this town’s coastal location helped. Once over this was a thriving port and somewhere boats could dock. Most now know to stay away, but there's always the chance some could try to enter the shire this way."
"But if there's a coast, it must stretch further than this. Surely the people could leave if they wanted."
Galen gives me a sympathetic smile. "This realm is filled with other creatures that would deter visitors. Leave the beaten path and you will die."
I swallow. "Like we almost did."
"Exactly. Come. Before Nerissa thinks we are plotting something. They may hate the Ebon, but they also rely on them for everything. If helping is leads to danger for them, I’m unsure what will happen."
Inside the dining area, Rohan and Leander continue their discussion with Amos. Are we wayfarers that will be stopped? Or do they know not to take on powerful opponents? I sit back at the table while Galen attends to Rohan's arm. Nerissa pours me a new drink and I'm grateful for their hospitality, whatever the motive here.
16
CALLA
The evening continues with the pair's strange hospitality, and I fight against showing the exhaustion weakening me. I've never had a day as stressful as this before. Unless I count yesterday and the threat of death.
Rohan perks up over the next hour after the salve is applied, and my arm no longer stings. I take a surreptitious look and am happy to see the angry red and black corners have faded.
I maintain my politeness drinking wine and attempting to chat about my old life in Westdale. Nerissa asks many questions and her attitude shifts. She becomes quiet, even hostile, but doesn’t say anything to Amos yet. I steer the conversation from me to her and begin to understand more of her hostility.
A life in this town is a living death.
I can't gauge Nerissa's age, but she tells me she was born here and has known no different. I feel pity and sadness for Nerissa’s situation half expecting her to ask to come with us. But her husband is the town’s leader. That would never happen.
My thoughts turn to Luin and his disappearance, and my stomach tightens further. Did the Ebon take him? Without him, I feel as if part of me is missing.
Leander finally makes his excuses and asks if there's somewhere we can retire to sleep, and my body floods with relief to match the tiredness. My arm may not hurt anymore, but my head spins thanks to the alcohol.
Following our meal, we're dispatched to the local inn. Nerissa and Amos apologise profusely that they can't accommodate such noble people as us in their home. I find this strange after Nerissa insisted on hospitality for the High Lord earlier. We know the real reason: they don’t trust us.
If the edges of the world weren’t softened by drink, I'd be nervous of the people filling the tavern. They all hold the same haunted look and unhealthy appearance. The room is as crowded as the inns in my town, but there's no laughter and frivolity. Only people drowning their miserable lives in the bottom of the glasses on the tables in front of them. Even the courtesans are missing from laps.
They pay us little attention. Amos and Nerissa’s servant who brought us through town to the inn speaks to the vacant-eyed innkeeper. The place is in disrepair, chairs broken and floors filthy. I'd rather sleep on the ground in the nearby woods than in a bedroom is as dirty as this.
We're taken to a room with a small bed crammed into a corner and a tiny window with no curtains. The shivering caused by the poison earlier returns because the room is bone-achingly cold, not because the ill effects returned.
Leander and Rohan remain downstairs, talking to the innkeeper, while Galen accompanies me to the room. I sink onto the bed and look at him.
I’ve seen the desire in Leander’s and Rohan’s eyes, but although he’s friendly I can’t figure Galen’s feelings for me.
I don’t understand his race. Perhaps elves aren’t attracted to human girls? There’s not much difference between Galen and other men physically. He’s taller and slimmer, but the muscle as solid. I know that from the grip he had on me on his horse. “You’ve been very quiet this evening, Galen.”
“You saw what these people think of elves.” He tucks a strand of silver hair behind an ear and the mattress sinks further as he sits beside me.
“But you’re nothing like the Ebon, are you? You’re a gentle person.”
His blue eyes search mine. “Do you think I am less of a warrior than Rohan or less powerful than Leander?”
“No. I mean your diplomacy and your kindness to me. I feel annoyed for you when you’re judged because you’re an elf. As if all elves are like the Ebon.”
Galen takes my hand and traces a pattern on my palm, his high brows tugging together. “Ebon and Lumen elves are the same people, Calla. We just choose to use different parts of nature, but any elf could switch direction at any time. The Ebon use the decay and brutal side found in the natural world. Lumen like to use the power that makes the world thrive—we focus on what is good. But that doesn’t mean we’re any less powerful.”
The sensation of his fingers aga
inst my skin sends a shiver through me.
He lifts his eyes to mine. “We have a gentle side from our connection to nature's power, but nature is also unrestrained and dangerous. Elves hold a force more powerful than any other race. That’s why the dragons allied with elves and not humans.”
My pulse rate picks up. “I can’t imagine you as dangerous or unrestrained, Galen.”
“Then you underestimate me, just like the men downstairs underestimate you. Never judge by appearances, Calla.” His eyes move to my lips. “You don’t understand that what drives me isn’t calm and collected thought. I keep my elven soul constrained in order to stay with and be accepted by the human court.”
He touches my cheek and the same buzzing sensation spreads, but to my lips this time.
“I am more powerful than Leander or Rohan. He may be the High Lord, but I hold an influential position in the stronghold. I understand the Ebon more than any as I’m only a heartbeat away from their nature.” My eyes widen. Should I be frightened of the man I trusted the most? “Don’t worry. I’m a hundred percent behind the crusade against the Ebon queen. She ruined my land and my race. Killed my family. I want her defeated.”
With his words, come a new understanding of this gentle man and the hidden wildness inside. Alone with him for the first time, that intensity emerges and draws me to him. I was attracted to Galen’s compassion, but the thought of his power arouses me more.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Galen.”
He shakes his head. “That was many years ago, in the first Battle of the Flights.”
“That’s over a hundred years,” I whisper in shock.
“I know.” He nods at me. “Yes, I’m a little older than you and the others.”
He strokes my hair and the gentleness is no longer in his eyes, his pupils dark. Should I be frightened of him?
“I looked for you, Calla. For the daughter of shadow. I needed to find her, to take control of her magic and use that for good. But with that comes a risk.” My stomach tightens as his mouth moves closer to mine. “Your magic speaks to me, because the shadow is buried in my soul too, even though I refuse to use that side of nature’s power. You may think I’m a gentleman who stays away from you through respect, but that isn’t the case. It’s because I fear what you could arouse in me.”
He rubs my cheeks with both thumbs. “Leander and Rohan think they can take you to the stronghold and the Silvercrest can take control of you and your magic. What they don’t understand is that nobody could possess you in this way. You will learn everything about your capabilities, but how you use that power is your choice. Do you understand?”
I nod and swallow. “Yes.”
His lips touch my cheek in a sudden and brief move. He draws away and looks down at me, his features transformed from soft to unmistakable need. “I’m not afraid, because I sense the light inside you is greater than the shadow, but I do want to possess you in the same way they do. I can’t fight that and win.”
Galen’s sudden change in attitude and response to me is a shock. I knew he held a deeper intensity than the others, but I never realised he was keeping himself separate from his other side he describes.
The ache to experience that surprises me as much, a deeper part in my soul reaching out and wanting to connect with him physically. But another side is hesitant and fears rejection.
Nerissa said she didn’t understand how I could be a Daughter and not an elf. I was immediately attracted to one I met at the fair years ago. He talks of shadow in his soul and light in mine, as if we both hold the mix. Is there something more bringing me to Galen and taking control of us in this moment?
I press my lips against his, eager to feel more than the brief brush of mouths. My heart immediately blooms, as if he’s taken hold and used his magic on me. Of the three men, he was the one I least expected to find myself in this position with.
He kisses me, holding my head gently in his hands as his soft lips linger on mine. His kiss tilts my already sideways world further as his mouth presses harder against mine. Galen grips my hair and his sudden change to a fierce kiss surprises and ignites me as I eagerly urge him on for more.
The door opens and slams closed again. "This is a fucking bad idea," grumbles Rohan. "We could be killed in the night."
He halts and stares at where I spring away from Galen and at my flushed cheeks and mussed hair. He tips his head and consternation crosses his face. “Is everything alright here?”
Galen stands and smoothes his shirt with a nod. “I was explaining to Calla the truth about elves.”
Rohan gives a throaty laugh. “Adding in a demonstration too? I always knew you were hiding the side you deny. An elf is an elf, light or dark. Careful, Calla, he’ll charm you into anything he wants.”
I chew a fingernail and ignore his comments. Is that what happened? “What happened in the tavern, downstairs?”
He shrugs. “I drank some mead while Leander talked to the innkeeper and tried to find us more than one room. Problem is, Leander doesn’t want to tell them who he is so they’re not bowing to what he wants.”
“I agree we should leave early tomorrow. Amos was suspicious of more than just me.”
“I’m worried about them knowing what Calla is too,” says Rohan. “They’re scared of the Ebon too. Harbouring a daughter of shadow is as big a threat.”
I pick at the edge of my sleeve. “You keep calling me that. It might not be true. Plenty of Ebon are shadowmancers. I’m not special.”
“As I just told you, you are, Calla. And we need to discover why,” Galen says.
"We're to be crammed in here tonight?" asks Rohan. "All three of us?"
"Think yourself lucky that we have anywhere inside rather than in the woods. The Ebon are likely to look for us and would be happy to search a town they've razed once before.” Galen nods. "How are you, Calla?"
The earlier unwell feeling left, but the pain and alcohol has left me shaky. "I want to sleep."
Rohan searches the robe in the corner of the room and produces a bundle of blankets and drops them to the floor beside me. I gaze down. "Should a knight of Lux reduce himself to lying on the floor when there's a bed available?"
"Not usually, no. But I'm not at the stronghold. I am in the field."
"I bet the High Lord won't want to either." I shake my head. "Why is a High Lord travelling with you? I heard they stay out of the battles."
"You heard much that is wrong." Rohan lies down and yanks the blanket over him. "Sleep. We have to reach the stronghold by tomorrow and I want to get out of this godforsaken place."
I shiver again and the perspiration breaking out across my back cools. I detest the clamminess and the disgusting clothes after two days and can't stand to be clothed in this any longer. The men continue a quiet conversation as I unbutton my brown dress.
Only when the material shuffles to the floor do the two look around. I stand beside the bed, dressed in my white slip. In the world I lived in two days ago, this situation would be unthinkable. In this world I've found myself in, men seeing my swelling breasts and nipples peaked from the cool environment, beneath my slip doesn't rank high on things that concern me.
My slip stretches half way to my knees, almost as long as when my dress were trousers, but the thin cotton leaves very little to their imagination.
"Females don't need magic," mutters Rohan as he sweeps a gaze the length of my body. Galen's eyes remain on my face, expression hard to read, as if our charged encounter never happened.
"Why?" I ask.
"If they strip, men are charmed into wanting bad things." He arches a brow.
Attempting nonchalance, I grab the grey blanket and climb onto the uncomfortable straw-filled mattress. The lantern in the room flickers, and I stare at the floor. A rug covers wooden planks, blackened in places as if there has been a fire. There's no smell to match. The building must have survived one from long ago. I hope the structure is safe.
Galen sits on the bed's edge and co
ntinues to study my face. "You do not look good still. Did the salve not work?"
"I'm fine."
The serving girl at Nerissa and Amos’s house served a homemade distilled elderberry gin that Nerissa insisted I try. I don't normally drink and avoid the intoxication many I know enjoy, because the one time I did, I vomited everywhere. Now the same sensation washes over me. I've denied the effect, and hope if I sleep, it will retreat.
But now Galen's features are morphing in front of me.
He's still elven, with his distinctive ears and long hair but his face has changed to something more frightening than the half-human-looking people I saw in town. His teeth are pointed in perfect symmetry and his sharp cheekbones are more prominent. His face has changed into something angular and more sinister, as if he’s a carved marble horror found only in nightmares. Is this the side of himself he just spoke to me about?
Galen speaks my name in an unnatural, deep timbre, which echoes around the room and my head. I stifle a scream.
17
ROHAN
Calla looks at Galen in the way human children do sometimes: fear. Why is she suddenly frightened of an elf she’s spent so much time with? Calla shrinks back on the bed and her pupils dilate as her fear grows. I side glance Galen who looks back in shock. I swear I saw them kissing, but has he done something more to Calla? She stares at me and scrambles backwards and moves to stand between the chipped wall and the bed.
"What are you both?" she asks in a hoarse voice.
With trembling hands, she edges around the bed towards the door. Galen reaches out to Calla who flattens herself against the wall, figure stiffening.
"Calla. What's wrong?" I ask.
She points a trembling finger at me. "I heard about your kind in stories, but never knew something like you could disguise yourself as a lightbringer. I can see your true face.”
“What in the stars’ name are you talking about?” I ask.
“Shapeshifter. Did you possess a dead warrior’s body? And him… He’s worse.” She covers her mouth with both hands. "Let me go! You won’t possess me too!”