The Darkness of Shadoewynne: Book 3 of the Shadoewynne series

by Penelope Kein

  Kait was eyeing me as we walked. Eventually, he said quietly, “Did everything go okay?”

  “No!” He stiffened. “Everything is fine with me and the baby. She is just exasperating. The conversation was frustrating me.”

  He chuckled. “I know how you feel.” He held up his hands as I glared at him. “What makes you think I was talking about you?”

  I tapped my temple. “Don’t forget I can mostly hear your thoughts now, if I concentrate.”

  “I knew you could tell what I was feeling, but I didn’t know you could hear my thoughts.”

  “It’s not perfect. I have to concentrate really hard and it’s more of a general idea than actual words.”

  “Hmm.” We arrived at the carriage and I climbed inside before Kait could try to help me.

  When we were settled, and the carriage was moving, I said, “What does ‘hmm’ mean? Are you not happy that I can read your mind?”

  “No, I was hoping it was a little clearer to you. I like the idea of you being in my head.”

  I laughed. “You’re weird! Why would you want me in your head? You wouldn’t have any privacy, no way to vent about me even to yourself. You can’t tell me I don’t make you mad sometimes.”

  “Oh, you drive me insane.” His voice went low and a fuzzy picture came over the bond. He wasn’t talking about the same thing I was. I could feel my face heating even as desire curled low in my belly. “Especially with your thoughts. You go from innocent to brazen in your head at the drop of a pin.” The carriage shuttered to a stop. We reluctantly climbed down into what looked like a war zone. Small, broken bodies were strewn everywhere, and the large leaves on the side of the path were painted red with blood.

  My stomach turned as I looked around. A brownie staggered into the path ahead of us, blood bubbling out of his mouth as he tried to speak. I knelt down next to him and blanketed him in my healing power. The internal damage was extensive; there was no way I could heal him. Kait met my eyes, and he nodded. A few minutes later, with one last bloody gasp, the brownie died. Tears welled in my eyes.

  Kait rubbed my back as he said, “The brownie indicated it was a rogue dragon, but I think there was more to it. Dragons normally don’t do this, brownies are too small to be much of a threat, even to the small dragons, and the small ones would have eaten them. We need to proceed cautiously. Let me go first, hang back to where you almost can’t see me and I will let you know when it’s safe to move on.” He put both hands on my shoulders as he stared at me, his brown eyes serious on mine. “Promise me you will do what I say or you are staying with the carriage. I’m not risking you and the baby for this.”

  I gulped as my eyes darted around, settling on each of the small bodies. Normally I would fight him on this, but… “Okay. I promise.”

  “I will motion like this,” he held up a fist, “for stop, and like this,” he pointed one finger, “for go. Move in the direction I am pointing, whether or not it’s on the path. Make as little noise as possible and stay low.” I nodded and he headed off. Just before he disappeared around the corner, he pointed ahead of him, so I moved forward in a crouch. It was an awkward way to walk but he seemed to think it was important. I kept my pace to his, making sure not to catch up to him. Suddenly, he threw up his fist, signaling a stop, just as a massive roar ahead of him shook the leaves surrounding us. He threw himself to the ground, so I followed, but slower. I didn’t want to hurt the baby by landing on my stomach.

  I put my hands over my head as I watched his feet, which was the only part of him I could see. He rolled off the path into the undergrowth without signaling me. What was I supposed to do?

  The ground shook as something massive moved toward me. When I saw the clawed tip of a scaly toe, I rolled into the undergrowth. Just a few moments later, a massively clawed foot landed on the path next to me, where I had been laying. I clamped my hands over my mouth to hold in the scream as another foot landed very close to my head. The dragon moved down the path toward our carriage.

  After I had laid there frozen for a few minutes, Kait pulled me up. He spoke in my mind, “I think he found the carriage. We need to move back that way. You will have to heal him without touching him, and hopefully, without him even being aware of us. I will cloak us as much as possible, but you need to be quiet.”

  It felt like my eyes were as big as saucers as I nodded. This would be the hardest healing I had ever done. We crept back along the path, moving in the underbrush next to it instead of on it. We had almost reached the carriage when Kait stopped and I saw the tip of the spiked tail waving through the woods. I took a deep breath and spread my magic toward it, similar to how I had healed the cursed forest. It settled over the dragon, who huffed as a shiver ran through its tail. I pulled the darkness from it, then settled back. The dragon huffed again, then took off, nearly flattening us with the downdraft as it did.

  “Did you get it?” Kait was watching me with a frown.

  “I think so. I had just finished when it took off. I don’t understand how it didn’t sense us, though.”

  “My Lorgaire magic allows me to cloak my scent and small noises I make so I can’t be sensed. It’s one reason I’m such a good spy. I can extend it out to individuals around me, which is why it didn’t sense you either. Now, lets go back to the hotel so Eir can check you.”

  “Kait, the last three weeks didn’t contaminate the baby, I doubt this trip will. We can take our time. There was a nice pool over there.” I turned and put my palm on his chest for a moment before walking my fingers up it as I made my voice as cutesy as I could. “We could sit for a bit and dip our toes, or more, in.” His breath caught as his eyes heated.

  Then he shook his head and moved away. “No, let's get back.” I pouted at his backside as I sorted through the feelings in my head. There was an overwhelming fear from him. Stifling a huff, I grabbed his hand.

  “Kait, what are you afraid of?” He refused to meet my eyes.

  “Nothing.” The bond felt blanketed again. He was trying to block me.

  I sat down on the dry dirt path. “We need to talk and I’m not leaving until you do. What’s wrong?”

  “Princess, we need to get back to have Eir check you and the baby. We can talk at the hotel.”

  “No. Talk now.”

  He glared at me with a stoney face for a few minutes. I laid down and stared at the sky through the gently moving branches of the trees above me. A dragon flew overhead and I watched it circle for a few minutes. I was beginning to think we would be here all day, but I was determined to wait him out.

  Eventually, he sat down next to me and put his arms on his knees, which he had drawn up to his chest. “When I was young, still in my twenties, I fell in love. I won’t fill in all the boring details, but suffice it to say, she didn’t return the feeling. When she married her bonded, I fled the town I grew up in. My heart never mended to where I could be happy for her. All I could think, every time I saw her, was it should have been me with her. A few years later, I found out that she had died while pregnant after coming into contact with a venomous dragon. During my travels over my very long life, I have heard countless tales from heartbroken men who have lost their bonded while pregnant, or in childbirth. To say I’m worried is an understatement. I am terrified something will happen to you.”

  I knew he was hard-wired to be protective, so his attitude wasn’t really a surprise, but it was eye-opening learning about his past love. Since he was over two-hundred years old, it didn’t surprise me he was in love before, but I had been sure it was my great-great-grandmother, not some girl from the village he was born in. I didn’t know how to react to the revelation. He never looked at me while he talked, and he was still not. He was staring into the forest, just like I was. “What was her name?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. The point was to make you understand why I am so worried.”

  I got up and moved in front of him, getting in his face. He blinked at me. “Kait, I understand. I will try
to not get upset at you, but I need you to try to not be so domineering with it as well. I promise to see Eir immediately once we return, and immediately after every trip where I heal, and I promise not to touch strange animals, if I can help it. I will tell her and you if I feel different, or ill. But you need to trust me, too. Trust that I know my body and can tell if something is wrong.”

  “I will do my best, but you also have to understand that this is my anxiety. We work with you on yours, please work with me on mine.”

  That made me pause. “That’s fair.” I stood up and held my hand out for him with a smile. “Now, let’s get back to the hotel so I can get checked.”

  He returned the smile and took my hand. When he stood up, he pulled me against his chest, wrapping his arms around me tightly. He spoke into my hair. “I love you, Evalia. You mean the world to me.”

  “I love you, too.” He released me, running his hands down my arms, taking my hand as he did. We walked the rest of the way to the carriage slowly.

  The ride back was quiet. I leaned against him with my eyes closed, thinking about the origin of Kait’s fear. It was legitimate and I needed to make sure I remembered that when his over-protectiveness gets on my nerves. The guys should probably know, too.

  The rocking of the carriage was lulling me to sleep when it jerked to an abrupt stop, then dropped to the ground, jolting me from the seat. I caught myself on the opposite seat just before my head hit the wall. The walls had gone opaque when the carriage stopped, so we had no way of knowing what was going on. Kait gave me a stern look as he moved toward the door. I smirked as I sat back in my seat. Message loudly received.

  He shook his head before cracking the door open just enough to peek outside. I was about to ask him what he saw when he slipped outside and shut the door behind himself. Cursing, I inched toward the door. I cracked it and put my ear to it. I heard his voice, but not the response. A few moments later, he climbed back in with a serious expression. The carriage began to move again.

  “What?” It came out a little sharper than I intended.

  “A group of mermaids stopped the carriage. They need help. The carriage will follow them back to their pond.”

  “Umm, how did mermaids move from their pond?”

  “They can switch between legs and fins.”

  “Oh. You know, I think I need to learn about the beings of Shadoewynne. What’s real versus what’s just myth.”

  “That’s a good idea. If you plan to help Travis, you need to know about the denizens of Shadoewynne, and how to interact with them.”

  With a slight shudder, the carriage stopped and lowered to the ground again. Kait looked at me before opening the door. “Touch nothing, and let me do the talking.”

  “Okay.” He climbed out, then held out a hand to help me. I took it, even though I didn’t really need it.

  The mermaids were waiting for us on the opposite side of the carriage, in front of a large, slimy pond. Just looking at it turned my stomach; the smell didn’t help. I put a hand over my mouth as I swallowed back bile. Their voices were strident screeches that were unintelligible to me. Kait replied to them in the same language but his baritone made it sound more warbly than theirs did. I edged away from the pond as they conversed, but after a few moments, I lost the battle, and had to dart around the carriage for privacy as I lost the contents of my stomach. One mermaid came around and rubbed my back while cooing at me. I wiped my mouth as I smiled at her.

  She nodded, then moved her hands toward the pond, beckoning me to follow her. I shook my head. I wasn’t going anywhere near that pond if I could help it. Kait looked over when I came around the carriage and walked over to me. The mermaids followed him slowly, looking like they were gossiping, and checking out his butt as they did. I glared at them, which made them laugh in little musical titters.

  A smile tipped up one side of his mouth as he sauntered toward me, enjoying the attention. When he reached me, he swept me up and kissed me hard. I opened for his questing tongue. The mermaids watched with shocked expressions. He whispered when he let me up for air. “Now they know I’m yours.” I couldn’t help the giant smile, but I smothered it against his shoulder.

  He raised his voice. “Their pond is contaminated. They want to know if we can fix it.”

  I couldn’t help the curl of my lip as I looked at the stinking pond. The last time I had cleaned something like that, I was in it, and I really didn’t want to repeat that experience. Especially since I had lost control and jumped the guys as soon as I got out of it. He rubbed my back as he leaned in. “I know it doesn’t look great, but they are dying. The sludge is choking them.”

  “I don’t want them to die, but it stinks, and I don’t know if I can do it without getting in the water.” He looked at the pond, then back to me.

  “I don’t want you in it, but I don’t smell anything.”

  I swallowed hard as I looked at the pond. I had to try. My stomach roiled as I walked toward it. Hoping it would work, I held my hands out over the pond and attempted to blanket it with my power. It dissipated before it reached the oily surface. After a minute or two, it was very apparent that I would have to reach into the slime. In a vain attempt to block the scent, I brought my shirt up over my nose before I reached into the pond. The oily slickness coated my hands as they sunk below the surface. As I gagged, I forced my power into the water as fast as I could. It was a race to clean the pond before I vomited again. Even though I worked quickly, I was swaying by the time the water was clear.

  The second I pulled my hands free, Kait swept me into his arms. The mermaids cheered before they dove into the pond, disappearing below the surface. They didn’t return before Kait deposited me in the carriage and we rode off. I felt his magic seeping into me, but the sick feeling didn’t lessen on the rest of the ride home. In fact, the swaying of the carriage made it worse. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I was sure I was green. I staggered from the carriage, clutching at my stomach.

  David met us at the door, crackers and Aluimute ale in hand. I grabbed them, taking a small sip before shoving a cracker in my mouth. Eir was out next, bathing me in her power as we walked. In the lobby, we stopped to sit at the couches as I recovered.

  Eir gave me a stern look. “What did you do?”

  I swallowed the dry crackers, then took another sip before answering her. “I healed a dragon, then cleared some sludge from a pond.”

  “Did you touch something?”

  “The pond. I had to put my hands in it to heal it.” I scrubbed my hands on my shorts. Now that I was thinking about it, I should have washed my hands before eating.

  “You should not have put your hands in that sludge. It was toxic.”

  Kait jumped to his feet and started pacing. “Is it something you can clear from my system and the baby?” Kait made a small noise like a groan.

  “Yes, but it will take some time. Let us go to our rooms so we can be comfortable.”

  I sighed as I climbed to my feet. With a small glance at Kait’s tense form, I said to Eir, “You will either need to go with us, or we need rules going forward. How do I know what’s safe and what’s not? I felt sick when I smelled the pond but I thought that was just because of the smell.”

  “We will discuss upstairs while I heal you.”

  Chapter 23

  As we walked upstairs, my stomach knotted more and more. By the time we reached the room, I had called myself every name possible and was beating myself up. I spun to Eir as she closed the door behind us. “What was I supposed to do? They were dying!”

  She sighed. “Stop panicking. You didn’t make the wrong choice and I can heal both you and the baby. I will go with you, both to guide you on what you can, safely do and also to be a backup for the tasks you cannot perform. That way, you can stay safe while endangering no one else.” She turned to Kait, who had unobtrusively followed us into the room. “The level of toxins in the sludge is minimal. If she were not in the early stages of pregnancy, it would not be somet
hing to worry over. As it is, she could have been exposed to more than triple the amount she was and still be fine. I will cleanse the remnants from her system, but her magic is cleaning it too.”

  He nodded stiffly while he continued to pace. For a moment as she watched him, compassion flitted across her face, but her usually stoney expression replaced it quickly as she turned back to me. “Sit!” She pointed at the couch.

  I sat, tempted to pant like a dog, but she wouldn’t understand my sarcasm, so I stomped hard on the urge. She gestured for me to put my legs up on the couch, so I laid down, resting my head on the convenient throw pillow. Her magic blanketed me in warmth and I quickly drifted off.

  *********

  When I woke up, the room was dark and quiet. I sat up and stretched, muscles stiff from sleeping in an odd position.

  “Ah! You’re awake! The cleansing is done. Now, please go to your room. Your men worry about you.” Eir’s voice drifted out of the darkness.

  “Thank you for healing me.”

  “Your welcome, child. Now go!” I huffed at the abrupt dismissal but it seemed to be the middle of the night. The door clicked quietly as I shut it behind me. The hallway was silent, and the lamps burned low, barely giving enough light to see. Luckily, my room was just one door down. When I reached it, I could hear quiet male voices in the room beyond. Apparently, they waited up for me.

  They all jumped to their feet when I opened the door. Kait’s voice was dry as he said, “Did you have a nice nap?”

  “Haha, very funny. By the way, Eir said I’m fine, and so is the baby.” Well, she hadn’t used those words, but close enough.

  “She told us.” This from David, who sounded just as dry as Kait had.

  I glanced from face to face as I sorted through their emotions. It was hard to determine if they were mad at me, or just worried. Finally, I decided to just ask. “Are you guys mad?”

  David and Kait sat back down but Travis stepped forward with a serious expression. His brilliant blue eyes trained on mine, and I could see the lines and darkness caused by his worry around them. My heart clenched. “Babe, we aren’t mad, but we were really worried. We have been discussing the baby, and some issues it has raised for some of us. As a result, we think we need to communicate as a family better. There is concern that we are not effectively hearing your worries, and you are not hearing ours.”