Page 38 of Shadow Kissed

“Say hello to your mother for me the next time you speak,” she says, and I glance back over my shoulder at her.

“We both know you’ll be speaking to her before me. Don’t think I don’t know that she’s likely asked you to keep an eye on me and to see if any Asen catches my eye.”

Moryen laughs and winks at me. “You know your mother too well.”

“That I do,” I reply as the guards open the main doors and I head back outside. It’s late. It must be around two in the morning. I make my way over to the barracks and check in with one of my generals for updates from the front line. A soldier on watch comes to my office with reports of increased mutt activity outside the protected walls of the valley. I frown at his words. This is unheard of. The mutts always steer well clear of the valley. They know there are large numbers of Shadow Borne here, so they stay away for self-preservation. Our magic can’t kill them, but it can burn them and leave them incapacitated for a short time. General Warbow and I follow the soldier outside and along the wall to the front entrance of the valley walls.

“Look,” he says, pointing out into the dark landscape beyond the walls, which is mainly made up of dense forest and rolling hills. “You see them?” he asks.

I follow his line of sight and sure enough; I see the glint of their eyes in the treeline. The soldier passes the general his looking glass and his frown deepens at what he sees.

“There are at least a couple of hundred of them out there.”

The soldier nods his head. “They’ve all arrived in the last half an hour. It’s odd. They seem to be waiting for something.”

“Send out scouts tomorrow to check the seal to the void. Notify me immediately if there have been any changes.”

“Yes, Lord Commander. I’ll make the arrangements now,” he says, saluting me and leaving to carry out his orders.

“What do you make of this?” General Warbow asks as we both make our way back towards the barracks.

I shake my head and bob my shoulders. “It certainly is odd behaviour.”

He grumbles in agreement, stroking his bushy black beard. “Especially after that incident over in Terleigh. I hear many Asen lives were lost?”

“Many. Young and old,” I reply with a grimace. “I dread to think how many more lives would have been lost if we hadn’t been there that night.”

The General nods his head and looks grim. “The mutts come from the void. Do you think there could be something happening there?”

I sigh and shake my head. “No. Maybe. There has been no activity from the void since their king’s demise. Why now?”

“I’ll report back to you when the soldiers have been to investigate.”

We both pause upon hearing a chorus of howls from beyond the walls. It’s not a sound you hear very often around here. In the stillness of the night, it bellows through the valley, echoingagainst the thick protective walls. There is a responding chorus of howls from further afield. They are communicating across packs. It’s unheard of.

I head to my quarters in the barracks. I was offered rooms at the mansion, but I prefer to stay with my men. My rooms here are small but sufficient. My shadow wolf, Nyx, wags his in tail in greeting when I step inside, and I crouch down to stroke him. His ears perk up when the howls beyond the walls start up again.

“It’s okay, boy. They can’t get beyond those walls,” I assure him, but even as I say the words, I doubt them. How can I say that when they breached the walls at Terleigh just a few nights ago? My thoughts drift to Eretreya. Somehow, this is all linked to her. Her being left in the forest that night started something. I just don’t know what.

I strip out of my clothes and climb into bed. The moment my head hits the pillow, I feel the effects of the restorative energy from the onyx. Which is why we made our base here, within the natural valley of these onyx mountains. The crystal helps us to rejuvenate and recover.

The howls continue, getting louder and closer. I sit up in bed with a sigh. There’s no chance of getting any sleep. I climb out from under the covers and walk to the window to look out at the mansion across the valley and I call upon my shadows to take me to her.

She sleeps soundly. How is she sleeping through this racket? I don’t know what brought me here. Her long blonde waves fan out across the pillows. Her eyes closed and her lips parted slightly. My shadows sneak out and make their way towards her, disappearing under the covers, and I close my eyes, savouring the moment when my shadows touch her skin. I wonder if I cloak her in my shadows again, if the hounds will lose her scent?

My shadows urge me to take her. Itching to be close to her again. They climb up her limbs, gently wrapping themselves around her, caressing her as they go. Once she’s secure in my magic, the covers pull back and, ever so gently, I bring her to me. Her slight frame hovers in the air and I frown when I see she’s in his clothes again. Scared of waking her, I ever so slowly bring her to me and when she is within reach, I take her in my arms and my shadows wrap around us, transporting us back to my room.

I lay her down on my bed, my shadows dancing delightedly around her, excited to have her close. I carefully lay beside her and wrap her up in my scent and my shadows, covering every inch of her body. Nyx sits up and studies the stranger in my bed. He trots over to the side of the bed and sniffs her scent. Studying her quietly, he glances back at me before disappearing back to his bed in the corner of the room. I lie beside her and, like some crazed stalker; I inhale her scent, my shadows almost sighing in contentment. I’ll return her to her own bed in the morning before she wakes. She’ll have no idea she spent the night here with me. The night falls silent again; the mutts stopping their frenzied howling the moment I covered her scent with my shadows. Who is this girl in my bed and what is her connection to them?

16

REYA

I’m in a warm cocoon and I don’t want to open my eyes and face the morning. My first day in Shadow Valley, and my first morning of not waking up at home with my family. My heart breaks a little, thinking about my little brothers. I miss them so much already. I always expected this would be difficult, but I wasn’t ready for it because it happened sooner than I thought. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

I frown when I hear someone else breathing. I open one eye. What in the Mother Goddess?! Wide eyed, I look at the man sleeping beside me. I look down at my body and his shadows dance and weave around me, wrapping us together.

“Tell your shadows to get off me right this instant?” I growl coldly.

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