Page 2 of Shadows of Air and Earth
Suddenly, like a fucking cù sìth foretelling death, the general's emerald green eyes cut straight to my darkened hiding place and I inhaled sharply. I knew there was no way she could see me, I was part of the earth, part of the statue I stood by, but it sure as fuck felt like she could.
Sweet goddess and all her shit, I've seen that look before, I hated that look. It meant Remnant Dark had found a new mark and it was nowme.
An explosion of pixie fireworks suddenly made the crowd roar and her gaze shifted slightly, just enough to release me from my state of panic and split the earth, dropping Riley andme deep beneath the ground, where the tunnels I had carefully carved the past five years lay.
A half scream tore from me when I felt something brush against my side, quickly cut off by air being sucked from my lungs.
"Fuck Xi, it’s just me," Riley whispered. Noticing my shoulders slump with relief, he restored my air, leaving me choking while his glowing hazel eyes narrowed on me. I always loved the color of them, like andalusite gems—my favorite stone of browns and greens, like the earth. "What happened up there?"
Tugging my white hair back over my face, I muttered, "She looked right at me Ri. I don’t think she saw us but I have a feeling…." I shook my head, cursing.
I could not see his features in the darkness of the tunnel, but I could read the flash of worry in those bright eyes that I adored. "Well in that case, it would be foolish to ignorefeelingsterella.” Goddess that whispered air,his air,hovering again over the crest of my ear forced a shiver out of me. “Lead us out of here."
I grabbed his shoulder before he turned away, "Did you get it?"
Feeling the warmth of his smile, his breeze whispering gently around my body, he used the air to tuck my hair back from my face, to see both my eyes, something he only did when we were alone. Respecting my need to hide all other times, except from him. I would never hide from him.
I could hear the smile of satisfaction in his low voice, “Yes."
I knew she was there, she was always there, every year, for the pastfive years. It was never any different. There was no threat, just a careful studying, a studious assessment of the spectacle I wish I never had to be a part of, and the strange quality of her aura. Then the damn pixie fireworks got the crowd so goddess riled up that a few of them got too close to the queen and I had to react.
The moment the crowd calmed, my gaze snapped back to the statues where I knew she hid, except she was now gone. Cursing inwardly, I shook my head.
I could never see her, but I knew she was there…her aura always the same. Pale blue, soothing, and loyal—it shimmered, sparkling like a star in the sky. Intriguing and unique. A quality I never seen before from a fae and because of it, I was always rather eager to see if she would show, likely the only reason I even came to this event these days.
For it definitely was not for the queen, whom I left to get drunk and dance the night away with her spoiled inner court, her newest admirer the commander of the city among them. TheWinter Solstice was a celebration of the shortest day of the year, a chance to spread light into the world while darkness descended for the next three months.
It was my favorite time. Except I found I could not celebrate and definitely not with the queen.
Deirdre and I's relationship had been unraveling for the past few years. My intentions in joining her court were to keep my family safe but the vast power we both held brought us together as confidants, and ultimately lovers. I knew I was playing a dangerous game. One of choosing selfish desires brought on by years of loneliness all while keeping my true self, my true motives locked away. Except now the bond I had cultivated, the trust I had gained was growing strained. Deirdre’s most recent acts of violence against her own people, driving the distance between us even further. Alarmed, I had voiced my concern, not at all condoning her rash behavior in killing fae that were never proven to be traitors. A stance that she found both amusing and irritating. Stating that I needed to steel my spine and grow up from my mother’s shadow if I were to stay by her side and make the hard decisions for the better of Faerie.
For the better of Faerie. That was what I had always been here for and while I was no ancient fae, I knew goddess damn right from wrong. I had always known that there was a piece of the queen that was borderline mad, it was what made me take the vows in the first place. I had sensed danger there, for the fae, for my court, for the world. Except the extent of our powers left us both isolated and lonely in the palace life…I never would have guessed that I would fall in love with her. In that, I had seen a side of her no one else had. Vulnerable and soft, a lover in the darkness that drew me deceptively in.
Clenching my hand at my side, I cursed, sometimes one could not help who they loved. That’s what I told myself and while I still did love her, our intimacies had become less and lessas of late. Her teasing had become more cruel than seductive. Her touch more possessive than loving. A fact my heart didn’t give a shit about as if it were entranced by her, craving the softer fae that I fell in love with.
Stepping from the shadows, having escaped the celebrations where drink and revelry were reaching new heights, I walked along the marble statue garden. A memorial of fae lost in the Blood Wars. Pausing, I looked up at Deirdre's mother, Talgira, carved at the center of the gardens…so much like her daughter but also not. Her face was set outwards, seeing more beyond the horizon than I ever could.
Shivering, I leaned against her side, looking out beyond the City of Light, where her gaze looked knowingly onward toward the seductive waves of the ocean.
"Something is amiss. What do you see that I cannot?" I whispered, the shadows curling up into my arms while I absently watched a lone snowy white owl swoop through the stars heading east, hunting for its prey just as I hunted for answers.
Stroking the shadows, I pursed my lips…fate would unravel soon. I could feel it—just like the cool soothing darkness nestled in my arms. I just had to be patient, and well that…that never was my strongest suit.
Chapter 1
"Through the shadows sheclimbed, racing along the Nocturnes, determined to pull the eternal flame from the nuckelavee in order to stop the plaguing eclipse. A solar disease that had cut the sun from the sky for three long weeks."
The tavern was on edge, their voices hushed, no one moved. Even the bard relinquished his platform listening in, enthralled byherstories.
Xi Lanora Chin.
For a fae that did not like attention, she fell into her own when it came to epic tales, especially ones of the great General Remnant Dark. And if one didn’t know better, they would have thought that Xi Chin admired the great legend. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The truth was, she was goddess damnnervousand without an outlet for her nerves, she told stories instead. Clearly, Remnant Dark was prominent on her mind. As it was for us both.
It had been six months since we fled the City of Light, six months we had been looking over our shoulders every minute of every day. Six months of Xi being convinced that we did not get away unnoticed and that it was only a matter of time before the shadow fae general came for us.
Hands waved in grand gestures as she spun her tale, I watched with the same enraptured attention as the rest of the poor bastards in the tavern. All of us fell for her allure, mesmerized by the sound of her voice and the way her hair swayed over lush lips, eager to catch just a glimpse of the hidden beauty beneath those silky white layers.
