Page 81 of Enchanted Shadows
“Are you done being angry with me for burnout?” she asked as we left the cabin. “I ate all my meals the last few days, and only used my Enchantments in small doses.”
I let out a sigh. “Yes and no. I’m still pissed neither of us thought to ease you back into things. I’m just spread a little thin right now with the end of training rapidly approaching. The final trial tomorrow.”
“Exactly. So why would you sign up for this?” she asked, as she tucked her hand around my bicep as we walked.
“Kessara,” I snapped. “Can you stop it with all the asking if I’m backing out or wanting an annulment and all of that talk? I’m not. I need to get to the end of training; I’ll have time enough then for some damn sleep, and things will ease up a bit.”
Her voice went quiet as she said, “I still just can’t wrap my head around why you would help me. I know you’d help Molly like this. Or Jessina. I know you’d run through a wall for Wren. I annoyed you often; I wasn’t ever one of your favorites.”
“You were my favorite from the moment you demanded I teach them how to punch.”
That seemed to surprise her, as she gave her head a little shake.
I continued, “If anyone else would have been caught going to The Dead Lake after I had specifically asked you to go in groups, they would’ve found their ass out.”
“But not me?”
“Not you,” I agreed. “I refuse to let you go anywhere until you see what I do. Realize what you are capable of. And while we are on that topic, I’ve seen what your dual Enchantments can do. Do you really think Calix stands a chance?”
She swallowed and took a moment before admitting, “I freeze up around him and Damek. They get in my head and my reactiontime hurts because of it. Magic to magic? Maybe I could beat him, but it’s the mind games and word games that I falter under. They toy with my emotions. And it works every damn time.”
How did she not see how strong she was? How strong she’d been since she’d walked a step onto Wylan’s shores, joining a team and hiding her true identity in an effort to protect her little brother. “Kessara, please don’t mistake my being short with you these past few days as my wanting to back out, or regret. I am tired. I am stressed. And I am not at all used to the attention we are about to receive.”
“I don’t like castle events either,” she admitted. “But I’m good at faking it through them.”
“Well, you are going to have to carry the team tonight,” I told her.
“The team? Like the Slay Sisters? Or just you and me?”
“You and me. Team Raikes.”
She thought for a moment. “We could always bail early. On account of marital bliss.”
I smirked.
“Are we going to have to kiss again?” she asked me.
I gave my head a shake and headed us intentionally away from the meadow. “I doubt it, but we will have to dance.”
My family was here,both my actual family and the one I found. Krew and Jorah. Keir and Esta. All the children. Miles. Emric. John. We were to eat what I hoped was an amazing meal together, but first we had a social hour.
Kessara was staying attached to my hip, with the exception of when Amos, and who I had to assume was her brother Artem, walked in.
She ran for him, hugging him tightly.
Artem looked to be about fifteen years old, in that thin and gangly stage of puberty. Realizing that he was only beginning to figure out how to wield the shadows like Kessara, I was hit with anger all over again toward her brother Damek. He wanted Artem removed from the line of succession before he could gain any real sort of power. It reeked of desperation. It was a move Theon would’ve approved of, and for that reason alone, he could never be allowed near a throne. But who were we to dictate who Agria could put on the throne?
Kessara pulled Artem over to me. “This is Owen. Owen, this is my youngest brother, Artem.”
“I was hiding in the house the day he came to interrogate Amos,” Artem told her. “I saw him, but we didn’t exactly meet.” His attention switched to me. “Hi.”
The house hadn’t been that big, but we hadn’t really searched it either. “Good to finally meet you.” I reached out and shook his hand. The kid had a firm grip, but not too firm.
“Thank you. For being willing to help us.”
I turned toward Amos. “No news yet?” He’d been checking in often, and I had to say I liked the man.
He gave his head a shake. “No. Granted it’s not as easy to overhear gossip here as it was among the shadows of Nerede at the docks. But it could be any day now. I suspect even if he has already arrived, he will wait out the dragon queen’s departure before he stirs up any trouble.”
