I was almost too scared to respond in case it silenced her all together. “I’ll hear whatever you’re willing to share.”
She nodded. “You remember Wynn?”
A familiar heat raced through my veins, and my inner beast stirred. The rage I’d felt at seeing what he’d done to Leena, a member of my chosen family, had sent me into a murderous frenzy. But now was not the time to give way to my beast. I wasn’t even entirely sure what would happen if I shifted while shadow walking, and it wasn’t something I was eager to test.
With a deep, steadying breath, I nodded. “Yes.”
“He wasn’t the first one who went rogue playing with dark magic.” Her words were barely a whisper, as if she’d had to coax them out against their will. She pressed her eyes shut. Went entirely still. “My parents were.”
For a moment, I did nothing. Simply waited. I had my own complicated memories of my parents, particularly my mother. She’d destroyed me in ways I didn’t ever care to examine. If any inkling of my mother’s presence was somehow thrust before me again, no matter how tangential, I’d already be a beast rampaging through the Kitska Forest. Pushing that thought aside, I placed my hand over Kaori’s fingers. Shadows caressed the mercury veins, and she looked between them and me.
“What does this have to do with them?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Probably nothing. It’s just…” She curled her fingers upward, as if trying to intertwine them with mine. “Wynn primarily experimented on humans. My parents…experimented oneverything. What if…what if the missing Charmers are because of them and not Wilheim?”
My throat went dry. “We don’t even know—”
“They were exiled when I was young, supposedly sent to some prison off the coast of Allamere.” She interrupted me in a rush, her words gushing like water that had just been freed from a dam. “But they were powerful. So powerful. And dangerous. They could’ve escaped, could’ve made an alliance with the king of Wilheim somehow. Maybe they’ve been helping him capture Charmers all along. What if they’re…what if they’re experimenting again? What if…”
“Kaori, breathe.”
Glassy eyes met mine, and she inhaled sharply. “I’m sorry.”
I let go of her hand and stood up. “Get up.”
“What?” She blinked.
“Stand. Up.”
Slowly, she pushed herself off the couch. “I don’t understand.”
Before she could say anything else, I wrapped my arms around her and tucked my head against her neck. I knew she wouldn’t be able to feel the warmth of my touch, but I willed the shadows to encircle her and provide as much comfort as I possibly could in this moment. At first, she didn’t move. Then, she started to tremble. Her tremors sent ripples through the inky tendrils, but I commanded them to stay in place. Finally, she cradled her head in her hands and let out a quiet sob.
As gently as I could, I spoke directly into her ear. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“But what if I’m right?” she whispered between her fingers. “I don’t want to be right.”
My chest tightened. “Then we’ll take it one step at a time. But we don’t know anything yet, and if we focus on what we can’t control…” I sent a soft tendril snaking through her fingers. She pulled her hand away to watch its progression as it danced along the silver veins of her wrist. “Then the beast wins.”
Tears lined her face, and she looked up at me through thick lashes. Something shifted in me in that moment. Not my beast. Not anything I could really name. But it was warm and full and entirely too much. For the first time since we’d arrived in Hireath, I was glad I wasn’t physically there. Otherwise, I didn’t know if I would’ve been able to restrain myself in that moment. My fingers burned to brush away her tears. To cup her face and hold her close. To…
A tremble raced through me, one I was thankful she couldn’t feel.
Just then, a small, insistent shadow slipped beneath the door and raced across the floor toward me. Ozias. So absorbed in my conversation with Kaori, I hadn’t realized that he was waiting outside. A strange mixture of relief and irritation brewed in me. Relief because I didn’t have to stay and examine whatever the hell was going on in my brain, and annoyance because…
I let my arms fall away and took a small step back. “Ozias is waiting outside.”
Kaori nodded and rubbed her hands along her arms. Right where my shadows had been. “Thanks, Calem.”
“Any time.” I flashed her a grin because that’s what I did best—hide behind a smile. And with that, I headed for the door, eager to put some distance between me and the woman who’d turned my thoughts upside down.
Twenty-Seven
Leena
I knew the moment Oz and Calem returned that something was wrong. They’d pulled Kost, Noc, and me into our sleeping chambers—a few dark tendrils still clinging to their frames from their shadow walk to Hireath—and closed the door. With quick, stilted words, they revealed that a mysterious package, one likely left by Yazmin, had made its way undetected into the keep. Kaori and Raven had discovered it first, then showed it to Calem and Oz so they could inform me. For the time being, the parcel was safely under guard in my quarters, unopened and awaiting my return.
But that was days ago, and while Isla insisted we were making great time on our journey back to Lendria, it felt more like an eternity. Anxiety gnawed at my insides, and I often found myself pacing, unable to focus. All I could think about was that parcel, and my mind continuously served up horrendous worst-case scenarios. What if the box contained some disastrous beast just biding its time, waiting to unleash fury the moment I pulled open the twine? Or maybe it contained proof that Gaige wasn’t missing, but rather captured by her hand—or worse, killed. Noc had tried to soothe me, but there was little that could assuage my fears short of unboxing the damn parcel myself.
