Tristan’s eyes are on me in an instant. “It’s a long story, but as you can see, not an impossibility. Most Dark Companions can’t do that, but is that something you’d like?”
I exhale, but my lips crook. “Who wouldn’t? Then I really would be like the chosen one.”
I don’t know if Tristan knows this trope, but for just a moment I contemplate having supernatural abilities and turning into the fantastical version of myself I imagined back in childhood.
“Chosen for… what?” he asks with his eyebrows lifted, but we’re already approaching the Lord, and only then I spot another elf next to Lord Kyran’s towering figure because he’s just that tiny despite also wearing heeled riding boots.
His hair is so blond it’s almost white, and he has the face of a porcelain doll, pink lips included. He zeroes in on me with big blue eyes, then his gaze darts behind me. “Oh my. It really is faint,” he says, and I realize he’s talking about my shadow.
“Sylvan,” Tristan says with a deep inhale. “Strange comment from someone who lost their shadow completely.”
He groans and rolls his eyes. “I am only saying what is plain to see. Is it true that you were tortured to help it grow? Did it work?”
I choke, stepping back so fast my heels tangle in the train. The bright interior darkens, music morphs into the loud crashing of waves outside, and I’m falling, falling, falling, straight into the hole in the floor, where the bloodthirsty creatures await their meal.
A strong arm scoops me up, and then I’m partially hidden under Tristan’s cape, his fingers gently combing through my hair, so fragrant with the scent of oiled leather. “He didn’t mean it, my love.”
Love?
Air dances in my throat, and I slide my arms around Tristan’s waist, savoring his warmth, because his presence is so healing I can’t stop the flood of emotion pouring through me.
Tristan kisses the top of my head. “He’s just socially inept.”
“Sylvan, what the actual fuck?” Luke hisses, and it’s such a modern and human way to put it, it grounds me back in reality.
“It is only a question in pursuit of science.” Sylvan spreads his arms. He might look harmless, but I’m wary of anyone I might meet tonight. He’s the master alchemist I exchanged letters with, so who knows what he has up his sleeve.
Lord Kyran smites him with his stormy gaze. “And what would the outcome be if that were to work? Would we torture humans until their shadows blossom? That those who we promise our souls to become our victims?”
Sylvan’s cheeks turn a bright pink, and now he avoids my gaze. “Maybe curiosity got the best of me, My Lord,” he mumbles under his breath.
“It did not ‘work’,” Tristan says through gritted teeth. “But Gloombane is dead now, and the same fate shall befall anyone else who lays their finger on my promised.”
Our small group sinks into complete silence, a dull bubble at the centre of the party, but Luke finally breaks the spell by clearing his throat. He shakes my hand. “I’m so glad to finally meet you! Sabine and Tristan have been raving about you. And I hear you delivered a two-headed cow just recently?”
Heat climbs up my cheeks, and I shrug. “It’s not a big achievement. I’ve been a vet tech in my former li—”
“You must be joking,” Luke cuts in, clearly a bit drunk on the cherin. “When I first saw the kind of cows they have here, I was ready to sneak back into our own realm!”
“He was safe at my side,” Tristan says, rubbing my shoulder as what he said before replays in my head on loop.
My love. My promised.
I look up at him, unable to hide my adoration. “A bull charged at us. It was probably just protective of the cow giving birth, but the danger was there. Tristan wrestled it into submission. It was… impressive.”
Lord Kyran laughs. “I’m surprised I’ve not heard about such a feat five times over already, Tristan.”
“Well, it wasn’t for show. It was for Nate.”
Warm bubbles of happiness go straight to my head, making the alcohol I’ve drunk already even more potent. “I didn’t know such chivalrous men still existed.”
“They do in the Nightmare Realm,” Luke supplies, and I notice him flashing Tristan a discreet wink.
Sylvan takes the opportunity to excuse himself, and soon enough it’s just the four of us discussing my experience at the Court. The conversation moves on to Valentine’s Day as a celebration, and a love feast called Ardournalia, which is celebrated by the whole Nightmare Realm, but while I can sense Luke wants to ask me more questions, when Tristan informs me the melody played by the musicians is his favorite, I let him lead me into a dance.
When I’m with him, the nightmare of what I’ve been through fades, and I get to believe that the person I was when this journey started still exists. I can still laugh, dance, and make silly comments to Tristan.
Whenever someone new comes up to talk to us, Tristan is there to mitigate any unpleasantness and guide me. I also get to see a whole new dimension of him around others, and it reminds me of how easily he took up the challenge of beer pong, how he mingled with humans with ease.
