Consternation and anger came to mind, though I knew they weren’t directed at the land or its people but at the circumstances of my arrival.
I would love for their claims to be true. It would mean that after thirty long, lonely years, I finally had a place to call home and people to turn to.
‘Is it always so…’ I bit my tongue, not wanting to offend the smiling princess of shadows.
‘So…?’ she prompted.
‘Dark?’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. I thought father explained how the lands work. It’s not always dark, though many of our creatures prefer it that way. Besides, you arrived on a particularly dreary day. We normally get far more vibrant moonlight. It’s like a day you’re used to, just slightly more opaque.’
The claim shocked me. ‘So you don’t get regular sunlight here?’
‘Shadow lands tend to be peculiar.’ The girl giggled. ‘The isles are sentient, you know?’
‘Sentient? The land itself?’
She nodded, amused. ‘We get seasons, but rarely a pattern. And we do get some sun in spring and even more in summer, though we haven’t had a summer for a few years now.’
The new information tilted my world off-axis, like the lands themselves, breaking every law of nature. That must have been why the vegetation looked so different. With flora this strange, I wondered what the fauna might be like.
As we neared the dining room, our short conversation and the revelations that fascinated my witchy mind distracted me from the rising panic.
I had already met most of the people there: my supposed sire, my abductor, the red-eyed girl; there also were two other men, one of whom looked forced to attend.
His weary, hollow eyes told me all I needed to know about his eagerness to make my acquaintance.
Looking his way, Miriam hurried to his side and placed a hand on each shoulder, squeezing. ‘Avari, meetLuke. He’s the son of our father’s most esteemed council member and my fiancé.’
‘Nice to meet you, Luke,’ I managed, barely above a whisper. He gave a half-assed wave and promptly looked away.
Miriam had clearly made him come. There was such an enigmatic contrast between them that I couldn’t imagine how their relationship even worked.
‘Ava, lovely. Nice of you tofinallyjoin us,’ the lord quipped unceremoniously with a smirk he failed to hide.
‘Don’t even start. How was she supposed to know we have dinners at six if you never told her?’ my supposed half-sister snapped at him in my defence.
He flashed us a wide smile. ‘Well, now that you’re here, let us celebrate this joyful day—my youngest finding her way back home!’ He cheered, raising a glass of what, I assumed, was wine. ‘Don’t just stand there, child. Come on, sit.’
As he patted the chair beside him, all I could think of was how, weeks ago, River had done the same.
Mind scattered, I forced myself to stop thinking about him, but it was still too raw, too soul-bruising.
Reluctant but powerless to refuse, I sat where he indicated and glanced around. I had to admit the rough cement walls, accented with wooden beams, dried bouquets hanging from hooks, and a stone-tiled wood-burning stove created a cosy atmosphere. It was difficult to compare it to Fogoya, but it was certainly warmer than Ortensia’s dining hall, its beige walls as bleak and lifeless as my mother’s personality.
‘Tell us a little bit about yourself, girl,’ the ruler of shadows said, curiosity gleaming beneath command.
Panic gripped my chest in a tight vice. Every pair of eyes turned to me, waiting, not judging, just expectant.
‘Um… I come from Ortensia. I command fire and witchcraft, and I didn’t expect any of this in my wildest dreams.’ I gestured toward the table, though I meant something far deeper.
Miriam’s unforgivingly mesmerising eyes followed mine, holding me in place. ‘So, out of the two, which one did you prefer?’
Confused at first, I quickly realised what she meant. ‘I much prefer the Fogoyan terrain.’
‘Surprise, surprise.’ A devilish grin spread across my kidnapper's face before he dissolved into laughter. ‘Just the terrain, huh?’
The man was utterly insufferable. I could have scorched the stupid smile off his face. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
