Page 133 of Taken By Shadows

Not kissing. Not yet. Teasing.

Not punishing. Not yet.

I nearly cried out from the faint contact. I shouldn’t want this. And yet, I couldn’t deny my body what it craved, what it needed.

But the warmth of him ripped from me before I could taste anything.

I opened my eyes, about to reprimand him for threatening to shatter me and then not doing so.

“Someone’s coming.” He broke off the contact and put me behind him.

Chapter forty-one

“You are already on thin ice, Gav, but I’m really going to kill you now,” he growled as his friend approached. His muscles rippled and flexed around me as he restrained himself.

Kaed angled to Gavrin with predatory stillness.

I was still tangled in Kaed’s arms. The pulse of his body beat against mine as he leashed whatever violence he wanted to hurl at Gavrin.

All light drained from the sky when we saw Gavrin’s face drawn and hardened. Kaed’s entire body went stone still.

“Tymon is back. He’s at the house.” Gavrin’s face was grave. “Whatever it is, he won’t tell anyone until you’re there.”

We flew to the house.

Rather, Kaed flew. I panicked. He gave me no warning before he scooped me up and jumped from the city walls.

His wings of shadow and smoke snatched us mid-air as he caught an updraft. We weren’t falling but soaring upwards.

And all the while, I couldn’t stop looking at the wings that beat and pushed us through the air. Like storm clouds that came and went with clashes of lightning.

But they held us until Kaed landed us in the orange grove of the Alabaster Palace, a fountain bubbling behind us.

He said nothing when we landed, but his hand wove into mine. My heart crashed in my chest from the flight but also from the nearness of Kaed. The familiarity in his touch. And the fact that I didn’t want to let go of it.

For a moment, we didn’t leave the grove. Kaed looked torn. Like he didn’t want to face whatever might be within the house. If he didn’t, maybe we could just stay here. And I felt that too. I wanted it. I needed it. Heat still sang in me beneath my skin, like a symphony of emotions and chemicals culminating in a melody that had awoken inside of me.

After a single deep inhale, Kaed led me through to the white walls of the house, leaving the moment behind.

Thick curtains blotted out the evening sun in the room so that only the soft bobbing fae lights illuminated us. Denora and Tymon were waiting, their backs stiff as we entered. Tight nods were exchanged, but no one spoke. The room was dotted with inkings of places and islands I’d never seen, tilted drafting tables held maps and parchment, and it was an effort to draw my focus back to the company around me.

A few moments after we arrived, Gavrin crashed through the doors, panting from running back.

When asked if it was safe to speak, Gavrin flexed his fingers and then gripped them into a fist. He threw up a green glow that coated the entire room with a shimmer, the lustre flickering and fading away with a soft pop.

“It is now,” he said, inclining his head to Kaed.

Gavrin’s defensive magic skill sat opposite his innate sense of violence. I wondered at the juxtaposition of the two sides of him—the perfect complement to each other or warring sides?

“What is it, Tymon?” Kaed’s voice was strained.

“I’m sorry, I am only back now. I didn’t know about …” Tymon paused, his throat bobbing. “About the Cage. Kaedian, I am sorry. If I had known … I’d have come sooner.”

Tymon looked stricken at what had befallen Kaed in his absence. He’d only been gone a few weeks, but it had been enough to twist everything around him.

Kaed plastered a false grin on. “Don’t worry, Eryk Selldayne was good enough to be my sponsor.” The grin fell away instantly.

Tymon’s face went grave, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it apparently. “Sapphine tried to keep what was happening from me,” he said with bared teeth.