Girl of Rooftops and Shadows (The Shadow's Apprentice Book 1) by Harper Alexander

Author:Harper Alexander [Alexander, Harper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

17

Something Wicked from the Sky

“If ever there is something you need, I will get it for you. If there is something you desire, make it known. I will always be here for you,” Clevwrith had promised Despiris – and though he had not shown his face in over a month, he would return to prove he still lived by those words.

*

Despiris held her open palm beneath the dripping eaves, hyper focused on each raindrop that splatted rhythmically into her hand. She’d been at it for nearly an hour, laboring to manipulate even the smallest effect. So far, she’d been rewarded with nothing more than a tremor, and couldn’t even say she’d been the cause.

But she had to do something to distract herself. Clevwrith had been scarce since their kiss, and his aloofness was beginning to bother her. She’d hardly caught wind of him in the stacks, and hadn’t technically laid eyes on him in nearly a month. Anyone with lesser-trained senses would say he had disappeared entirely, but there were times Despiris caught his scent, or glimpsed his shadow, or picked up the barest whisper of movement as he made his escape.

Too, the greenhouse hadn’t gone to ruin, so he had to be coming and going. Admittedly Despiris did her part, but she always arrived expecting everything to be overgrown and underwatered, and there were always signs that things had been recently tended.

Which meant that Clevwrith was merely avoiding her, and the thought left her restless and morose. She had wounded him, responding the way she had to his kiss. Wounded him, embarrassed him…who was to say, really. She had no experience with such things. But it obviously hadn’t been the reaction he’d been hoping for. And although she didn’t feel guilty for stopping him when she’d grown uncomfortable – and knew he wouldn’t want her to – it pained her that he had opened up, made himself vulnerable, poured out his affection to her, and had been snubbed in return. He’d looked so disheartened…

In the back of her mind, she wondered what would have happened had she not stopped him. Had she kissed him back.

What would those mirrors have shown instead of her pulling away?

A hot prickle of goosebumps ghosted down the nape of her neck, breaking her concentration from the raindrops. Shaking her head, she honed in again, brows furrowing to retrain her focus.

‘I guess I’ve never really thought about it,’ her clueless words echoed in the back of her mind, and Clevwrith’s reply:

‘Try. Thinking about it. You might be surprised what you can do.’

So there she was, thinking about it. Consciously interacting with the element she supposedly held power over. Trying to get it to do something – anything – to prove what Clevwrith suspected.

Some elemental, she thought sardonically as raindrops continued to splash unaltered into her palm. Her fingers were starting to turn wrinkly. Maybe Clevwrith was wrong.

But the cooling trick with the tea had to mean something. And there were the other things, too. Things

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