Shadows so Cruel: A Dark Fantasy Romance by Liv Zander

Author:Liv Zander [Zander, Liv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781955871112
Publisher: Ink Heart Publishing
Published: 2023-10-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

Galantia

Present Day, a cliff

I stared at the reflection of a woman I barely recognized, the copper frame of my mirror glinting with the flames from the hearth across. For once, my hair hadn’t been forced into those ridiculous ringlets so fashionable at the human court. Instead, intricate braids, each about a finger long, lay tightly plaited along my scalp, the rest of my hair flowing open, wild, and unconfined.

Like a Raven’s.

A bonded one.

I breathed against the constraints of the bodice set into my gray mink dress, but all it did was provide more room for the quick beat of my heart to echo. “Why such a fuss if it’s only going to be the three of us?”

“You only bond once in your life, sweetheart.” Sitting behind me on a stool, Sebian ran his nails along my scalp, gathering that final strand that needed plaiting with slow, focused movements. “From here and on, we will keep your hair braided. Show the entire world that you are ours.”

Theirs…

My body turned sluggish under his caressing touch, calming some of the disquiet inside me. Or perhaps it was the way I thumbed the blue-ribbon bracelet on my wrist, turning the shards of aerymel sewn onto it this way and that.

Beyond my door, Tidestone lay silent, save for the occasional footsteps of guards patrolling the way to my room on the order of Malyr, for some reason. Outside the window, the moon illuminated the gray swaths of snow. Not much longer, and it would stand halfway between the bay.

When Sebian finished the tie on the braid’s end, I reached behind me, letting my fingers seek his.

He immediately took my hand, guiding our arms down in front of me while his chest pressed warm and reassuring against my back. Tender lips pressed against the side of my neck, kissing a slow, languid path up to my ear where he whispered, “I’ll be right there with you. Yes?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Now come.” He nuzzled my temple, gingerly ushering me to rise before he intertwined our hands and turned me to face him. “Which one is it going to be? Through the flight hole, or the long way around the castle?”

I looked up at those freshly shaved sides, his neat topknot, and that clean brown tunic he wore that I hadn’t known he actually possessed. “Long.”

“Yeah, I figured as much,” he said with a smirk, pressed a kiss to the back of my hand, then led me toward the door.

We strolled through the inner bailey where a group of minstrels sat around a fire, assessing their lutes and other instruments before the drif, dimly lit torches casting flickering shadows over the walls. A few lonely snowflakes swirled down from the sky.

“You’ll feel better soon, you’ll see,” Sebian said as he led me out through the gate. “The Endless Ache? It’s not going to be like that anymore, so long as you’re not separated for a prolonged time. Your void will be sated, too, sweetheart. No more rubbing your chest in your sleep because it’s starving.

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