Chapter 25 Nox
Nox
Fine. I was impressed. Devora was doing rather well with her shadows. I made a mental note to tell Kieran that perhaps I should keep making the plans going forward, considering this was my idea.
I watched hour after hour, day after day as Thecae trained Devora in her shadows.
Arowyn and Everett occasionally jumped in with their striding or illusions to give her practice dealing with other kinds of magic.
Even Calyra, Thecae’s spritely mother, would commandeer Thecae’s sessions to discuss some of the deeper elements of shadow wielding with Devora.
“You know, neither your mother or father could shadow melt,” she said one evening, two nights before we needed to head back to Drakorum. She wagged her finger at Devora over a bowl of stew. “But Ceres was the best shadow marker I’ve ever met.”
“Shadow marking? What’s that?” Devora asked, adjusting her thick glasses on her nose.
She didn’t wear them when she trained. She said she was worried they’d get in her way.
When she wore them, it made her look…softer, almost. Still fierce, but with this edge of vulnerability hidden behind the lenses.
Either way, it was hard not to notice how beautiful she was. When—
I jerked my head to the side at the intrusive thought. Fates, what kind of a monster was I to have thoughts like that about the woman I’d kept captive in my own home? The woman I was training to send off to spy on my brother?
Something tightened in my stomach every time the impending ball came up.
When I first devised the plan, I thought it would be easy to put her in certain danger.
If she was willing, so was I. We had nothing to lose.
She was a traitor to my empress, which effectively made her a traitor to my people.
She meant nothing to me other than being part of the mission.
But now, it was almost as if I was anxious for her. I knew what Scarven was capable of, and the thought of her being in his clutches…
The lines were blurred. Things weren’t as black and white with her as they were three and a half months ago.
“Shadow marking is where you leave a bit of your shadows behind,” Calyra was saying. “Almost like an anchor to help you find your way back.”
“Sounds kind of like my magic,” Arowyn mused with a bite of stew in her mouth. “I can summon things to me if it has some of my essence connected to it.”
Calyra nodded. “We may possess different magics, but it’s all from the Fates, isn’t it? Runs through each of our veins.” She patted Devora’s hand, who was gazing at her with quiet admiration.
“What else is there?” Devora asked.
“Well, there’s shadow whispering,” Calyra said. “Shadows carry sound, you know. If you’re in a dark enough space, some can use them to tune into sounds from far distances.”
“I think you’ve actually already done that, Devora,” I said, and she looked over in surprise. “You told me once that you can hear whispers from my men all the way up in your tower. That’s not something a normal Veridian can do.”
“Impressive.” Thecae nodded at her.
Devora moved a strand of hair behind her ear, her cheeks turning pink under the praise. “Okay, so, there are lots of different variants.” She tapped her spoon against her bowl. “How could I use them against Scarven?”
We hadn’t told Thecae and Calyra everything, just enough for them to get the gist of what we expected Devora to do: infiltrate the governor’s mansion and learn his secrets.
If my friend Lark trusted them, I figured it was safe.
They certainly held no love for Scarven after the way he tried to control the borders between our provinces.
“You can’t be too obvious with your magic,” Everett pointed out across the table. “He’s supposed to think you’re from Mysthelm.”
“Well, I’m so glad I learned all that shadow combat I can’t even use,” Devora said, cocking her head at Thecae with a sarcastic smile.
He tipped his cup at her. “You’ll be thanking me when you find yourself at the sharp end of a blade.”
“Nobody’s going to be at the sharp end of anything,” I cut in.
“You’ll get close to him and make him intrigued enough to want to show you more.
Once you’re past his main wards, it’s just a matter of gathering intel.
You’re not trying to single-handedly bring his mansion down.
We need to know where he’s keeping his stash of fatesprig, what he’s doing with it, and how we can get past the wards to destroy it. ” I ticked each item off on my fingers.
Devora turned to face me, locks of that red hair falling over one shoulder. “Why are you so confident he’d let me get close enough to find out any of this?”
“I told you, he likes to collect things. We only just allied with Mysthelm. It’s been centuries since we’ve had magic-less people wandering our empire. He’s going to covet someone like you. Someone he’s never had before.”
“So what, I smile and look pretty? How am I supposed to make sure I get his attention?”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Arowyn said with a snort. Devora raised an eyebrow, and Arowyn shrugged. “You’re hot, Devora. And young. And men are pigs.”
Everett grunted. “Present company excluded, I hope.”
“I said what I said.”
“Look, Scarven is an intelligent man,” I started.
“But he’s also incredibly arrogant. He rules this province with fear.
And while that’s satisfying to him, it’s not enough.
I think…” I trailed off, sorting through how to word this next part without giving away my proximity to him.
Not many people knew of our relationship.
“I think in his quest for power, he’s grown lonely.
He wants someone to share it with. Someone who’s like him.
I’ve always wondered if these experiments are his way of trying to turn people into himself.
” I waved a hand in the air. “Most are either disgusted by him or are too scared to do anything other than blindly follow him. But very few are interested. I think if you were to show intrigue in his work, his desire for that connection would tempt him to share more than he’s usually comfortable with.
You just have to take advantage of that. ”
Devora stared at me, then blinked slowly. “How do you know so much about him, Nox?”
My jaw clenched, but I held her stare. She didn’t know the truth. The fact that I shared blood with this vile man was something I hardly ever admitted.
“It’s my job to know the enemy,” was all I said.
For the rest of the evening, Calyra and Thecae talked through the intricacies of shadow melting, marking, and whispering.
Calyra was particularly skilled at shadow whispering, and she had the rest of us move into the training grounds and speak near the shadows to see if Devora could train her own magic to carry the sound back to her.
Arowyn told some rather questionable jokes, while Everett recited excerpts from his books on Veridian magic.
Devora couldn’t hear a single one. But even I had to admit, the atmosphere was lighter than it had been since before Devora joined. In just a few short days, Arowyn and Everett had become as comfortable with her as they were with anyone in the Order. She fit in better than I could’ve imagined.
Part of me was relieved. As a leader, I wanted unity. Shifters were pack creatures, and the pack worked seamlessly when everyone was on the same page. But the other part of me still felt guilty. As if I was pardoning her betrayal, sweeping it under the rug like nothing had happened.
I didn’t know how to let go.
But I was trying.
“Alright, last one. Nox, you’re up!” Calyra shouted, her voice echoing to the far end of the training grounds where I stood.
With my Shifter senses, I could hear her saying to Devora, “Remember, all shadows are connected. They can speak to one another. Just imagine the shadows around him carrying the sound back to your own. Relax your mind—don’t force it.”
I heard Devora’s soft inhale and exhale. A moment later, I leaned into the shadows in the corner.
“Look, Devora,” I whispered, knowing she was far too tired for her magic to work.
“The thing is, I want to trust you after everything you’re doing to help my people.
” I scrubbed a hand down my face as I forced the words out.
I was speaking more to myself than anyone else at this point.
“But it’s hard to give up that control for someone I barely know. ”
I took a deep breath and murmured, “I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re becoming one of us now. So…thank you. I know I haven’t said it yet. Thank you for what you’re doing. It—it means a lot.”
As I headed back to the buildings to rest for the night, I thought I saw a tendril of darkness flick against my ankle as the whispered words “You’re welcome” died on the wind.