Chapter Nine
Shadows and Soft Peppery Kisses
The night air tickled my cheeks as Rowan scaled the side of the castle. I made the mistake of looking down and got dizzy. The ground was so far away. One wrong step and we’d tumble off the ledge, splatting on the grass like bugs on a windshield.
“Watch your footing,” I said, arms around his neck as I clung to his back. “Don’t slip.”
“Keep squeezing me so tight with those thighs and I may not have a choice.” Humor rang in his voice. “Then again, as I said before, death by your thighs wouldn’t be the worst way to go.”
“But falling to our deaths would. So eyes forward.”
He released a raspy laugh. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“I’m not your prince or your king.” I pushed my face into the back of his hair, breathing in his peppery scent. “I’m your treasure.”
“Aye. You are.” Rowan’s voice softened. “And gods help the one who tries to take what’s mine. With a few exceptions.”
I smiled.
A smile that turned into a screech as he leapt from one window ledge to another. He climbed higher up the castle wall, and I pinched my eyes closed, silently praying to the coffee gods to spare us. I had helped spread the good word across the land, after all.
Cresting the top, Rowan swung upward and caught the edge of the roof before pulling us up and over. Although still high up in the air, I felt safer having solid ground beneath us. Not exactly flat though. The roof sloped at various angles.
“Now the real fun begins.” He peeked back at me, excitement dancing in his eyes.
Shadows stretched toward us, seeping up from the crevices between stones where the moonlight couldn’t reach, and circled his feet.
It reminded me of black smoke. He took off into a slow jog before gaining speed and leaping from one spot to another.
Each leap had us airborne longer than a normal jump.
The shadows made him move as though he weighed nothing, helping lift him through the air.
As he ran across the roof, I kept hold of his neck and tipped my head to the sky.
Stars twinkled in the dark web, far too many to ever count, and the moon appeared larger than life, casting a silvery glow over the surrounding land.
I noted several areas of the sky that had a dusty consistency, like far-off galaxies.
Each glide in the air and quick dash forward made me think we really were flying.
The roof stretched for what seemed like forever. I’d known the castle was a decent size but hadn’t realized how big until we were on top of it with a bird’s-eye view of everything around it. Distant lights could be seen, coming from what must’ve been the village.
“Are you scared?” Rowan asked, taking a firmer grip on my legs before jumping across a small space between wider sections of the rooftop.
“No.” I breathed in the night air, loving how his peppery scent mingled with it. “I feel… free.”
Free from the stressful direction my life had taken. Free from the worry of what would happen next. Being with Rowan took that heaviness from me, as if his shadows made me weightless too.
“Good.” The swirling shadows crept higher up his legs. One reached my dangling foot and wrapped around my boot, and though I didn’t feel it, there was something comforting about the touch. “I never want you to be afraid of me or my magic, little treasure.”
Something occurred to me, then. Much like how Lake had been worried after I’d seen him rip out a mercenary’s throat with his bare teeth, maybe Rowan felt the same.
He had used the Bone Crusher on one of them that same night—the name I’d given to his special power move.
Shadows had engulfed the man before tightly compressing, turning him into a mess of bloody tatters of flesh and shattered bone.
Those same shadows now touched my boot.
“I could never be afraid of you, Ro.” I hugged him closer. “Of you or your shadows.”
Though subtle, a tremble passed through him.
He didn’t say more on the matter. Not that I expected for him to.
He had no trouble teasing me or being snarky, but despite how far he’d come and how much he’d grown, he struggled when it came to expressing his emotions.
It was the one barrier he hadn’t fully knocked down after welcoming me into his world—and trusting me with his heart.
The tower at the far end of the castle came into view, growing larger as we neared it. Dark stone glinted under the moonlight. The gothic architecture reminded me of Dracula’s castle.
“Look.” Rowan pointed toward the ground on the other side of the roof. Glistening water sparkled in the luminous, silvery light.
“A pond,” I said in awe. Not any pond either; it was huge with glowing orbs floating beneath the surface. Purples, reds, and dashes of yellow and green. “What’s inside it?”
“Fish,” he answered. “Fluorescent scales, I reckon. I saw them last night and wanted to show you.”
“You went out last night? Alone? I should spank you.”
His body shook with a soundless laugh. He made sure I had a secure hold on him before swinging from the edge of the roof and beginning the trek downward.
Going this way was almost as nerve-wracking as going up, but I couldn’t bring myself to hide my face and look away like earlier. The view was too beautiful.
“Don’t close your eyes, little treasure.”
“I won’t,” I told him, my heart light and fluttery. “I know you won’t let me fall.”
“Never.”
He climbed down the wall with ease, possessing a sure-footedness he’d mastered over his many years of going wherever the wind took him, never staying in the same city for long. Thieving to survive. The thought made me hug him tighter.
Once safely on the ground, I slid off his back and wobbled before righting my balance. He smirked at me, and I pointed at him. “Not a word about me being clumsy.”
Rowan put his hands up. “I’d never dream of teasin’ you for having the grace of a newborn boar.”
“Clever.” I playfully cut my eyes at him. “Making fun of me while vowing not to.”
That smirk became more apparent. The sexy scoundrel.
When he offered me his hand, I took it without hesitation. Only a few short months ago, he’d struggled with even this level of intimacy, but now, he slid our fingers together and moved his thumb in slow circles against mine as if second nature to him.
Trees I’d never seen before surrounded the pond on both sides.
Their leaves glowed in various shades of green and blue, fluorescent just like the fish beneath the water’s surface.
Everything seemed to hold a touch of magic, even the grass.
The top of it held a shimmery glow, reminding me of the meadow and magical willow tree in Bremloc.
“I haven’t been outside the castle at night before,” I said, sweeping my gaze around the area. “It looks so different during the day.”
“Darkness reveals what the light hides.” Rowan stopped near the bank with a pensive expression. “A whole other world.”
“And it’s just as beautiful.” I released his hand and looped our arms together instead, resting my head on his shoulder. “I love the sun, the moon, and everything in between.”
He turned his face into my hair. “Fitting for a child of light and dark to say. A balance of both worlds.”
“Don’t remind me.” I softly groaned. “I’m still trying to come to terms with what that means. I don’t feel magical or extraordinary. Definitely not like a saint or whatever. I just feel like… me. The same old Evan who trips over flat ground and lives off caffeine and sugar.”
“And who has his own harem.”
“Stop it.”
Rowan smiled against my ear before nipping at the lobe and drawing back from me. But he didn’t go far. He led me closer to the water and plopped down on the grass, slowly pulling me down beside him.
I brought my knees up and rested my arms on them, staring at the glows dashing beneath the water. “I wonder what type of fish they are. Kind of reminds me of koi.”
“Do koi have teeth?” Rowan asked. “Because I saw one of them snatch a frog earlier and chow down.”
“What?” I was horrified. “You’re joking.”
“Am I?” His smirk returned, uplifting one side of his mouth. “We could always throw you in and see if one bites you. Pretty sure sad toads would taste just as good as a frog. Probably better. One taste and it’d come back for more.”
“You’re so mean to me.” I drew my legs in closer and inched farther away from the water’s edge. “I finally escaped from Herbert and now you’ve unlocked another fear.”
“There’s that flower you saw earlier too,” he said. “The one Specs said was carnivorous. It sure looked hungry.”
“Oh god. I forgot all about it. Yep. Total nightmare fuel.”
As an orange glow beneath the water passed too close to us for my liking, I pressed to his side. He slipped his arm around me and shook with another soundless laugh. The jerk. I bet he’d lied about the teeth just so he could tease me.
Howls echoed throughout the surrounding forest, one after the other. Sounded like a pack on the hunt.
“Fenrir.” Rowan faced the nearest set of trees. “Wonder if Oreo is out there with them.”
“Maybe,” I answered. “I think he’s more of a lone wolf though and likes keeping to himself. Until he wants head pats anyway.”
“Just like another wolf we know.” Kicking one leg out in front of him, he bent the other and rested his arm on top. “Since being in this realm, though, he’s come out of his shell.”
“Lake seems happy, doesn’t he?” I shifted my gaze to the multitude of twinkling stars above us. “He can go outside and be around people without worrying about being thrown into a dungeon or killed.”
“His tail keeps wagging,” he said, his earlier smile returning. “And not just because he wants to whack me with it.”
“I’ve noticed that too.” I mirrored his smile.