Chapter 16
—Kienna—
Kienna found gloves. As soon as she was sure Calder would be good company for Moira and Tislin, she took off, running with Ruva through the city to clear her mind.
She didn’t expect to run into a shop selling leather gloves, but she was delighted, knowing they would help her with the constant picking.
They were elbow-length, matched the brown of her pants, and stiff.
The leather did nothing to help with the sweaty palms, but the barrier brought comfort.
She brushed her hands against her soft, navy-blue shirt, tucked loosely through the dark leather belts and straps cinched around her waist. Pouches and tools hung within easy reach.
When she returned home, Tislin was waiting outside the door, dressed in black as he always was, ash-blond hair falling neatly to his shoulders. “Calder has been rather agreeable this morning,” he said. “If you wish to remain out and train, Moira is content to keep him company.”
Calder had likely come out of the worst of the awful experience, and Kienna wanted to be there for him, yet something held her back.
Flashes of the morning plagued her thoughts—thoughts of Danek leaving without so much as a goodbye.
Seeing Calder would only remind Kienna that Danek had finally managed to get under her skin.
She almost brought her hands to her face, but the gloves stopped her.
“How do we train with shadows?” she asked.
“It’d be best if we go outside the city to do it.”
I don’t like playing with those shadows, Little Flame. Ruva licked her hands. And I don’t like this leather blocking me from your touch.
Kienna kneeled to Ruva. We trust Tislin. Out loud, she said, “Stay here, Ru. You let me know if Moira needs any help.”
Tislin led her to the opposite side of Dove Port until they reached the bridge, which stood unscathed in the rushing water of the Goldmere River.
Its roaring entranced Kienna, pulling her closer to the bridge.
The sun cleared the horizon, its sparkling bright orange hues dancing along the murky blue of the river like thousands of fireflies against the darkness.
White foam folded over the rocks near the shallow end as the water rushed downstream.
Two Dove Port soldiers stood at the entrance.
The chest pieces of their armor were etched with sigils of a dove with waves for wings.
Their heads were uncovered, hair pulled back, swords tucked neatly into scabbards at their sides.
They shifted the moment they saw Kienna and Tislin.
“Soldiers.” Tislin tipped his chin.
“Tislin,” one said. “We didn’t realize you were in the city.”
Tislin shrugged. “Few ever do.” He glanced toward the open water. “We’ll be sparring. Magic, mostly. You’re welcome to stay nearby, but I’ll warn you, it may be unsettling.”
The soldiers straightened. They exchanged uneasy glances but remained at their posts. How many times had Tislin been out there before? Did he torture these poor soldiers with his shadow practice?
Tislin stepped back, letting the bridge’s shadow swallow him whole.
He stretched casually, his arms straining against his tight-fitting shirt.
As he did, Kienna caught a sun enveloped by flowers engraved into every pillar of the bridge—a sign of hope.
An airy breath escaped her, but it was stolen when Tislin unleashed a wave of black, smoky shadows from his palms. They seeped from him, curling like mist from a corpse, and then they charged forward, ravenous for whatever they could latch onto.
Tislin remained locked on Kienna.
The shadows fixed on her, too.
Fear grasped her. She’d prepared herself for this exact moment, but seeing the creatures without form nearly debilitated her.
Kienna wasn’t as ready for this as she thought, and the understanding was infuriating.
The shadows twisted together and launched toward her.
She staggered back, tripping over her own panicked feet until she hit the sunlight.
Kienna braced for impact, sobs catching in her throat.
The shadows stopped dead at the edge of the shade and let out a high, ragged screech.
When the shadows didn’t reach for her, Kienna dared a glance in their direction. They hovered in the dark, trembling and shrinking as the sun rose higher in the sky. Tislin reeled them in, and they vanished into his skin.
Kienna stood, uninterested in Tislin’s explanation, and stormed him, slamming her palms into his chest. “What the actual fuck was that? You had no right!”
“You cannot ease your way into shadows, Kienna. You asked me to train you, and you either step in or you don’t.” Tislin pursed his lips, catching her wrist before she slammed another force into him.
She grunted, snatching herself from his grasp.
“I need to escape the nightmares, you fuck! Not earn more.” She hit Tislin again, slamming her palm into him as many times as she could.
He surrendered and waited, wincing each time her hand pushed at his torso.
Kienna’s rage dissipated, and she stared at Tislin’s blank face.
His gray and brown speckled eyes drifted down to her.
“You saw how my shadows could not cross into the light. Most cannot unless they’re Shades.
Shades are commanders of the shadows, with real form, but shadows are just that, creatures that live in darkness with no form.
Light can weaken Shades, too, if given the right amount. ”
“So what?”
“Let the light in.”
Tislin threw shadows at her for another hour until Kienna no longer feared how close they got.
Even if she didn’t make it to the light, Tislin stopped them before they could touch her.
When the sun got too high, they moved under the bridge, even into the water.
Kienna hated every second in the water, running from the two things she feared at once.
Memories flooded her from the dungeons where water suffocated her before the shadows.
The walls dripped black with ink, chains cuffed around her arms. She couldn’t fight back then.
She could only sit and wait for the torment to hit her.
Even now, being able to fight back and protect herself, she couldn’t shake the trembling.
The fear tugged her in the water. Her head fell beneath the surface, as if the shadows were dragging her all over again.
Tislin pulled her out and told her to try again.
At some point, the water stopped feeling so terrifying, and she didn’t feel the need to run anymore.
She learned the shadows had a pattern of movement, flowing between the darkness to avoid the light.
They could be weakened if studied long enough.
As she repeatedly battled Tislin in the water, a world emerged where Kienna could learn to fight these things.
She let herself hope for only a moment, a shaky whisper of a laugh slipping free.
Tislin sensed her discovery, loosening a knowing smile and pulling his darkness into himself. “Enough for today. You might be onto me. We can’t have that.”
Kienna allowed a responding smile, feeling her own shadows and fears beginning to recede.
Tislin walked her back to the apartment.
They remained soaked from the water, and though Kienna wanted to alight herself and let her fire burn through her to a warm dryness, it wasn’t the right time to reveal her magic slipping through the charm.
She distracted herself by asking Tislin, “Connak asked you to do this, didn’t he?
” as they reached the street leading to The Elarent House.
Tislin clasped his hands behind his back. “He wishes you wouldn’t be so distant.”
“Are you playing matchmaker?” Kienna couldn’t help smiling.
Tislin’s eye twitched. He quickly blinked it away. “Talk to him about your shadows, please, so he can stop asking me about you.”
When they reached their destination, Tislin opened the door for Kienna to enter.
She ascended the stairs and into the apartment where Moira and Calder sat together, drinking tea and eating berries.
Calder held a blade and shaped a stick of wood into a bear.
Moira snapped her book closed and set it behind her.
She rose, crossing the room to them. “You’re soaking wet! What happened?”
Kienna shrugged and took a berry off the counter. “Tislin pushed me into the water with his shadows.”
Moira gasped. “You what?”
“Those shadows will scare the shit out of you if you don’t know they’re coming,” Calder laughed.
Kienna bit her tongue to hide a smile. The fact that he even laughed was something, but the memory of Tislin wrapping shadows around Calder’s wrists in the middle of his detox made her skin crawl. At the thought, his cat brushed against her leg and purred.
Don’t get attached. I’ll eat that cat for dinner, Ruva growled.
Kienna approached Calder and dropped to her knees beside the sofa. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I still want a drink,” he admitted, “but I can fight it better now that my body feels brand new. I owe that to you.”
“Good enough to build a ship?”
Calder put his face into his palms, and his posture sagged. “I don’t know, girl. I took on more than I could chew out of drunken bravado. We’ll have to hang our hats on this one.”
“We may be able to help with that,” Tislin said, stepping into view. He turned to Kienna. “You must ask Connak first.”
Kienna clenched her teeth. “I’ll be back.”
—Connak—
“Slide into Alverton quietly,” Connak said. “There shouldn’t be much movement, but it’s hostile ground all the same. If there’s movement from River Storm anywhere, you’ll hear it there first. You’ll need to be fast.”
Danek crouched to lace his boots. His ears caught the light, too sharp, too visible. As he stood, Connak reached forward and pulled the hood over his head.
Danek flinched, then laughed softly. “I suppose I’m harder to blend in these days.”