Chapter 8
The blood drains from my face, and within seconds, I’m palming my dagger, aiming it straight at his groin. My left hand clamps down on his forearm, locking him in place from elbow to wrist. But a small, devious smile plays on his face when he lets out a chuckle, his breath brushing my cheeks.
“You should be dead,” I growl, digging my nails into his skin.
He sighs. “The chase was getting quite boring. Turns out, you’re not as good of a tracker as I thought,” he chuckles, meeting my gaze. “Any more noise from you and you’ll disturb the entire tavern.”
“I don’t care,” I snap, a little louder than I intended, but no one seems to pay us any attention.
“Well, I do,” he mutters quietly, then slowly drags his gaze down to our forearms. A menacing smirk lifts the corners of his mouth. “You’re going to regret that. Again.”
“How am I—”
Before I can finish my thought, I’m whirled from reality and thrust from the tavern. Dark shadows swarm behind my eyes, too fast to comprehend. My stomach lurches, flipping around like I’m falling with no solid ground. My ears begin to ring.
Then with a sharp jolt and a solid thud, everything stops.
I stumble forward, gasping for air when my knees buckle beneath me. My palms hit the ground, and dizziness floods my senses as I try to grasp my new reality. Nausea consumes me as my head spins, pulse pounding so loudly in my ears, it’s deafening.
Then I’m retching in the leaves. I’m heaving when I slowly come to my senses, feeling around with my hands.
Leaves. Dirt. Rock. Gods, I’m outside, but how could I—
“I should have warned you, but this is much more enjoyable,” Alec says casually.
“Where… am I?” My voice comes out in a rasp.
“No worries, we’re just on the outskirts of Sylvanor, away from prying ears should you decide to scream.” His voice drips with sarcasm. “Or run. But just remember, I’m faster.”
Rage suddenly consumes me, and the next thing I know, my vision clears and I’m palming my daggers again.
“I’m going to kill you.” An angry growl tears through me. At lightning speed, I spin on my right heel, catching my dagger by the blade to throw it straight at his disgustingly beautiful face. Then he tilts his head to the side and catches it.
My eyes go wide. What the fuck?
“You tried that, remember?” he retorts with a grin. “Didn’t work out so well for you, now did it?”
A frustrated shout brushes the air as I flick my right arm out, aiming a dagger for his ribs. But he sweeps that same arm down and catches that one too. I’m suddenly grappling for more weapons when he disappears, forcing me to halt and scan the area, searching for him. How did he do that?
“You’re a feisty little thing, aren’t you?” He chuckles from everywhere and nowhere, but I can’t see him. Where is he?
Fury consumes me, yet I somehow manage to rein it in long enough to scan my surroundings. With a deep breath, I quickly realize that I’m two blocks south of the inn off the main road. I slowly pivot in a circle, calculating my movements as adrenaline courses through me.
“You’re a coward! Come out and talk. Or are you too afraid I’ll kill you again?” I shove my hair off my face, grateful for the partial coverage to hide my shock, but now I’m wishing that I braided it all so I could fight more accurately.
“You can’t kill me. And not if you’re going to be throwing daggers at my head all night. Will you be nice?” he asks with a hint of amusement.
I realize very quickly that he’s teasing me, and it’s really fucking annoying.
“Fine,” I muster through clenched teeth and forcefully sheathe my daggers, holding my palms up. “No sharp things.”
“Good,” he whispers, appearing right in front of my face seconds later. “Because I’m not your enemy.”
Startled, I stumble back and reach for my ribs.
“Don’t do that,” he warns. “You said you’d be nice. I’m much harder to kill when you can’t see me, so I suggest you put them away.” He arches a brow.
“Who the fuck are you, and how did you do that?” I snarl, giving him a quick once-over.
His dark auburn hair settles just above his brows as a cocky grin smears across his face, his cloak flaring out as he crosses his arms. It takes everything for me not to fling my daggers as he eyes me from three feet away.
“I know you’ve already figured it out.” His tone is annoyingly casual. “Your little friend seemed to catch on pretty quick.”
He’s right of course, since Ren already discovered he was Shadovar. Still, my eyes narrow—assessing him. Perhaps Ren was wrong. But how would he know Ren figured it out? Alec continues to casually stand with his hands in his pockets, as if our little conversation is the same as any other day.
He scratches his jaw. “Your realm did a really good job of wiping us from your books and your head.” He grins, tilting his head to the side. “Who do you think I am, darling?”
“Get out of my head,” I grind out.
My heart races as I realize that the voice I thought I imagined is real, very real—it is him. Entering my head and into my thoughts like a whisper in the wind.
“You’re not supposed to be in this realm. The Shadovar are banned here. What do you want with me?” I ask quietly.
“I want a lot of things.” He pushes the thought out.
“I said get out of my head!” I growl, but his words linger, leaving me to wonder what he meant by wiping them from my head. I step toward him. “How did you vanish like that? And how did I end up here?”
“I’m a Veil Walker. Just like everyone else in Aurelia.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I clip.
“You would if you’d give me a chance to explain it,” he says as a grin tugs at his lips.
With a huff of air, I urge him to continue with a wave of my hand, wishing he wasn’t holding my other daggers. The small clench to his jaw tells me that he must still be angry about me killing him a few days ago. But I didn’t kill him… clearly.
“A Veil Walker means that I can walk in the Veil, and that allows me to move undetected, but I can see you just fine. It also allows me to travel great distances while still being able to hold a conversation. I’m able to touch and bring others with me, like I did with you.”
“What’s a Veil?” I ask, my shoulders tensing, hating how curious I sound. But I know nothing of their magic.
He sighs. “It’s hard to explain, but the Veil is like a thin layer between realms that exists outside the physical world but overlaps it.”
I shake my head. “Either way, you being here shouldn’t be possible—we sealed the border years ago, but that doesn’t explain how you’ve been tracking—”
His form suddenly ripples, shifting his appearance right in front of me, back into the… young boy from earlier?
I blink as a boy with round cheeks, shaggy auburn hair, and light freckles stares up at me. His face appears younger, like he instantly reversed the clock. I stumble back before he quickly shifts into the male he was seconds ago. What the fuck?
“It’s the magic from my realm, similar to yours here.
All Shadovar can walk in the Veil and manipulate their appearances.
I can do it for a short time,” he says, exaggerating a wave of his hand.
“From someone who is alive or has been alive, but it helps me meet someone discreetly without being noticed.”
Words seem to have escaped me when a disbelieving chuckle bubbles out, but I quickly compose myself. Yet I can’t help the confusion surfacing in my chest. What does a Shadovar want with me? He shouldn’t be here, but curiosity gnaws at me, and I find myself wanting to know more.
“Why would you want to meet someone discreetly? Can’t you just, I don’t know, meet them like a regular person?”
He gives a soft chuckle. “Because I want to assess what type of person they may be. When I want to see someone’s true character, I’ll appear in my child form to gauge how I can approach them.
Turns out you can really tell who someone is by showing up as a homeless boy.
From what I gather, the crown hasn’t completely destroyed your character yet. ”
He offers my daggers to me like a peace offering. My eyes lock with his for a moment before I take them with a shake of my head and cross my arms. Little does he know, giving me my daggers back is a mistake.
“Who was the boy from earlier, since you steal appearances?” I ask.
He scoffs. “I don’t steal appearances—I adopt them for a short amount of time.” Like there’s a difference. He hesitates, as if debating his words, and he throws me a soft grin. “It was me as a boy, which is why there is no scar on his face.”
A breeze flutters my hair as he walks past to a nearby oak tree, leaning against it and crossing his arms, leaving me to trail behind.
My frustration rises. “Well, thanks for the useless information, but I have orders to kill you. As far as I’m concerned, you should already be dead. The Shadovar are banned here.”
He lets out a loud guffaw with a shake of his head.
“Good luck. I’ll just come back, and then King Elion will punish you…
again.” I growl this time, palming my daggers, but he just eyes me with a raised brow.
“I told you—you can’t kill me because I’m not from this realm, and a couple of other things that are unimportant at the moment.
You do remember leaving me to bleed out? ”
“I’m sure I can find a way to make it permanent.”
His smile suddenly falters, as if he can’t help his rising frustration. It flickers across his features momentarily when he clenches his jaw. “Your life is a lie.”
“Nice try.”
“Do you ever ask yourself who you’re assigned to kill? Have you asked why you’re killing them?”
“Why would I care? I take orders from the king. It’s not my position to question him, and I wouldn’t dare to. Not unless I want to be beaten for it.”
“You truly don’t know.” He stills as shock flashes across his face, nostrils flaring. “You’ve been killing my people.”
“Your people? What do you mean, your people?”