AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She disappears through the doorway, and I walk over to the dress. I trail my index finger over its silky fabric. “He really doesn’t,” I whisper. “He really doesn’t.”
TWENTY-SIX
Briony
Kayan is waiting for me in the hallway. I am still not used to seeing him, but I have stopped questioning it. I have stopped questioning anything anymore.
“Did you speak to her?” he asks, following me as I hurry down the hall towards the noise and movement of the Sunborne, gathering for what they think is another of Eldrion’s feasts.
“I think I got through to her.” I sigh with relief. She listened to me, she let me hug her, she let down the wall she’d put up. “I think it’s going to be okay.”
“We need to get her away from Eldrion,” Kayan says. “Being around him is changing her.”
“It’s not just him.” I stop and fold my arms. “Maura was cruel to her, she said terrible things. You should make her apologise. It would mean a lot. All Alana wants is to be accepted.”
“Maura will never . . .”
“She might if she realised what her cruelty is doing.”
Kayan shakes his head. His blond curls fall over his face, and he sighs deeply. Watching him is a strange experience. His body is the same, but it is also not the same. It glows a little, sometimes more, sometimes less.
“I will try to speak to her,” he says. “But she is old and stubborn. I cannot see that my words will make any difference.”
“Try.” I resist the urge to squeeze his arm because I’m not sure what it will feel like, or if it will feel like anything at all.
“You’re a good friend to her,” he says as we move once more towards the grand hall.
“As are you,” I tell him. “To still stand by her even though she is in love with Eldrion. After what he did to you.. .”
“In love with him?” Kayan’s tone changes. He shakes his head. “She is not in love with him.”
“I believe she is. And I believe he loves her, too. Have you not seen the way they look at each other?”
Kayan frowns. “That’s not possible. Eldrion is . . .”
“I’m not saying it’s a good thing.” A small shudder grips my shoulders. “It’s the kind of love that seems like it could destroy the world if they let it grow too big.”
“Isn’t destroying the world what we’re trying to prevent?” Kayan asks. We have reached the large oak doors that lead into the dining hall.
“Precisely. Which is why we need to do everything we can to remind Alana who she really is, and where she comes from, and that this life here in this castle is not what she’s fighting for.”
Kayan presses his lips together. He nods slowly. “I’ll talk to Maura.”
“Alana promised me we could talk later. Bring Maura to her chambers. If we can just get them to work together, and undo all the hurt, maybe...” I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I’m not sure I believe what I’m saying. Maybe I’m being naive. Is it really possible to come back from what Alana did?
“We have to try,” Kayan says, as if he’s reading my mind. “We owe it to her.”
I nod and thank him. “Yes, we do.” Then I push open the doors and enter at the back of the hall.
While Kayan goes to find Maura, I position myself at the rear of the dining hall with the other Shadowkind who remain in the castle.
Most are guards, but there are a scattering of others, too.
Observing them, I wonder whether I still feel like one of them. For so long, we had a joint enemy, and a shared experience. But now I seem to stand apart from them. Although they could have run, they did not. I did, but I returned free. They are still bound to Eldrion. They could leave if they wanted to; he could not stop them now. But a lifetime of being sealed behind these walls has made them unable to make that choice.
They will be here to the bitter end.
Whatever that looks like.
