Page 26 of Taken By Shadows

He was terrifying in an entirely different way from the men who had attacked me in the meadow.

He was quiet. Dark.

And he seemed to be waiting for me to give him an excuse to throw his shadows around me again.

“Why did you let me take you?” he asked, pulling back a little to look me over.

Was he being funny? “I didn’t let you do anything. You took me!”

“You could have stopped me.”

I looked him up and down as if to say, No, I couldn’t.

“You could have tried to stop me. Your magic—”

“I don’t have any.” The truth of that flew from my lips like it was supposed to hurt him, not me. But it did hurt. It hurt to admit to the first fae I’d ever met that I wasn’t like them.

He was silent, his eyes searching as he put the pieces of me together. But it wasn’t judgement. It was something else, something coiling inside him.

And then his entire demeanour changed, and he was back to taunting me.

“It doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t have beaten me.” He smiled down at me. It was roguish and promised something more. “Trust me.”

“You say that a lot for someone who just kidnapped and threatened me.”

His lips twitched, trying to withhold a smile.

Maybe I deserved to have been attacked and captured in one day if I couldn’t stop looking at my kidnapper like he was my saviour.

And that was the problem, wasn’t it?

Right there.

He had saved me. And then he’d found I was worth something to him and had just obliterated my chances of freedom.

I had no idea where I was or how I was ever going to get to the coast, let alone the Southern Corner. I thought finding fae would have helped me get closer to finding my parents, to getting answers. I don’t know what I had expected when I finally found fae, but he was not what I had anticipated.

His chin dipped, and he looked at me through heavy lashes, his stare menacing. He closed the gap between us. “Move.” The command was emphatic. His voice filled the night, but he didn’t shout. It was like the charged air of a storm was gathering in the space between us. There was no room for arguing.

And yet … when he realised I wasn’t going to obey him, he stepped impossibly closer.

“My shadows can carry you, tied and bound. Or …” He traced his finger along my jaw and leaned in a little closer.

Why didn’t I recoil?

Instead, I went perfectly still under his touch.

“Or?” I breathed in challenge.

One side of his mouth curved upwards, and I hated that it made him look fiercely enticing. “Or you can behave for me. You can be good …” he crooned. “Which will it be?”

Shadows rippled out from his fingers, and their cool caress moved over me like mist whispering a kiss over a millpond. His shadows moved so silently, so perfectly at his command.

My eyes snapped down, and my wrists were bound again, the tether gripped in his fist.

“Don’t worry, peach.” Tiny shadows danced on his fingertips. “All you have to do is behave, and I’ll release you. Just ask.” His face turned rakish, and I didn’t miss his meaning.

I scoffed. “I would never ask you—”