Page 12 of A Tempest of Shadows

“Excuse me,” I murmured.

I tried to sidestep him, but he held his hand out to stop me. “How do I know you?”

My mind spun as I tried to decide whether to lie, pretend I had no idea who he was, or go with the truth. In the end, since so much of my life had become a dangerous lie, I decided on the truth.

In this instance, it couldn’t get me in trouble… or I hoped it couldn’t.

“I’m Ellery Marian of Marian Manor. We met once, years ago.”

His eyes ran over me. Then his forehead cleared and realization settled over his features. “My father and I were forced to spend the night at your manor during a magnetic storm.”

A spike of irritation ran through me as he adopted his father’s same condescending attitude regarding my home. “No one forced you to spend the night anywhere.”

The corner of his lips twitched before his amusement fell away. “The snow did.”

“You could have stayed in the snow,” I muttered.

Suddenly glad I’d stolen his money, I went to sidestep him again, but he stopped me once more.

“Your father fought in the Ghoul War,” he stated.

I stiffened at the reminder of my father. “He did.”

“I saw him there… amongst the fighters. We shared some drinks, like we did at your manor.”

I couldn’t look at him anymore as I battled the tears burning my eyes. It had been a year since we received word of my father’s death, a year since I’d stood beside the wooden box they’d sent him home in, yet it still cut as deep as if it was yesterday.

No one should have to identify their father’s body, but my mother was too distraught to do it, so the responsibility fell to me. He’d been badly wounded and battered, and it had taken me far too much time to get out the words to confirm it was him.

“Did he make it home?” Ryker asked.

“Not alive.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good man.”

“He was,” I muttered around the lump in my throat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me⁠—”

“Do you know anything about this?”

Before I could reply, he thrust a WANTED poster of me in my face. Gulping, I worked to keep my expression impassive as I took in the picture.

Thankfully, it was so generic it was impossible to tell who it was a picture of, but I still felt like the word guilty blazed across my forehead. It took everything I had not to lift a hand to check.

Stay calm, or you’re going to die.

Ryker

I studied the young woman before me as she glanced at the photo. Her blue-green eyes, the striking color of cyan, were so unusual they were how I recalled meeting her before. They stood out vividly against her golden skin and mocha-brown hair with interwoven shades of chestnut and chocolate.

While she was only a child the last time I saw her, those eyes instantly reminded me of the encounter. Then, she’d been a carefree youth with knobby knees and clothes that clung to her slender frame as she rolled in the snow.

She’d been playing with another girl as they dug a hole in a giant snowbank. The other girl’s red hair, peeking out from beneath her hood, was a stark contrast to the snow, but its vibrant red hue didn’t detract from the brilliance of this one’s eyes.

At the time, her antics amused me; my father was anything but pleased. He’d never liked children, and finding two teens playing in the snow like they were little more than kids was a disgrace to the man who preferred everything to be in perfect order.

Already annoyed we had to stop for the night, my father snapped at the girls to get out of the way before riding on to the stable. At the time, I’d debated returning to rejoin Leo at the palace but had told my father I would accompany him home after his visit with the king, and the magnetic blizzard would make traveling back to the palace difficult.

Besides, I didn’t feel right leaving my foul-tempered father with the family who had offered to take us in. No one deserved that.