Page 84 of A Tempest of Shadows

Chirping came from the woods, and multiple creatures sang sweet songs that, while not in harmony, were beautiful. They became the only sounds in the forest as the larger animals retreated with their meals.

“It’s so peaceful here,” she murmured.

Apparently, she was over her irritation with me. That made me happier than I’d expected while also unsettling me.

I hadn’t believed myself capable of happiness after the past two years. I’d thought that part of me died in the ophidians’ dungeon, but Ellery woke it again. Somehow, being around her helped me put my broken pieces back together.

I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing for her.

“Did you ever think you’d say that about the Revenant Woods?” I asked.

She chuckled. “No.”

Below, one of the guards tossed more wood onto the fire as a couple of ghosts drifted across the clearing. Something howled in the night, but most things were settling down to sleep.

It was time for me to be one of them. Pulling my legs up, I rose. “I’m ready for bed.”

She glanced at me before looking back at the clearing. “I am pretty tired.”

Still, she didn’t move as she savored her time here. I left her to enjoy herself as I lifted the blanket from the bottom of the bed and set it on the floor.

A rustle of movement drew my attention as she stood, lowered the flap over the door, and started latching it into place. While she worked, I kicked off my boots and removed my socks but decided against removing my pants.

Ellery might jump out of the tree house if she turned to discover me without my pants on. When I pulled off my shirt, she gasped.

I turned toward her, uncertain why she’d made that horrified sound, and prepared to kill something until I saw the shock etched on to her features as she stared at me. Then, I followed her gaze down to my chest and abdomen and sighed. Sometimes, I forgot about the scars.

Some of them had been a part of me since childhood. The others had become more of the same, and I barely paid attention to them. I didn’t need them as a reminder of my worst days; my mind ensured I didn’t forget them.

“Who did that to you?” she breathed.

Before I could respond, she closed the distance between us, and her fingers fell against my chest. The second her skin touched mine, I knew staying with her had been a bad decision.

I would not be able to control myself when it came to her.

CHAPTER SEVENTY

Ellery

I wasn’t sure what drove me across the room, but I stood before him with my fingers on his chest before I registered moving. The disbelief of seeing his back had frozen my feet to the floor, and when he turned to reveal his chest, something compelled me forward.

He was so big, so broad, and so powerful I couldn’t imagine anyone being able to inflict the dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of scars slicing across his chest, abdomen, back, shoulders, and arms. There were so many they crisscrossed each other in dozens of locations as they ran across his sides and down to the waistband of his pants.

His clothing had always kept them hidden, but this close, I saw some fainter ones creeping up his throat and across his temple that I’d never noticed before. Like he was some kind of macabre painting full of hidden details, the more I explored him, the more scars I discovered.

Fury and sorrow warred inside me as I traced one of the white scars running from his shoulder, across his abs, and down to his ribs. A whip inflicted this; I was certain of that.

Most of the scars were white slashes, but others were a puckered, faint pink. Mixed within those awful slashes were circular holes created by a knife or some other weapon.

I’d seen other holes on his back before he turned, but they were different than the ones on his chest. On his back, they were evenly spaced… like someone had pressed him down on a bed of spikes.

Unexpected tears swam in my eyes and clogged my throat. What evil, horrendous bastard did this to him, and why?

“Don’t,” he said in a raspy voice I barely recognized. “Don’t cry for me, Ellery. I won’t have your pity.”

I tilted my head back to discover his eyes blazing down at me. I blinked away the tears that irritated him so much.

“I don’t pity you,” I whispered. “I just don’t understand why someone would do this.”