Page 32 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

“You know about my passion for cinnamon oat cookies. You know my family. Who I am. But I still don’t know much about you. Because of all those damn walls you build around yourself. I figure I should know before your ex shows up.”

“My favorite color is dark red,” she admitted. At what was surely my surprised face, she added, “Not black. The shadows are like a favored blanket, they are a comfort to me, but they lack color.” After a moment she asked, “What about for you?”

“Green.”

“Like your eyes and the color of your magic,” she noted.

“And what is the shape your palm magic takes?”

“A lynx,” she told me.

I thought it had seemed catlike, but it hadn’t moved slow enough for me to figure out. “Fitting.”

As the first song finished up, the other couples decided to join us for one. “Feel like doing a Nerede special?” Jorah called over.

“Only if you wish to be shown how it’s done,” I told her.

She gestured to the band, and I pulled Kessara back in close. “Apologies in advance for this.”

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“The Nerede way is a bit more lively,” I warned before we took off.

A minute in, we were all laughing. I was sure Jorah had suggested it because she knew this dancing had this effect on people. And she was trying to keep the mood light .

So we danced. We laughed. And I did my best to immediately forget how smooth the skin on Kessara’s bare back felt on my hands. How gorgeous she looked with her head tipped back laughing.

Toward the end of the night, the men had a whiskey together while the women chatted.

They were so animated, gesturing and laughing.

Jorah had a small bump from where she could no longer disguise her pregnancy, and Esta had little Ruelle on her chest, bouncing in place.

Kensie and Warrick were taking turns giving Arden rides on their backs.

I had always assumed the marriage and kids happy ending wasn’t for me.

But for a moment in time, I wanted to pretend it was all real.

That these people I loved were happy and healthy, as was I.

It wasn’t hard to picture with a woman like Kessara.

Dammit if a very small part of me wanted it all.

Not that I would ever admit that to Jorah.

So I made sure our bond was still locked down tight like I had all week.

“Miles has been working hard on the maze,” Krew told me.

I looked at the whiskey, spinning it in my hands and liking the way it looked around the thick grooves in the glass.

“Owen?”

“Yeah?”

“I said Miles has been working hard on the maze trial.”

I knocked the whiskey back, loving the burn and undertones of it. “That’s good because I have been a bit busy lately.”

“I plan to come watch tomorrow morning,” Krew told me. “Keir might come with me.”

“Have you asked your sister?”

He gave his head a shake. “Sorry. That’s going to take some getting used to.”

I added, “It may make her nervous. Should both of you be there. ”

“I’ll go ask,” Keir offered lightly as he slapped me on the back. “You’re right, Raikes.”

“When am I not?”

I talked with the men for a few minutes more, then decided it was late enough. Kessara and I had a big day in the morning.

We were given hugs goodbye, and then walked the halls of the castle together. Husband and wife.

“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” she asked me. “Far better than some events I’ve been to.”

I shrugged. “I’m just not used to being a guest of honor at these events. I’m used to working them.”

“You work too much,” she told me. “You should learn to enjoy the sunsets more.”

We turned a corner, and she jumped. I immediately moved to stand between whatever it was and her, my magic flaring in response.

It was a cat that ran off to hide in the shadows. Little did it know, it was not safe from Kessara there. “Not to worry,” I told her. “That’s just the cat Warrick has been trying to domesticate.”

She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’ve been a little jumpy since Amos told me about Calix.”

“Well, honey, about that.” I put out my hand for her to take, and she surprisingly took it. “You have a big trial in the morning. After that, I think I need you to explain to me the history between you two.”

“I’d rather take the test.”

I laughed. “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”

“It’s Bram Stirling bad,” she admitted, looking like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole.

We finally got to my room. I opened the door and let her in. Without delay, I moved to take off my formal jacket.

“This is beautiful,” she told me .

Like Jorah, I liked having a view of the forest out those windows.

“Thanks. I’m here so often, Jorah and Krew eventually just had me move into these rooms. They were Jorah’s original rooms from when she was in the Assemblages.”

I eyed the fireplace, the spot she had found me. The secret passage beyond it.

Someone had laid out some pajamas for Kessara, which she grabbed and went to change into.

I took one last drink of whiskey. I was in a damn mood tonight. Likely too tired. It was the night of my wedding reception, and I was buried in whiskey instead of elsewhere.

“Owen?” Kessara asked, standing beside the bed.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t sleep on the couch.” She pointed to the bed. “This thing is huge. We don’t even have to touch. Just sleep next to me.”

That was... more tempting than it should be. Exactly how many whiskeys had I had tonight?

“Please. You mentioned your neck has been hurting. We are both adults. We can handle this.”

My eyes traveled her now mostly bare legs. “No. You are an adult. I am an overgrown man-child.”

“An overgrown man-child who I will throw out with my shadows if you make a move I do not like.”

I was fairly certain I could do numerous things, which she would, in fact, like . This was a bad idea. How the hell did I get out of this? “I snore.”

“I know. And we will have to stay in the same bed when we travel to Agria. Should things get that far. So we might as well get used to it now.”

I ran a hand down my face. “Kessara, I am exhausted. I need sleep. ”

She gestured with both hands now toward the bed. “Which happens to be what I’m offering you. A better place to sleep.”

I reached for the whiskey, disappointed to find it empty. “I’m not sure I will want to. With a princess in my bed and all.”

Yep. I was half snockered. Had to be. Then again shameless flirting was a facet of my personality even in the soberest of times.

She rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at my head, which I caught, before she used her shadows to grab it back and smack me in the back of the head with it. “That princess is your wife. So get over here. I’ll even tell you a bedtime story.”

“Fine.”

I changed into sweatpants, and crawled into my bed, shirtless as usual. It felt good to be in my room, but also entirely different. My bed was huge, but not huge enough to ignore the person in it next to me.

Kessara put out the light and sighed deeply.

I had to state the obvious as I stared toward the ceiling. “You are the opposite of afraid of the dark.”

She laughed. “Guilty. I love the shadows, the dark. They do not threaten me. Rather they envelop me. Nightfall reminds me that all things are possible. That I could do anything. That I am a blank slate. I am nothing, and I am everything. In the darkness, I believe I can rewrite my own story.”

“You just married a Wylan general, I’d say you are rewriting your own story.”

Though it was pitch black in the room, I felt her turn toward me. “I’m a little afraid that once I experience true freedom, I will be reckless. What does it even taste like?”

“Heavy and heady both. Because once you’ve experienced it, you’ll do anything to keep it. I see it in Warrick having a father who will teach him how to lead well. In Arden’s laughter. In Wren being on the team. And I’d do anything to make sure they keep ahold of it. ”

“This got deep. It’s not the bedtime story I promised you,” she told me. “It’s just reminding you of work stress. Now. Do you want to hear about the time I dyed Artem and Damek’s hair blue, or the time a monkey took my crown?”

“The monkey.”

She launched into the story, explaining how dark and humid the forests of Agria are. “So one day, I’m just walking with my mother, and I feel as if my hair is being ripped out.”

“Wait. So it was an actual monkey? You didn’t just lose it and blame it on the monkey?”

“No. An actual monkey. I followed the little brat, but it was too fast. Also, it was laughing at me. I felt it.”

“Did you ever find it?”

“Well, yes. A week later, someone found my crown tossed to the forest floor like it finally just got tired of playing with it. I laughed for weeks. Imagining monkeys trying it on and taking turns wearing my crown.”

“You weren’t mad?”

“Goodness no.”

I yawned. Despite myself. This bed was comfy as hell, and I’d had a damn fine dinner that night. I wasn’t a complex man, just exceptionally good looking.

“See? Some wife I am. Boring you to sleep.”

I moved to face her and not the ceiling. “You make me feel many things, Kessara, but bored is not one of them.”

She took a deep breath. “Do I need to be nervous about the trial you’ve been so tight lipped about tomorrow?”

I didn’t hesitate. “No, but you will have to earn it.”

“Krew and Keir asked if they could be there. Said they usually come but they didn’t want to make me uncomfortable. They said you suggested they ask me.”

I was quiet a moment. “And? If it makes you nervous, they don’t have to. ”

She rushed to add, “No. It’s not that. I’m not used to someone having my back like that. It felt... different.”

“Fast fact about me,” I told her. “If I am going to do something, I like to do it well. That includes husbandry.”

“That should terrify me.” She laughed and we fell into a content silence. Nothing but the shadows between us.

Her voice sounded raspy as she whispered, “Goodnight, husband.”

“Goodnight, wife.”