Page 35 of Of Stars and Lightning (Sun and Shadows #1)

Twenty Seven

SHADOWS OF THE PAST

SOL DIDN’T HAVE a single idea where she was going. The only light was the one from the hallway behind her, though it slowly disappeared the further underground she went. For a good stretch, she was in total darkness.

She gripped the shard of glass as tightly as she could without drawing blood and guided herself with her other hand until she finally reached the end of the stairs.

A glimmer of relief settled at the solidness beneath her where the anxiety had been.

It was only then flickers of flames shone in the distance, likely from torches that lined the tunnel’s interior.

She had set out to find them without much expectation or hope she would, but now that she was here, she didn’t have a clue what to do. Was she going to march upstairs and usher the prospects into a hole in the wall? Then tell them to go on, and be free?

Sol examined the damp stone around her, suddenly feeling like perhaps the idea would not work.

Penny was traveling through these?

If the girl ever returned, Sol would beg her to stay well out of them—there was something eerie about the way a breeze still flowed when, in theory, there should be none.

“Sol.” It was a mere whisper, carried past on an unnatural gust. It pulled her forward with the gentlest tug. “Come closer, Sol.”

As if in a daze, she followed the beacon, the crunch of dirt beneath her boots bouncing in a loop around her.

She neared the first torch, then the second, before the straight path cut into a vestibule with no way forward, but with paths on both sides.

To her right, the path was dark. The left was lined with more torches, all bright, and illuminating just how complex the system was.

Sol angled her head inquisitively.

Wouldn’t someone have to light these?

Before the realization could fully settle, the world tilted and the torches disappeared as something pulled her back and against the stone. The impact left her breathless, but she still brought up the shard of glass instinctively while she willed her vision to settle.

If someone had found her, followed her down there, it would be an easy end. She should have known a piece of glass wouldn’t be enough to—

Cas brought a hand to his lips. A silent gesture for her to be quiet.

Through the shock her exhales trembled between them before shuddering completely as voices reached their way from beyond the corner. As if someone walked their way while engaged in casual conversation.

“I’m telling you, patrolling these things is pointless,” said a male voice, his volume increasing with each word. “The old fool has them enchanted anyway.”

Sol’s eyes widened as she looked into Cas’s in a wordless plea.

He leaned closer, pressing her against the cave’s interior while he braced his arms on either side of her head.

He was taller than her in this position, enough so he had to dip his chin to be at eye level.

It took willpower she didn’t realize she had to remain still as the footsteps continued their approach.

“Stay still,” Cas whispered, their closeness making her comply without a fight. Shadows swirled from his forearms, engulfing their faces in darkness before cloaking them both entirely.

The sensation of his shadows against her skin never got easier to absorb. Just as the first time, her skin cooled and prickled in all the places they touched; her face, her neck, the tips of her fingers.

And she knew her expression gave away her intrigue as Cas only smirked and pressed himself closer.

“At least it’s an excuse to leave the castle.” The voice was as close as Sol was to Cas. She shut her eyes.

“Everything’s been so annoying since that bitch got here,” the other voice replied. Stone groaned as Cas closed his open hands into fists. “Hopefully the Vows get rid of her. Or the Jinn—that might be more fun.”

The two kingsmen laughed, their status given away by their crimson uniform and cloaks. They strode past without a glance in their direction, continuing to the lightless path. Clenching her jaw, she studied their silhouettes as they lit the torches on that side as well.

A soft groan from Cas broke the budding desire to march to the men and scare them senseless. She glanced at him, then down at his chest—where the shard of glass was digging into his shirt.

Sol released it.

It landed on the ground noiselessly, muted by Cas’s skilled shift of his boot to ease its landing.

Her palm burned where the glass had nicked, but her focus was on the steady stain of blood pooling into the fabric of his tunic.

She pressed her palm against him in a panic, the one that bore Lora’s blood bond and was clean of her own.

They remained like that for what seemed like long, swollen minutes, the sounds of their hushed breathing the only thing around as the kingsmen’s vulgar complaints faded into the depths of Rimemere.

As soon as Cas leaned back, Sol pushed him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Did you leave the entrance open?” He motioned to their left where she had so bravely marched down from only to be almost caught by kingsmen.

Sol braced her hands on her hips. “Well, I didn’t know there was a way to close the wall behind me.”

Cas dug through a small leather satchel secured to his waist. “The fact you went into it at all is foolish—though somehow not surprising.” He extended a hand to her. “Come here.”

“I will not.”

He met her gaze, silver eyes flaring as he stepped forward instead.

Defeated with only the cave wall behind her, she didn't evade him. Although it wasn’t a conscious reaction, Sol knew she was still upset about the dinner.

She could tell by the heat that rose to her face when he reached for her hand, and she refused the touch.

She could tell he knew it, too, by the way he glanced away and sighed through pursed lips.

He held a piece of cloth between them. “Here, then.”

She eyed it, shaking her head. “You use it. I stabbed you.”

He chuckled lightly. “Take it, Princess.”

Sol sighed. She wasn’t used to feeling betrayed, at least not until recently. It wasn’t something she wanted to get used to, either. “I’ll bandage my hand in the Villa.” Without a glance his way, she braced herself for the dark way back to the nook where she came from.

“Oh, I closed it,” he said. “It doesn’t open from this side.”

Any sentimental emotion she had felt a mere second ago fizzled into irritation. “You what?”

Cas shrugged as if he hadn’t a care in the world, nor the creeping panic that speared through her at being locked underground. “If anyone else would’ve caught you on this little quest, they would have reported you.” He dabbed at his chest wound with a frown.

“Impressive ingenuity.”

“So, now what?” She looked down the length of the tunnel. “We are stuck here?”

“No, the tunnels have multiple ways out.” He smirked her way and pointed to where the kingsmen had emerged, away from where they had gone in. “We just have to avoid the kingsmen.”

CAS’S WAY OF getting back was by engulfing them in Shadows as they walked.

To Sol’s annoyance, it meant being very close to him as they scouted for another exit.

He’d given her several options: be carried, carry him, or for him to walk directly behind her, pressed together and she’d have to lead the way.

She might be prideful at times, but she was no fool—Sol chose to be carried.

But not like she had been in Yavenharrow when they first met. Instead, she clung to his back, legs wrapped over his waist and arms, hugging him tight enough to make him uncomfortable. Each time he tripped over a stray rock, Sol squeezed them tighter.

“You know, if you make me pass out, you’ll have to find your way out alone,” he muttered, rolling his neck and pressing his hands into her thighs where he held her.

In response, she squeezed his waist. “Tragic.”

They walked for long enough that Sol lost count of the passing minutes and instead twirled the Shadows between her fingers.

They would linger over her wound as if pointing it out to her before continuing to snake over her wrist. After she grew tired of that, she sank her chin to Cas’s shoulder and peered at him.

“Why didn’t you do anything to help Felice and Lucas? ”

She hadn’t meant to ask so boldly, but as soon as the words were out, she realized she needed an answer. He was meant to be the one person she could trust, but could she? What did she really know about the Shadow Guider?

That my mother killed his father.

Cas glanced at her. “Is that why you’re upset?”

“Why, Cas?”

“Because the whole point of this, Princess, is to get rid of prospects, not to save them.”

Sol bit the inside of her cheek to keep from arguing further. Instead, she just said, “We have to try.”

They’d been going in exasperating circles over the topic since they’d arrived, and it seemed he wasn’t yielding. But neither was she.

“It just doesn’t work like that, Sol.” The edge of frustration in his voice was obvious, making Sol feel like a small child being chastised. “The faster you accept the way things are, the faster we can move on.”

She unwrapped herself from his hold, jumping to the ground and stepped back from the cloak of his darkness. “I will not accept things the way they are. In fact, I will be doing the opposite.”

Cas looked past her and behind him, ensuring no one else followed before turning back to face her, his jaw tight and hands sparking with violet lightning.

Sol eyed them, yearning to touch them as intensely as she had on their ride to Rimemere.

A small smile pulled against her lips at the memory.

She had been so scared and lost back then.

Although it was only weeks ago, it seemed like years.

Granted, she still felt a bit of both, but in a different way.

She moved past him, continuing their walk away from his cover of safety. His Shadows seemed to reach for her as he wordlessly followed behind her.