Page 68 of Shadows and Flames (Twin Blades #2)

“A miracle, more like.” Cera watched us with a different sort of interest. One that didn’t raise my hackles but made me feel…dissected.

“Um,” Tana’s voice was now quiet, her words now timid. “It’s growing back.” She bit her lip and sniffed while I nearly collapsed. How long could Cera pull out what ailed him until his body…

I could not bear to think it.

Tom was now unconscious, brow furrowed in sleep, but his breathing sounded smooth. No longer crackling with what occluded his lungs and throat. For now.

The High Priestess grimly looked upon my brother. “We will need to repeat the process, extracting as the malignancy matures while attacking the remnants it replicates from. Not impossible, but lengthy. Tiresome for him.”

Just as I’d thought. Feared. But as difficult the High Priestess enjoyed being in moments of jest, the peace she’d brought to my brother in this moment was enough to win her my trust. For me to feel solidified in my conviction to leave him in her hands.

“I must go.” To the Well. To fulfill my responsibilities to my fellow Shadows, to my brother and sister, and to the young boy who put his trust in us.

Meline appeared at my side, glaring. “ You must go?”

Did she—I frowned. Only… only members and mates were allowed past the illusion. Mamá had not even set foot in the Well, only traveling so far as the barrier that upon crossing, would turn the trespasser around, skirting the Well completely and into the forest surrounding.

Another cruel twist of fate from the Goddesses. The Well was only a couple of days’ ride from Ralthas. A week if one was one foot and traveling swiftly.

Had I been at the Well when she lost Soleil? Drinking myself into a hallucinative, incoherent state? When I had cleared myself of that particular stage of grief, there had been no trace of her in Ralthas, one of the first cities I visited when I resumed searching.

“ El ,” Meline brought me back to her rage. “You’re just staring at me and scowling. You are not facing them alone.”

I had been thinking, not angry with her. But she seemed furious with me, barely succeeding in steadying the tremble in her lip. The uncertain searching as she looked at me.

I opened my mouth, trying to choose my words carefully when there were too many to grasp. She waited, growing warier by the second, until I managed, “You will not be able to go into the Well, my queen.”

Meline huffed and stood straighter. The others, save for Tom, watched us in intrigued silence. “I don’t care. If I have to travel up to the border and stand on the other side while you present Marco to me, healthy and safe, that’s what I will do.”

“And if all is not that simple?” Cera muttered. “You wish to fight the usurpation alone, Master Elián?”

Meline bristled, and I felt the room chill a few degrees.

“No.” She pointed a black finger at me. “Not in this realm or any other are we going to be apart again, Elián. Not in any world are we facing a threat of this magnitude without the other. Especially not fucking Cal .” She nearly spit at her feet, uttering the name of the King of Krisla. Her former lover.

“ Meline .” Censure bled into the way I spoke her name. She was not Shadow. She had made no vows to us, and at least one Shadow had tried to kill her. I would not lose her again.

“It’s settled,” Meline declared and faced the room. Now, I was scowling out of anger. Frustration. “El and I will go to The Shadows and pull them from Cal’s clutches. Cera will heal Tomás, and Tana will…” she trailed off, hesitant in a way I’d not seen her address her cousin.

The witch filled in the direction of this parting of ways. “I will stay here. Aid in Tomás’s recovery under Cera’s guidance.”

“And what will you do, Vyrkos?”

Fenix sneered at the High Priestess. “I have a name, you witch.”

Tana sputtered, lip curling and fists clenching, though the slight was not directed at her. “Show some goddess-damned respect , Fenix.”

To his credit, the male in love with Tana looked properly chastised. Freezing, retracting his fangs, and staring at his feet in capitulation. His pale jaw tensed enough to shatter glass. “I’ll stay. To help.”

“With what healing expertise? What use will you be?”

“I can pull my own fucking weight,” he murmured tensely. “They helped me, so I’m helping them.”

Cera was unrelenting, sensing a weakness and continuing to pick until Fenix was a wound she could revel in. “I’m sure Mamba and her Shadow could use another hand in their crusade to the Shadow Well.”

Tana appeared mortified, gaze flicking between the Vyrkos who volunteered to remain close to her and the High Priestess who she begrudgingly respected.

“I—I’ll be more help here,” Fenix argued weakly.

Cera chuckled, glancing at Tana while she blinked confusedly at Fenix. “I’m sure you will be.”

“ So . We’ve all decided. El and I will leave in the morning, and the rest of you will stay here to manage Tomás’s recovery. Once one of those is achieved, we will reconvene.”

I clasped my hands behind my lower back, drawing calming inhales and using every bit of control to keep smoke from tinging my exhales.

Pushing back on my queen now would result in nothing but arguing.

Shadow traditions—our training, our sovereignty, our magic, our home —they were sacred.

My love for Meline could not change this.

“Be that as it may, we will not be staying here .” Cera glanced around the room and pointedly lifted her nose.

She sniffed. “Roalld has been gracious enough to secure a home for me during my stay in Nethras. We will relocate ourselves and the sick Shadow there, and I will call upon more priestesses.”

As the logistics of yet another journey began to take form, I fell into the planning. Our packs were largely unopened, horses fairly easy to acquire in a city of this size. There was no time to waste, and I gritted my teeth as my queen and I decided to leave in the morning.

I’d no insight into the state of The Shadows aside from what Cera informed us of.

All could be running as it should, our ranks slipping quietly under Cal’s thumb.

Or, much more likely, the acquisition had resulted in chaos.

At least, enough unrest to leave Noruh and Marco too preoccupied to respond to my correspondence.

The Well had not been breeched in two millennia. Not by an army, nor by a determined queen with no care for our way when those she cared for were in danger.

Meline and I went back out onto the streets of Nethras to prepare what we could before morning. Food for the days on the main road between cities and townships, feeding so that our energy would sustain for the length of the journey.

At a livery yard in the business district, I shelled out coin for two horses whose owners had designated them for sale.

“What did you do with Noxe?” Meline asked as we left our two mares for our return tomorrow. I’d been quiet for our errands, and my queen had not been more talkative. We became preoccupied by our thoughts, each in our own way.

Meline’s tended to show on her features, or in the twist of her fingers and the restlessness of her limbs. The additional awareness given to me by Zoko detected the unrest within her power as well.

“She is back at the Well,” I said. After parting ways with my queen, I’d ridden the black horse all the way to the Well, only stopping occasionally for fear of pushing her past her limits. In the years since, I had taken her with me to some of the places where I searched for Meline.

On our way back to the lodging house, we stopped at a cart smelling of meat.

One Nethran, a Vyrkos from what I could tell, was working diligently over a grill, hair tied back and cooking tools flying in a blur.

A human, their companion judging by the faded fang marks at the base of their throat, engaged the long line of customers with smiles and efficiency.

My queen asked me if I was hungry, and I grunted in agreement. After feeding, my empty stomach had made itself known, and we took our place in the back of the quickly diminishing queue.

“We should get some for the others,” Meline mused, and I gave another sound of agreement.

I scanned the large parchment at the front of the stall, listing the menu items. Some of which would hopefully be fine for Tomás to consume.

His appetite would come and go, but I suspected it would come roaring back after expelling whatever that was inside of him.

We took a few steps forward, closer to the front, and Meline huffed, facing straight ahead. “Why are you upset with me?”

My spine straightened. Reflexively, I responded quietly, “I am not upset.”

“You’ve barely spoken to me since we decided I would go with you to the Well.”

Heat crept up my neck, and I tightened my hands behind my back. “ You decided that, my queen.” I felt her flinch, rather than seeing it myself.

We took another step, now fifth from the front. We were still not looking at each other. “You were going to leave without me,” Meline gritted.

“I had not yet determined that part of things, Meline. But you must understand there are ways to go about approaching the Well. None of them include outsiders barreling onto the grounds without severe ramifications. Namely, an arrow between the eyes.” I swallowed down bile at the thought.

“You brought Marco with you before he took his vows or whatever it is you do. Surely I can arrive in the same manner.”

I chuckled dryly, shaking my head. “The boy was a child, and he had already entered into the informal acolyte agreement. You make many assumptions, my queen.”

“Oh, and you’re the most pragmatic person in the realm,” she spat.

We were second in the queue, now, so I did not respond with words. Instead, I looked at her, raising a brow.

Before we stepped forward, Meline mimicked my expression.

I did not know whether to be grateful this version of her was coming forth again or aggravated by her.

In our time together then and now, I had learned my queen and I were both prone to becoming lost to our emotions.

My tendency was to turn inward, lest I burn everything to the ground.

But my queen had a tendency to use harsh words and tone as a preemptive shield.

Or was that reserved just for me?

We selected an assortment of lamb and chicken, all grilled on skewers with onions and potatoes. They were wrapped loosely in wax paper, and the human gave us a paper bag to tote our friends’ meals the few minutes’ walk back to them.

Meline and I picked at our meals while we traversed the lively streets of where she used to call home.

I’d not seen that side of her yet, the one in which she was able to truly relax and enjoy an evening traipsing a city and reveling in dancing, imbibing, or a simple meal with good company.

Any time we tried, there was always some problem or imminent danger.

Perhaps that was why we were both so tense all of the time.

“What do you want to do for the rest of the evening?” I asked. We’d still a few hours before we needed to sleep. I would imagine the others would be preoccupied with their own preparations for moving Tom and getting some rest.

Meline tore through a succulent chunk of lamb, finishing the last of her food as the lodging house came into view. We both stepped onto the street to cross. “What—you’d like to know what I want now?” she grumbled and shoved her way through the entrance.

The front room was empty, the clerk at the front desk had their back turned, and I huffed a puff of smoke out of my nose.

I tilted my head from side to side, stretching my neck and grinding my teeth while my queen and I began to climb the steps.

Her hips swayed as she ascended, and I nearly reached out to swat her ass.

There would be time for that yet.