Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (16 page)

He laid me gently on a marble table. I
cringed against the hard surface and grabbed for his hand. “It’s
okay,” he said softly. “I won’t leave you.”

A chair was swiftly brought so that he could
sit. He leaned his head against my hand. I felt the soft fabric of
the bandage from my shirt around his forehead. I opened my eyes and
turned my head. “You should be healed first. You need it.”

He looked up at me, his eyes weary but
smiling. “Still trying to take care of me?”

I smiled and rested my head back against the
table. The ceiling of the room bowed in a high arch made of windows
through which sunshine streamed in brilliant beams. Mirrors formed
a circle halfway down the ceiling and reflected the light in a
solid beam to the healing table on which I lay, warming the marble
and touching my skin with reassuring heat.

Soon unfamiliar hands touched my body. I
tightened my grip involuntarily and Axon responded by rubbing the
back of my hand with his fingertips. “Just relax,” he whispered.
“They’ll take the pain away.”

“
My Prince?” a strange
voice said from behind me. Axon looked up. “It would be good if she
could sleep.”

He nodded and a cup of liquid was pressed
against my lips. “Drink,” the voice commanded. I missed Staden’s
soft tones. A tear escaped my eyes at the thought of the gentle
doctor. I drank deeply of the sleep tonic and felt the tension ease
from my muscles. I lost my grip on Axon’s hand, but he held on and
didn’t let go.

Chapter 18

Light danced across my eyes and I opened
them to see lace curtains waving gently in front of a window. I
felt strangely light-headed, but my wounds were healed and my
muscles barely ached. I pushed up from the overly soft bed and
stared down at my white nightgown. I had never worn a nightgown in
my life, let alone one so soft and fine. It added to the
frightening effect of waking in a strange room with no one to
explain what had happened.

I lifted a hand to my head, then stared. The
manacle on my left wrist had been removed. The skin where it had
been was lighter than the skin down my arm with numerous healed
scars from pulling the log. I rubbed the skin and it felt
unfamiliar as though the manacle had been a true part of my arm and
the skin underneath was the fake. My arm felt light, like it would
float away instead of being weighed down by the metal band. A
slight, unreasonable pang of loss brushed my heart and I wondered
if it was from losing the last remnant of my life at the Caves, or
fear at the freedom the missing manacle represented. I pushed away
both thoughts, knowing there were more important things to do.

I rubbed the skin distractedly and looked
around for clothes. I saw tan pants and a maroon shirt with a set
of small clothes folded neatly on a chair in the corner next to a
rosewood polished stand. I clenched my teeth in pain at the thought
of Jatha putting similar clothes into my pack, and forced my mind
to focus on the present. The stand held a mirror and a beautiful
white bowl with green and gold flowers painted along the sides in
what looked like real gold.

I pulled on the shirt and pants, then folded
the beautiful nightgown and set it on the chair where the clothes
had been. Shoes rested next to the chair, but I ignored them. I
felt a bit more like myself in familiar clothes, though they were
far finer than anything I would have chosen. I scrubbed my face and
arms and any other body parts that showed until they were clear of
the gritty feeling of salt from the ocean. A soft gray cloak hung
on the back of my chair, and my stomach growled while I fastened it
around my neck. I wondered how long it had been since I had eaten.
My thoughts drifted to Axon, but I pushed them aside. There was no
reason why I should expect him to be at my side when I awoke. He
probably had princely duties to fulfill.

I suddenly remembered the attack and the
real reason we had voyaged to Lumini. I rushed out of the room and
tripped on a rose and white carpet outside the door. When I righted
myself, I found a Luminos man in green and gold finery staring at
me. “Axon- the Prince,” I managed to catch myself. “Do you know
where I can find him?”

The man’s brow creased but he didn’t meet my
eyes. “He left to war. I don’t think he’ll be back soon.” My heart
caught in my throat, but he continued, “The Queen requests the
pleasure of your company.” The way he phrased it signified that the
request was really an order. I nodded and he led the way down the
hall.

I had to keep reminding myself that I had
nothing to prove and nothing to hide. The servant glanced once at
my bare feet. I bit my lip to hold back an angry retort and
followed him with my head high and eyes straight ahead. But my
defiant thoughts fled when the servant pushed open a set of double
doors to reveal the most elegant sitting room I had ever seen.

The rose carpet continued here, but pink and
white flowers had been woven in as well as the red and gold ones,
and the entire carpet was outlined in gold thread. White pillars
stood around the room covered with living dark green vines that
spiraled toward the glass ceiling and bore delicate yellow flowers
that touched the air with a scent like honey.

Sunlight came from the glass walls, catching
on the transparent leaves of the vines and casting light green
shadows on the ground. Chairs made of a finely grained white wood
were spaced tastefully around little tables with intricate legs and
glass tops. I lifted my eyes from my surroundings to meet the gaze
of a woman who was undoubtedly Axon’s mother.

Robes of the purest white and gold fell
around her as though in worship. Her long white-gold hair was woven
through with a crown of red roses bejeweled in the centers with
clear gems that caught the sunlight and seemed to burn inside with
a rainbow of colors. Her skin, though still the gray of the
Luminos, looked soft and polished like a rock that had been washed
by a stream for a thousand years until it practically glowed.

She was the most beautiful creature I had
ever seen until I met her gaze. Where Axon’s eyes were icy blue and
glowed with life and purpose, hers were just ice. There was no
warmth to them, no welcome or understanding; she simply stared at
me until it felt like her gaze pierced my soul. Then her beautiful
red lips twisted just enough that I felt her disgust in every cell
of my body.

“
So you’re the one my son
cares about.” She stated it with no feeling that I could decipher,
no remorse or anger, just that twist of her perfect lips. The
phrase ‘cares about’ should have warmed me, but the world was
frozen under the daggers of her eyes and my brain refused to come
up with a sufficient reply.

“
He saved my life and I
saved his,” I stated after taking a moment to collect myself. I
wouldn’t give her any more than that. I wouldn’t let her see into
my heart.

Her eyes widened slightly at my audacity to
answer, but she covered it up with a sigh. “Ah, well. Too bad he’s
not here. This nasty war, you know,” she said as if it was a tiny
fly buzzing about her ear.

“
People’s lives are in
danger,” I shot back before I could stop myself.

Her eyes narrowed. “And you are in no
position to do anything about it. Axon made it very clear that you
are to be a guest here, but no Duskie,” her mouth twisted further
on the word, “has ever been a guest at Lumini Palace.”

“
Yeah, I get that a lot,” I
said with a touch of sarcasm, cutting her off.

She glared and continued, “I doubt your
welcome will be long lived. After this war is over, I’m sure he'll
grow bored with you soon enough.”

My cheeks burned, but I refused to
reply.

Her lips twisted in a smile as though she
knew how much her words hurt. “You are dismissed,” she said with a
wave of her finely manicured hand.

I left the room at a run, weaving between
shocked Lumini servants tending to their duties about the palace
and a few well-dressed, simpering ladies who moved like a flock of
confused birds. I didn’t stop until I found a small side door and
burst out into a beautiful garden. Green moss with small, light
pink flowers covered the ground. Shoots of light green were topped
with delicate yellow, orange, and dark pink flowers that looked too
fragile to touch. They surrounded bushes covered with green and
gold roses as big as my head. I walked along the soft mossy path
and touched a rose here and there, careful to avoid the thorns that
were as long as my finger.

My thoughts raced with the words the Queen
had said and tangled with the shock that Axon was already in the
midst of battle and there truly was nothing I could do to help. The
thought of him in trouble made my heart ache. It felt like we had
been watching each other's backs far longer than the journey from
the Caves. There had to be something I could do to help, I just
didn’t know what.

My feet took me out a side gate past a pair
of guards who glared but didn’t lower their swords to stop me. I
wondered briefly if I would be able to get back in, but after
meeting Axon’s mother, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

I glanced back at the palace and my heart
slowed. I stopped and turned around to face it fully. The sun stood
high in the sky, lighting walls made of white marble so that it
looked as if the Lumini palace was made of light itself. Where the
Lysus castle had been built for security with the spiky red rocks
and intimidating gates, the Lumini palace stood before me bathed in
elegance and beauty, looking as though the sunbeams had fashioned a
home for themselves out of the silver lining of clouds.

I turned and surveyed the city that sprawled
below the green hill on which the palace sat. Grass met the edge of
the path I walked and flat, orange, three-petaled flowers had
pushed up through the cobblestones and speckled the path. The
houses below were crafted of smooth river stones that reflected
light on their water-worn surfaces, but what made the view truly
spectacular was the type of mortar used to hold the rocks together.
The mortar sparkled like a million gems packed between the soft
gray stones. Even in places of shadow, the mortar shone as though
it glowed with light it had absorbed from earlier in the day. The
effect made a city that winked, shone, and basked in the light of
the sun as though in worship of the lords of daylight that had
created the city.

I walked to the edge of the cobblestone
walkway and reached up slowly to touch a branch of an overhanging
tree. A million leaves rustled in the lazy breeze. Several tickled
across my palm. I stared at the living images of the leaf I had
held so preciously back at the Caves. Where mine had been dry and
brittle, these practically glowed with life, dark green and vibrant
with the pulse of existence just below my fingers. Their veins were
rich and full of moisture, and the web work across the back looked
like tiny maps that led to distant and mysterious lands.

I smelled the leaf and smiled at the echo of
the scent that mine once held, sunshine and green things, sharp and
sweet with the promise of water and a reminder of growth and
strength. The leaf was warm where it had soaked in the sun, and the
branches high above waved gently as though swaying to a melody I
couldn’t hear. I couldn’t believe I looked at a tree where before
my only hope had been a tiny, withered leaf. I longed to climb up
and sit in the branches listening to the secrets of the wind and
forgetting my past, my pain, and to just be.

My stomach growled and I fought back a
rueful grin. I was distracted by trees when there was so much to
accomplish. But after the healing, I felt like my stomach would
practically eat itself if I didn’t find something to fill it. I
made my way to the main road and fell in step with people rushing
to and from the market square. It seemed that even though there was
a war going on, business continued as usual.

I frowned and took another look around.
Duskies hurried from shop to shop, bartering and trading goods and
joking around, but there was a tightness about their eyes and
mouths and it was obvious the presence of the war was on everyone’s
minds. What struck me most was that there were no Luminos on the
streets. With the empire at war, only the Duskies had been left to
their regular trades.

It felt wrong to see one complete race of
people left out when the wellbeing of the entire country was at
risk. The thought made me pause. With Axon's help, for the first
time I saw the Duskies as their own race instead of inferior
half-bloods only useful as slaves and for hard labor. Axon's
attitude had finally sunk in. The thought made me smile, but also
made me miss Axon so much I wanted to find him as soon as possible.
My stomach growled again. I let out a small sigh and ducked under
the awning of a shop that smelled of brown sugar, pressed fruit,
and cream.

“
Welcome,” said a woman
with a wavering voice, a delicately wrinkled face, and kind dark
eyes.

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

She gestured with a veined hand to the
delicacies on the table. “Let me know what you would like.”

I looked over the pastries and my stomach
growled again, then I remembered that I didn't have any money. The
coin pouch Axon had given me in Lysus had been lost when the ship
was attacked. I was so used to not having any money that I hadn't
noticed its absence until I needed it.

I stifled a sigh and figured that it
wouldn't hurt anything if I just looked. The woman smiled, but
didn’t press me further. A sound in the corner caught my eye and I
turned to see a crib. My heart thumped strangely in my chest and I
took a step closer, though my feet dragged reluctantly.

“
My granddaughter,” the
woman said behind me with a hint of pride. “Her parents tend the
vegetable booth across the way. There’s more room for the crib here
and I enjoy the time with her.”