Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
I rolled the root in my hands. “No. My first time was racing with Salak. The morning I found you in the grasslands.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Do you think they appeared because of me?”
“Because of you?” My spine straightened. “I hadn’t found you yet.”
“That’s true.” She crushed another petal in her fingers, nervousness creeping over her strength. “I only ask because my sensitivity toward animals...” She didn’t meet my eyes. “That gift grows stronger every day—almost as if being around you has unlocked a piece of myself that I didn’t know existed.” She laughed awkwardly. “Being around you makes me feel more myself, even though I still have no idea who that is.”
I couldn’t breathe.
My hands fisted the tuber as I sat motionless, fighting every urge to snatch her into my arms and kiss her again.
The shadows Runa had mentioned pooled out of me, siphoning from my hips and swirling over my heart.
She gasped as the black tendrils licked around her, touching her the way I wanted to.
Kiu snarled quietly, warningly, but I didn’t pull the shadows back.
They’d appeared because I couldn’t control how I felt, but they grew because I gave them permission. For the first time, I sank into the dense blackness in my marrow and manipulated them instead of letting them manipulate me.
It was as easy as breathing.
A simple wish, a passing thought, and a shadow extended from my wrist, whispering over Runa’s cheek just like my fingers burned to do.
She flinched.
I gathered the shadows and sucked them back into nothing. “The moment I met you, I knew you were what I’d been missing. You didn’t feel new or unknown, Runa. You made my very spirit exhale with relief. I swear my entire body said, ‘Ah, finally. There she is.’”
Her lips parted but I didn’t let her speak.
“I knew you were what I’d been searching for, what I’d lost. It’s true that the shadows only appeared the day I met you, and you’re right that the longer I’m around you, the easier it is to control them, but that isn’t what you truly want to know.” I studied the worry in her amber eyes, the fearful hesitation. “Is it?”
She shivered, then shook her head.
“So ask, and I’ll be truthful. Just like I’m truthful when I say our meeting wasn’t by chance. I wholeheartedly believe we’ve been walking toward one another all this time.”
She rubbed at the spot above her heart.
For a moment, she sat in my confession, accepting what I believed, tasting my truth. Finally, she murmured, “You don’t feel new either. But...” Her shoulders came up and her voice turned thin. “The fire told me you already walked in death. That you are darkness itself. Your eyes are like smoke and your skin carries the tint of shades even in the sunlight. You control the night as if you are the night and...the part of me that recognises you is the very same part warning that we aren’t the same.”
I swallowed. “We are opposites.”
“Exactly.” Her eyes widened. “That word has always felt important.”
“And because I’m marked by darkness, you think you should what...fear me? Not trust me? Not trust what we feel?”
She shifted with discomfort. “I...don’t know.” She looked away. “If we’re to step into the flames together—to return to a fire that warned me so ferociously about you—I-I need to know. Are you...do you think—” She swallowed hard. “Do you think your shadows are evil?”
“Evil?” I reared back. “The shadows are me. Just like your sensitivity is you. Do you think I’m evil?”
“No.” She shook her head quickly. “At least, I don’t think so.”
“What do you think? Truthfully.”
She sniffed, pausing for a long heartbeat. “I think you’re right. You need to remember your name because a name has the power to make something real. It’s time you stepped out of the darkness and know.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
. Runa .
“IS THAT ENOUGH?” THE STRANGER stood in the bright morning sunshine, his bare chest gleaming with sweat from carrying armloads of dry branches and kindling.
We’d both enjoyed a swim this morning, bathing and cleansing like Pallen had made me do in her ritual to prepare me. We’d kept our eyes averted as we’d removed our coverings, swam apart, and attended to whatever methods of washing we preferred.
Once we’d finished, we’d dressed quickly, and he’d marched into the woods to gather fuel for the trance. Now, his sweaty body held streaks of dirt again, looking even more appealing than when he was clean.
My stomach clenched as I drank him in. The more I was around him, the more I struggled to tear my eyes away.
This morning, he’d shorn off the hair that’d thickened around his jaw. I hadn’t said a word as he’d used a calm pool of water to study his reflection and carefully scraped a sharp-edged rock over his cheeks.