Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (10 page)

I met his gaze and tried to pretend that my
heart didn't beat louder at his nearness. “What do you need to
do?”

He frowned and his eyes took on a distant
look. “Marry Princess Tiseria, I suppose.”

“
Is that a problem?” I
asked, though I definitely felt like it was.

He frowned, his eyes still distant, and gave
a small nod. “For the empire, no, but for me, yes.”

“
Is there a
difference?”

This time, Axon focused on me. He gave a
small smile. “You’re a shrewd one, aren’t you?” He pushed himself
to a sitting position and leaned with his back against one of the
posters. He smoothed the blanket under his left hand. “I should
marry her then, for the empire.”

“
If that’s what you must
do,” I answered, but my heart slowed. I rushed on, “Is there a
reason not to?”

He looked back at me and a jolt passed
between our gazes. “Love.”

“
What-what do you mean?” My
voice was light, breathless.

Axon tore his gaze away and rose to stalk
the length of the room. He held his hands behind his back and toyed
with the royal ring on his first finger. A dark purple gem winked
in the light. “I don’t love her.”

I felt like I could breathe again and rose
to stand next to the bed. “Is love so important?”

He shook his head as he paced, the ring now
in his hand, closed in a fist. “It shouldn’t be,” he admitted. He
reached the wall and put a hand against the red stone. He turned
back after a minute and looked at me. “I just don’t want to end up
like her parents, barely tolerating each other for the power they
hold.”

I watched him. “What about your
parents?”

He shrugged. “My dad married for love, but
it was hard on our lands when a marriage like mine could have given
our people peace.” He walked back to the bed and leaned against it,
crossing his arms over his chest. “Do people marry for love at the
Caves?”

I shrugged. “The Luminos and Nathos,
probably, though you wouldn’t know it by hearing them argue. But
Duskies aren’t allowed to marry.”

He glanced at me. “You don’t plan to
marry?”

I shook my head, hesitated, then frowned.
“I’m not sure anymore. At the Caves it was a given. Duskies were
forbidden marriage and even forbidden from making friendships for
fear it would turn into a conspiracy against the Luminos and
Nathos. Marriage was never a consideration. Now, I don’t know what
I think, but I doubt I’ll marry.”

“
Why is that?” Axon
pressed.

I turned away from his searching gaze and
breathed through the sudden heaviness in my chest. I couldn’t tell
him that I didn’t think anyone would ever love me enough to marry
me, or that after all I had been through, I wouldn't make a
suitable partner for anyone. I didn’t tell him that the distrust I
saw in others’ eyes, even the Duskies when they saw my strange
markings so stark and contrasting compared to their gentle swirls
and Luminos or Nathos hair, made it impossible to trust anyone.

When I didn’t answer, Axon let out his
breath in a rush. “I suppose I should marry her and end this war
once and for all.”

“
Don’t marry her,” I
blurted out.

Axon stared at me. “Why not?”

“
She’s pompous and
conniving, and underneath all her simpering and batting eyelashes,
there’s a power-hungry woman like her mother who can’t wait to get
her hands on your empire. Your people would be better off without
her as a ruler, even if it didn’t mean peace.” I stared back at
him, surprised at the rush of words that had escaped me.

“
Well, I-“ Axon frowned.
“Wait a minute, when did you see her?”

I hesitated, afraid I had crossed some
unspoken boundary by exploring the passageways. But it was too late
now. I swallowed and told him about the passage, what I had seen of
their lunch, and the depth of the tunnels I had traveled.

“
So they could be listening
to us right now?” he asked, his face a shade whiter.

I shook my head. “The passages I traveled
haven't been used for a very long time. Besides, I covered up the
holes in here.” I gestured toward the misplaced picture.

He sat quietly for a moment, then excused
himself and went to the great hall.

I took a moment to collect myself, then
followed him out in time to see Dyloth rise from the couch, his
hands wringing together as he glanced at the walls. “How do we know
they're not listening to every word we say?”

“
Nexa said the passages
looked like they hadn't been traveled in a long while,” Axon
replied, though he followed Dyloth's worried gaze around the
hall.

“
To think they could have
been spying on us every time we came here,” Marken growled, his
eyes stormy.

“
That would be a good idea
for the palace at Lumini,” Jatha said speculatively.

Staden shook his head. “It's an invasion of
privacy, and entirely outside of courteous royal conduct. They
should have boarded up the passage long ago.”

Dathien ran his thumb thoughtfully along his
chin. “It might be nice to know what goes on behind closed doors,”
he mused pointedly.

Axon shook his head. “Absolutely not. We
wouldn't want them using the passage against us, so we shouldn't do
the same to them.”

Rasa walked to the closest wall and began to
follow it slowly. “You know,” he said over his shoulder. “It might
not be a bad idea to find out how they really feel about our
negotiations.”

Axon watched the Luminos' back, and I
wondered if he was serious. I had made of hobby of spying at the
Caves because there wasn’t anything else to do there, but I knew by
the others’ reactions that eavesdropping on royalty would meet a
punishment far greater than I ever experienced.

Rasa continued to search for the holes and
Axon's brow lowered like he was about to protest when Dathien
cleared his throat. “You know, it wouldn't be a bad idea. If we
find out all of this is in vain, we could go home instead of
waiting around through politics and protocol to end up back where
we started.”

Staden didn't look happy, but also didn't
argue with Dathien's suggestion.

Axon sighed. It was obvious he relished the
thought of leaving as much as Dathien, but he still didn't feel
right about spying on anyone.

“
No one will know,” Dathien
reassured him. “If we find out they aren't interested in the
marriage arrangements, we'll come up with another reason to
leave.”

“
And what if they are?”
Axon said soft enough that I doubted the others heard. He glanced
at me, his eyes unreadable, then nodded. “Fine. Let's get this over
with.”

Rasa stopped walking, his fingers on the
wall. “Well aren't they clever?” he said.

We went over and found a spy hole hidden
discretely amid pebbles painted in a giant mural. The painting
showed two crowned Luminos gazing into a pond that reflected back
the city of Lysus complete with flags billowing from each house and
streets lined with merchants bartering their goods. What was
starkly obvious was the lack of Nathos along the streets. I
wondered briefly if the same painting, but opposite, hung in the
Nathos castle next door.

“
Sneaky,” Jatha said
dryly.

Axon's lips pushed into a tight line. Staden
glanced at him, then at me. “Let's get this over with.”

I led them through my room and opened the
door to the closet, then blushed under Dathien’s curious gaze. “I
was feeling a little overwhelmed in all the light,” I explained,
embarrassed.

He laughed, but peered through the dark with
a wary expression. “I’m not going to fit in there.”

“
Me, neither,” Marken said
immediately.

The others backed off until it was my turn
to laugh. “What’s going on; are you afraid of the dark?”

Staden nodded. “Most Luminos are. We
generally avoid the dark by sleeping through it.”

“
As if we have a choice,”
Rasa replied. He grinned at me with blue eyes deeper than most
Luminos.

I shrugged. “We could take a torch.”

Dathien pursed his lips over his jutted
teeth. “Unfortunately, the same fear pertains to small, dark
places. I don’t know how the Luminos you lived with actually
survived the Caves for such a long time. That place gave me the
creeps.”

Axon rolled his eyes. “I guess we'll end up
braving the passages alone, my lady.”

“
I’ll go,” Jatha said,
though he sounded as if he was being forced to wear one of the
dresses I had turned down.

Axon slapped him on the shoulder. “Glad to
have you along.” He gestured for Jatha to lead the way, and the
Luminos grumbled a bit but stepped into the closet. I felt along
the panel and pushed the top, then pulled the bottom to open the
door. Jatha gave me a steeling glance in the dark closet, then
ducked through into the passage.

I followed Jatha, then Axon brought up the
rear. I ran into the doctor right next to the door. He clung to one
of the wooden beams in the dark. “Can I squeeze by?” I asked
quietly.

“
Fancy Duskie, able to see
in the dark,” Jatha said in a light, taunting voice that made me
smile when I stepped past him. He held out a hand and I grabbed it.
“I never thought about how it could come in handy.”

“
It wouldn’t be handy if
you spend all your time in the sun,” I countered.

“
Ow!” Axon rubbed his
forehead after smacking it against one of the low beams.

I let out a small breath. “This isn’t going
to work if I need to lead both of you. If we’re going back to the
dining hall, it’s a long ways and there’s a lot to get hurt on if
you don’t know where you’re going.”

Axon sighed. “Go back, Jatha. I'll let you
know what we find out when we return.”

Jatha obeyed and crawled out of the hole
faster than I had ever seen him move. The other Luminos waiting in
my room laughed.

“
Couldn’t make it?” Staden
teased.

“
At least I went in the
stinkin’ hole, you wouldn’t even go in the closet,” Jatha snapped
back; then his tone lightened. “It’s too dark. Nexa can only take
one at a time.”

“
Oh, well,” Dathien sighed.
“We’ll have to make do with calling up a bit of grub.”

We made our way carefully up the tunnel and
their voices died away. We went slowly and I described to Axon how
many steps to take before stepping over the low beams or ducking
under the high ones. He held my hand tight and reached with his
other one close to his face to feel the beams before he ran into
them. His eyes were wide and searching, though it was so dark he
couldn’t see anything. It felt strange, leading a man who was so
certain and powerful, yet who had to trust me to warn him about the
smallest piece of wood that could trip him up.

“
Is it far?” he asked,
breaking me from my thoughts.

I guided him under another beam and shook my
head, then realized he couldn’t see me. “No, not far. Just around
the next bend, actually.”

He didn’t quite stifle his sigh of relief
and I was glad he couldn’t see my smile.

We reached the dining hall and I twisted the
wood. A beam of light shone through to touch the wall behind us. It
looked solid through the black, like a rod of hardened, shimmering
sunlight. Axon reached over to touch it and watched the way it
played over his hand. He threw me a slightly embarrassed look and
put his eye to the hole. The dining hall was empty of all but a few
servants cleaning up the lunch and preparing for a dinner that
would be even bigger by the looks of it. Axon watched for a few
minutes, then turned back with a thoughtful crease to his brow.

“
Could you get us to the
King and Queen’s chambers?”

I thought a minute. “If you know roughly
where they are in the castle, I could probably find them. I just
hope they’re not monitored.”

“
That’s a risk I’m willing
to take,” Axon replied. He outlined the layout of the castle for me
and I led him forward through the red rock passageway, tracing my
free hand along the inside of rocks that hadn’t been touched in
what looked like decades.

Chapter 12

The King and Queen’s chambers were lower in
the castle, which surprised me because I assumed they would be the
highest.

“
King Raden feels safer
closer to the ground.” He grinned. “Apparently, he's afraid of
heights.”

I fought back a smile at his tone. “I
thought you were enemies. How do you know so much about him?”

Axon ducked a bit too slow and bumped the
top of his head on a beam. He whispered some words under his breath
I had never heard before and gave a rueful grin. “Let’s just say
that certain of our men fell in love with a few of their choice
women, married, and told me the secrets of the castle.” He touched
one of the walls. “Though they failed to mention this.”

“
I doubt anyone remembers
it.” We were close to the King’s chambers now and had to make our
way down a series of short steps that must have been extensions of
the true stairs in the hallway next to us. There were no signs that
anyone else had traveled this passage in years, even this close to
the Lysus King and Queen’s chambers.

We passed one quiet room, a second a few
paces away, then stopped at a third through which a high voice
sounded before we even opened the spy hole.

“
I had Sarian warn
Seamstress Mancioch that making a dress for Duchess Eria would not
be in her best interest, but apparently she didn't listen,” the
Queen said in a dangerous tone. “I won't be held responsible if
something happens to her.”