A Thief of Nightshade(61)

no

sound.

She’d

grown

so

accustomed to hearing it that she’d failed to notice the sound’s absence.

It’s just a clock. Grant can probably fix it. You’re freaking yourself out for no reason.

A couple hours and a good long shower later, Aubrey apathetically made her way to Samantha’s, dismayed to find more than a few cars in the driveway when she arrived.

“Aubrielle! God, it’s good to see you.” Vincent, a friend she hadn’t seen in five years or so, stepped up to her door as she got out. He gave her a brief hug, leaving his hand on her shoulder when she pulled away.

“It’s been a long time,” Aubrey said.

“Yeah, it has. Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the funeral. Are you, I mean I know you aren’t okay, but are you okay?”

“As good as it gets, all things considered.”

He smiled. “Glad to hear it. Come on inside, there are quite a few people here who I’m sure you’ll be happy to see.”

Mindlessly, Aubrey let Vincent usher her inside, and as he’d promised, she was greeted by friends she hadn’t seen in years, some even decades. A handful of them were from Darlington. And after chatting for several hours about things she had unutterably little interest in, she finally made her way to Sam’s backyard.

Sam had moved since they’d roomed together and instead of having a tiny, sad excuse for a yard, Samantha had a beautiful view of the woods. The sun had set hours ago, leaving the forest dark and calm. A light breeze with the slightest bit of warmth blew, softly fanning her auburn hair across her face. She moved to brush it out of her eyes and saw something. There wasn’t much movement, but there was just enough that by the dull glow of Sam’s tiki torches, she caught it.

She smoothed her hair to one side of her neck and looked closer, seeing nothing but the feathered outlines of pine and oak trees.

“Why are you out here by yourself?”

Samantha asked gently.

Aubrey looked over her shoulder to see Samantha rest her back against the railing of the deck. “Because it’s either that or go home. I need a break, Sam. I can’t take all of this in at once.” She was somewhat surprised to hear the insistence in her own voice, the sureness of it.

Sam hesitated. The light from the torches reflected oddly in her eyes, giving the appearance of shimmering silver, but it was gone the moment Aubrey thought to get a better look.

“You’ve got half an hour. Then I’m dragging you inside to be with us if I have to.” Samantha smiled, but it was an afterthought to the terse tone of her voice.

She didn’t wait for a response before she ducked back into the house.

What is wrong with me? Aubrey wondered.

She

had

never

felt

uncomfortable around Samantha and Samantha had never been so impatient with her. She would chide and persuade, but this borderline aggression was unusual. Aubrey simply wasn’t herself.

Maybe she’d finally snapped and nothing in her life would ever be the same.

Suddenly, she saw movement again.

Straining to see against the darkness, Aubrey ran briskly down the stairs and stepped onto the lush grass of the lawn.

She stayed still for a time, her eyes locked on the shadows, debating whether she should go farther. Voices, merry and indistinct carried in the night air, seemingly near and far all at once. She thought she heard faint laughter but the sound grew louder and proved to be only the wind.

It had always been this way. Aubrey had tried so hard for so long to be what everyone else wanted her to be, but just like this night, she never fit their mold.

She had always wandered off, literally and figuratively. Before Jullian, she was always alone and now with him gone, she suddenly understood the meaning of the word silence, for it was all that remained in her heart. No tears. No cries. Just the mortal ache of what had once been.





Chapter Twenty-


Two


GIVEN TOOK A LONG, CAREFUL BREATH.

HER back throbbed worse than it had yet.

She guessed mostly from the fighting she’d done in Koldavere, but also because of Aislinn’s physical hold on her. She knew he was seething. She could see it through the flimsy binding she’d done and before long the spell would wear off completely.

Soon he would once again be Ellohim. So, in her want to give him as much freedom as she could, she silently unbound his speech.

“We aren’t far. It’s just over that hill and past the glen.” She didn’t expect him to respond. He didn’t know that he could.

She’d debated telling him a hundred times along the way everything about her past, all of the reasons why she had to do what she was doing. But every time she started to open her mouth, her anger over his immediate judgment of her and all of his hateful words filled her head and she couldn’t get the words out.

“You know, I didn’t grow up royalty.

I spent years in the Winter Court as a sla —”

“I don’t give a damn, Shade, where you grew up or what you did with your days before you became the lying, callous witch you are now.” Aislinn said it so fast that he couldn’t have known it was said aloud until it was too late.

Given felt the breath on the back of her neck as Aislinn faintly groaned. She closed her eyes, swallowing the acid in his words before she responded, “I won’t apologize for lying to you.”