Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (22 page)

“
Where are you going?” he
asked in a tone I didn't recognize.

“
To change,” I said without
looking at him.

“
Don't ever change,” he
said, surprise and dismay lacing his voice.

I frowned and turned, expecting to find him
laughing at me. “I've never worn a dress before.”

But instead of laughing, he watched me
intently as though afraid if he blinked that I would disappear. His
brow was creased and he reached out with his free hand and touched
the fabric that ran down my arm with the tips of his fingers. The
cloth, a deep green that looked black unless I stood in bright
lighting, covered my wrists enough that I had wondered if it was
too big for me despite the seamstress' reassurances that it was a
perfect fit.

She had taken in the waist, let it out a bit
at the shoulders, and lengthened the hem so that the bottom of the
dress brushed the floor when I walked. When she took the
measurements, I thought there was no way she would have the work
done in time, but the dress had arrived that afternoon with dark
green silk slippers to match. At her insistence, I gave in to
wearing the shoes because she said wearing a dress without shoes
was worse than not wearing a dress at all; although I doubted not
wearing shoes would make as much of a stir as if I showed up to the
dinner naked.

Axon still held my right hand as though
loath to let it go. I toyed with the fabric of the dress at my
waist with my free hand, wanting Axon to say something and dreading
it at the same time.

“
Promise me one thing,” he
finally said in a voice just above a whisper.

“
What?” I asked
warily.

“
Promise me you'll wear a
dress every day of your life from here on out.”

I studied his face to see if he was joking,
but he looked more serious than I had ever seen him. I dropped my
eyes and felt my cheeks turn red again. “I’m not really a dress
kind of girl.”

“
I would like to disagree,”
he said in a voice that carried both humor and honesty.

I gave a tentative smile. “Let’s see how
tonight goes.”

He nodded and slipped my hand into the crook
of his elbow. “Deal.”

We walked along the hallway, down a flight
of stairs lined with sharply dressed Luminos servants who bowed
their heads in respect as we passed, then paused at the entrance to
the grand dining hall. The doors were attended by a servant with
golden gloves and two suns embroidered on the sleeve of his dark
green jerkin.

“
My Lord,” he said with a
low bow, then he turned to me with a similar bow, “Lady
Nexa.”

A nervous laugh escaped me before I could
stop it. Axon glanced over and humor glowed in his eyes. “This way,
my lady,” he said.

He led us through the doors and down two
steps to the floor of the grand hall, a room that would dwarf even
the dining hall at the Lysus castle. The floor was crafted of white
and dark brown wood lacquered and scrubbed so that our reflection
showed upon it as we walked. The cool temperature of the wood
seeped through my slippered feet and I wondered what it would feel
like to walk on it barefoot.

The table upon which everyone but the
royalty sat was shaped like a giant horseshoe, curved so that
guests sat on the outside facing the empty space in the middle, and
all had a clear view of the King and Queen and royal family who sat
at a long table on a raised dais at the mouth of the horseshoe.

The middle of the shoe was kept empty for
servants to serve meals, and for the entertainment, currently a
young woman dressed in mottled clothing with two small, flat,
furry, multi-legged black and white animals that ran in circles
around her, then curled into a ball and continued rolling when she
gave a command. The animals then uncurled and prance about her like
eager horses, their numerous feet creating a clicking staccato on
the wooden floor as they waited for her next command. She praised
them and laughed, petting the slinky creatures fondly.

As Axon and I walked past to join his family
on the dais, the audience seemed to forget that there was a show.
Everyone rose to their feet and bowed or curtsied when we walked
by. Even the few small children dressed in the same elegant
clothing as their parents dropped into sharp curtsies or bows as
though they had been taught how to do so their whole lives. I met
one young Luminos girl's bright gaze and smiled. She giggled, then
her mother chided her and she dropped into a curtsy, her eyes
lowered and bottom lip trembling.

Embarrassed that I had caused her to get
into trouble, I tugged gently on Axon's arm. He stopped and I knelt
in front of the little girl. “It's alright,” I said gently. I
glanced up at her mother and the woman stared at me, her eyes wide.
“She's beautiful,” I said. The mother's smile shone with gratitude
and relief.

I realized everyone was watching us and rose
quickly to my feet. “Sorry,” I whispered to Axon.

He shook his head and said in a normal voice
that carried easily across the room, “If the Commander of our
Duskie army wants to say hello to a child, I know better than to
get in her way.”

Easy laughter and chuckles rose at his
comment and I blushed, but couldn't help the smile that came to my
lips when we continued across the great hall. A servant moved to
pull out a chair for me so I could sit at the end of the long
royalty table next to Commander Jashen, but Axon stopped him with a
slight shake of his head and led me to the middle of the table
where his parents sat. He pulled out the empty chair next to his
own. I caught the stern, horrified, disapproving stare of his
mother.

“
I really can sit at the
end,” I whispered, not wanting to cause a scene in front of the
entire room.

“
Then who would I talk to?”
he asked slightly louder. He shot his mother a meaningful glance
and she looked away with an irritated sigh.

I took the chair, wondering if I would
regret it later.

A giant platter bearing a great round beast
cooked golden-brown with an orange vegetable in its multi-fanged
mouth was set in the middle of the royal table. King Adexo took a
gold-handled knife that gleamed in the light glowing through the
tall windows that lined two sides of the great hall, and cut a
generous serving of meat off the haunch. A servant set it on his
plate, then the King lifted a hand in a gesture that took in the
entire room. “Enjoy,” he said simply.

On cue, several doors on the west wall
opened and a swarm of servants flowed out carrying trays of fruits
drizzled in a white honey sauce, birds roasted on spits with
candied eyes and vegetables spread along the bodies like feathers,
and more of the giant round creatures that Axon said were called
barnon, animals that would eat anything and grew so fat that
eventually they just sat in one spot and waited for food to be
brought to them. They obviously weren't good at surviving in the
wild, but made excellent stock animals because they never really
went anywhere.

The servants brought steaming goblets of red
liquid called vinish; it tasted like pastries and sunlight, dew,
and clear, fresh spring water sprinkled with tiny brown flakes that
melted on my tongue. They also carried in tiny crystal bowls with
ice-cold scoops of green paste. I tasted it at Axon's urging and
found the favor tart and delightful, chilled green fruit crushed
and mixed with nuts and half-ripe berries, then dipped in a cane
and honey glaze with such a strong taste I could only take a few
bites.

King Adexo leaned forward so he could see me
past his wife and held out his spoon which contained a scoop of a
white, salty grain laced with cheese, and a bit of the green paste
at the tip. “If you eat it like this, it compliments the flavor of
the corsa and gives a pleasant counterbalance to the salt. You
might like it.”

Queen Midissa rolled her eyes, but I tried
it and found the combination much more palatable. The servant
behind me smiled with approval when I finished the bowl and brought
another. By the time the stewards carried in steaming bowls laden
with hot rags that smelled gently of perfumes and a tangy scent
that left my hands clean and soft, I felt like someone would have
to carry me back to my rooms.

I rose gingerly and stood beside Axon who
laughed, “Too much good food?”

“
You can't expect a
half-starved waif from the Caves to turn away from a challenge like
that,” I replied, rubbing my stomach to ease its
soreness.

He shook his head, “No, but I can make sure
you're fed until you're actually used to eating.”

I grinned. “That's a challenge I can
accept.”

Fireflies fluttered in my stomach when I
walked back to my room with a hand at Axon's elbow, though I
wondered how they had found room in there after all of the elegant
food. The King and Queen had left us at the foot of the stairs up
to the royal quarters, King Adexo with a pleasant smile and wishes
for a good night, and Queen Midissa with a calculating gaze and
tight lips as she said she hoped I had a good evening and found my
accommodations comfortable.

Axon opened my door, but his hand covered
mine on his arm as though reluctant to let me go despite the
weariness in his eyes and the shadows underneath that told of the
setting sun. “Did you have a nice time?”

I nodded. “It was better than I could ever
have hoped for. I really don't belong there, you know,” I
admitted.

A slight curiosity formed between his
eyebrows. “Why not?” he asked, his blue eyes searching mine.

“
It's more for people who
like to wear shoes.” His gaze followed mine to my feet. The dark
green slippers made my toes feel cramped and confined. I longed to
run through soft desert sand with nothing between my bare feet and
the dirt.

Axon smiled in understanding, his eyes
bright. “This is the first time I've seen you wear shoes.”

I took the slippers off with one hand, using
the other one on his arm for balance. “That's because it's the
first time I've ever worn them. And the last. So it'll probably be
the last dinner because I doubt your mother would allow me at the
table in bare feet.”

Axon shrugged nonchalantly. “Not if I
command everyone to leave their shoes by the door.”

I stared at him. “You have way too much
power.”

He laughed. “Hey, it's worth it to have the
girl I love eat with me.”

I stared at him and he met my eyes with such
sincerity and so much of his heart in his gaze that my breath
caught in my throat. He took a step forward and closed the space
between us. “It's true,” he whispered, his voice tight. “I can't
help it. Everything you do endears you to me even more, like
talking to that little girl and-”

“
I shouldn't have done
that,” I cut him off. “I embarrassed her and her mother, and I'm
just a Duskie that doesn't really have any right to be there in the
first place.”

His gaze darkened intensely, his icy blue
eyes taking on the lightning-edged ferocity of a storm. “You do
belong there, and don't ever let anyone tell you differently.” He
put his hands on my arms, his face inches from mine. “You look so
beautiful that you stole every heart in the room. It doesn't matter
that you're a Duskie or from Firen Caves, it doesn't matter that
you fight in wars or defeat Sathen or survived a cage on a sinking
ship. They don't know any of that. All they know is that the most
beautiful girl in the world walked into the great hall tonight and
she took the time to smile at a young girl and calm her mother, and
that she kept the attention of every person in the room as she
tried a million different foods for the first time, thanked the
servants for everything they brought out, and laughed and talked
and charmed us all. You won them more just being yourself than if
they had seen you fight on the battlefield a hundred times
over.”

Tears filled my eyes at his words. I shook
my head. “I'm not all that,” I denied.

He smiled, his eyes kind. “You are,
truly.”

I blinked and a tear rolled down my cheek.
He wiped it away with a finger and I leaned against his chest. The
sound of his heart beating loud and strong soothed the ache that
clutched at my heart. I took a deep breath of the summer wind and
grassy hilltop scent of him mixed with the smell of a man confident
in his bearing and bold in his step, then I stepped back and smiled
at the softness in his light blue eyes. A lock of white-blond hair
had swept across his forehead. I pushed it back gently and stood on
my tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips. “To bed with you,
Prince Axon.”

“
Just Axon,” he replied,
his gaze tumultuous and torn. “To you, just Axon.”

I stepped into my room, but turned with a
song in my heart and smiled at him. “Of course, just Axon. Or
should it be my Axon?”

My stomach twisted at the liberty of my
words, but a light appeared in his eyes that took away all doubt.
“Most definitely your Axon,” he said. “Above anything else, your
Axon.”

I nodded with a grin. “My Axon, then.” I
close the door softly so he would take the hint to go rest, but
then I heard him lean against the door, his breath soft and light.
I put a hand on the cool wood and pictured him on the other side. I
wished I could see the expression on his face. He waited for a long
while, then pushed off and walked slowly down the hall. I wondered
what he felt, then a light, simple melody drifted under the door. I
smiled that I had made him sing.

Chapter 25

My thoughts were too tangled and numerous
for me to sleep, so I decided to wander the palace and see if it
looked any different at night. I slipped on a black shirt decorated
with silver thread and a pair of soft gray pants that the
seamstress had left on my bed with the promise of more to follow.
The cloth was cottony and comfortable. I felt at home wandering the
halls in normal clothes and without shoes on so I could enjoy the
depth and quality of the carpets that lined that floors.