Land of Light and Shadows

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

They should have been back by then. Hours had passed yet there was no sign of their approach.

Jai paced in front of the Arloerin palace, arms crossed with one fist against his mouth, staring down at the cobblestone beneath his boots. Gideon and Mik were with him while Thia, Allel, Kalla, and Elys were watching front the tallest palace tower. Peering up, he could see Kalla on the balcony, a spyglass poised in her hand.

"What's taking so long?" Jai complained then. "What if something happened? I knew we should have gone with..."

"As much as I would have like to do that, you know they're fine. This is Lyv and Cleo we're talking about," Gideon told him.

Mik nodded in agreement. "You haven't felt anything wrong from Lyv, have you? Not since..."

Jai fisted both hands against his sides. "Since you stopped me from going after them when I felt her fear and panic? No. I should have gone then. I should have..."

Both Mik and Gideon glanced down at his hands, at the shadows beginning to weave through his fingers, thrum in his veins.

Sucking in a deep breath through his nose, he tried to reign his magic in.

They would be fine.

Lyv was fine.

It was just the echo of her panic, of the darkness that threatened to take her over that was causing him to be on edge.

Gideon nodded down to his hands. "That hasn't happened in a little while. Are you sure you still have a good hold on it?"

Did he? Well, he had before Lyv left with Cleo into unknown territory. He'd only been half awake whenever they left earlier that morning and didn't realize they were gone until Elys came pounding on their door an hour later, complaining that it was locked. Good thing it was, too, because Jai was still naked and hardly covered up by the silken sheets. After dressing and finding the boy had yet to leave, he slung him over his shoulder before toting him down to grab a quick breakfast and heading outside to wait for Lyv and Cleo's return.

They'd been waiting for hours.

Elys eventually ran inside and up to the females as they watched from the highest of the palace towers. Their laughter floated down to where Jai, Gideon, and Mik were then, obviously finding something Elys said funny. At least they were being entertained while the time passed painfully slow.

Sighing, Jai's shoulders dropped as he sat down beside Gideon. "Why did we let them go alone again?"

"Because the less people going to Veres, the better," Mik answered from Gideon's other side. "You know they'll be fine. Just like all the females in our lives, they can take care of themselves."

"He's right, you know."

Jai jumped so high even for sitting he almost smacked Lyv in the face as she grinned beside him, her shadows dissipating a moment later. "What the hell? Where did you come from?"

Lyv doubled over with laughter as Cleo appeared from her own shadows, lounging on the steps beside her. "Oh, you know. Here and there."

Elys shouted from up above, having been looking through the spyglass Kalla helped him hold. They were seeing Roshan and Ollyn's approach, but not Lyv and Cleo on their backs. When he looked down to where they were to let them know, it took a second for him to register that Lyv and Cleo were with them, not lost like he'd feared. He, Thia, Allel, and Kalla disappeared from the balcony then, only be a matter of time before they came bursting through the front doors.