Beneath Shadows and Secrets

♔ 𝕱𝔬𝔲𝔯 ♔

Welcome back! The time has come to begin regular updates on book 2 of the To Be trilogy. I will confirm an upload schedule, but currently it is looking to be Mondays and Thursday, will chance mid week updates where possible.
Above you will see an attached picture - a digital drawing I did of my interpretation of Nira. I will hopefully have more character arts throughout this book when I have the opportunity to finish them.
Other than that, I can only hope you enjoy reading book 2, and prepare to be submerged beneath shadows and secrets.

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♔ 𝔑𝔦𝔯𝔞 ♔

"Nira, I need you to calm down." Zaire tells me. His hands are held up, palms outwards. A sign of surrender, as though he should be offered such mercy. After what he did to me, what he forced me to endure, only to betray me in the end. I should be dead – he should fear for himself, since I am not.

"Do not tell me what you need, Zaire." His name is tainted, sour, and I spit it from my tongue as though I cannot part with it quick enough. He nods in arbitration, quick to abandon his didactic approach. Right now, I am indomitable, and have no desire to be amicable. "Tell me what you did to me."

He becomes compliant, likely to abate my fury, and nods again. "I will, my huntress, but breathe. If you take a moment to calm, I will tell you everything." I cannot be sure if it is the haunting sobriquet that he uses to refer to me, or the way he still insists on his twisted methods of blackmail, but he only further catalyses my rage.

When my wrath grows, as does the darkness, and I realise then, they are not a figment of my imagination. They are born from me. Tendons of shadow coiling and twisting around me with sinuous grace, whipping out with threat towards the High Lord. They thread through my fingers, wrap around my limbs, but they are not a danger to me. No, they are what burden his eyes with fright.

They should scare me, this new extension of me that I seem to have no control over. That move as though sentient beings themselves, that are something so far from human, I should never possess them. Yet, the way they hum against my body, the way they do not shy from the burning heat of resentment in my heart... they are the only thing that keep me from breaking entirely.

"Nira," a soft voice calls out to me.

I blink twice, taking a second to register who it is that stands beside Zaire. Sloan, who even in the face of this horror, manages to smile at me.

The deep breath I inhale at the comfort is almost intoxicating. As if her being here is the familiarity my body is desperately craving. The scent that hangs in the air coats the back of my nose, so strong I can almost taste the bitter almond and the jasmine of the oils she coats herself in. It does not only come from her; it clings to everything within this room. She has been here – the only one that has – by my side for so long, that the furniture, the walls, even I, smell just like her.

The next breath, it is a choked sob of relief. "Sloan."

Her bright, happy eyes, shimmer with tears. "I like your shadows." She takes a moment to inspect them, and I know she is questioning the reality of her words. They're not quite shadows. They're darkness. I watch them too, and I notice how they have begun to slow, and withdraw. "Do you think you can manage them, so that I can come take care of you?"

"No." I hurry back in a panic. She does not let the worry in my tone phase her. Instead, she takes a step forward, rising an arm before Zaire so he knows not to push this new boundary she has set.

"Well, they may calm once you are calm. Will you do that for me, because I am rather desperate to hug you."

I nod, small jittery movements, as I force myself to inhale slow and deep. I force out the tension in my hands, clenching and softening my fists. I close my eyes, focusing on slowing the racing of my heart. I will for the adrenaline to leave me, for the anger to disappear, if only for a moment, so I can find solace in the arms of my friend.