Bound by Shadow [SAMPLE]

CHAPTER ONE

Morgan was visibly shaken. Her hand remained in a fist at her side. But for what? What is going on?

Catherine and Jonathan smiled at me as I reached them. Morgan kept her head toward the stairs. Jonathan's hair was a vibrant red, a striking difference from his wife and children. A mask of black feathers covered his face.

We wore many masks, but I wondered if they wore more masks than just the delicate ones that covered their eyes. Had they been hiding something else? Morgan's words echoed in my mind, and it took everything in me to stop myself from demanding answers.

Before I could protest further, Catherine and Jonathan started down the stairs. Morgan stole one look at me before she followed behind them. She rolled her shoulders back, but the muscles on her exposed back still appeared just as tense. Zachariah paused at the top of the staircase, waiting for the three of them to reach the midpoint before he started leading me downward.

I didn't realize how hard I had been holding onto him. "You'll be fine," he whispered. He nudged me once with his elbow, and a smile cracked at the corner of his lips.

I wanted to believe him, yet as the crowd grew louder and my heart hammered harder in my chest, I couldn't shake how I was feeling. I was a lamb in the lions den. Beneath us, the manor's main hall stretched out into a large ballroom. Huge windows covered one wall, revealing the long, green lawn outside. The domed ceiling had a large skylight, which was outlined with intricate stained glass. Beyond the glass, stars glittered above.

Jonathan clapped his hands together, and the room grew eerily quiet. The violins stopped abruptly and everyone who had been dancing turned to face their king. I rolled my shoulders back as I became aware of the eyes turning toward me.

"Tonight is a celebration," Jonathan started. "A hundred years ago, Luxtera ended the war with Myrkria. Light overcame Shadow! Just as we have overcome such a feat, my daughter will overcome the transition when the moon eclipses." He raised his hand toward the ceiling, where a large, circular skylight allowed stars to illuminate the room.

I couldn't help but freeze at his words. His mention of the old war was oddly timed with Morgan's vision.

A woman walked toward him with glasses of red wine sitting atop a plate. She bowed her head as she handed one to him. He lifted it in the air and toasted. "So celebrate!" He took a long drink of the liquid and sat it back on the woman's tray. He clapped his hands again, and the room returned to the reverie.

A labored breath escaped my lips. A breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Zachariah escorted me down the remaining steps and gave me a sarcastic bow as he wagged his eyebrows. "Be good, Siggi."

I frowned as he escaped into the crowd, leaving me alone in the room of monsters. I snorted at my own thoughts. Soon enough I'd be a monster, too. The moon was only at the edge of the skylight, so I had awhile until the ritual began. Folding my hands behind my back, I rubbed my thumb over my palm.

Scanning the crowd, I spotted Morgan cross armed near one of the large windows. She was whispering frantically to a man with wild dark hair. It was in a long braid at his back, but a few strands had escaped. His face was covered by a black mask, but I couldn't make out the shape from this far away. Furs covered his shoulders, which was totally out of place, because Luxtera was so warm.

Something didn't feel right in the way his dark eyes looked over the room, before they landed on me. Under the dim lights, the edges of his irises glinted red. Impossible. He stepped through the crowd and walked toward me, and behind him Morgan disappeared into the rest of the crowd. His strides were long but distinct, and when he stopped in front of me, he bowed his head.

His lips quirked into a smirk. "May I have this dance?" His voice was soft, but there was an urgency. I searched for Morgan, but she was no where to be found. Why had she been talking to this peculiar man? He held his hand out toward me, which revealed careful tattoos covering his fingers and crawling up his forearm, before disappearing under the fur on his shoulders.

Being this close to him I could see now that his black mask looked like black petals that had been ripped away from a rose.

I wanted to run, but instead I took his hand into mine and nodded. He lead me to the center of the crowd, directly under the skylight. Above us, the moon was almost fully in the center. Against my skin, his pale white hands were warm. Under closer inspection, I could see I was right about his eyes. Red tinged the edges of his irises, much like white did the Stuarts when they were their strongest. I had only heard of red lines in stories about the Myrkians.

"Morgan warned you?" He whispered against my ear as he pulled me close on the dance floor. The music was so loud and the others dancing around us were so focused, I knew they wouldn't hear his soft voice. "Catherine will attempt to start the ritual early. They've lied to you." His voice had a hint of an accent I couldn't quite figure out.

He leaned back and met my gaze. His words matched up with Morgan's vision, but I had no idea what I had to do with any of it.

"Who are you?" I narrowed my eyes.

"A friend," he said simply. "Names have a lot of power."

I pursed my lips. "Why should I deny the transition?"

"Once you go through with it, you cannot go back." He looked up toward the sky. "And then your power will be gone."

"My power?"

He spun me, and my back was against his chest. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. I was too close, but I couldn't run. Not yet. "All blood has power. Myrkria is not gone, and Luxtera will do whatever it can to destroy everything in it's path, including the humans in its land." He was silent for a moment. "It is an equinox and an eclipse, two of the strongest nights for magic, and yet they've decided to use it on you."

Nothing and everything he said made sense. Why had the Stuarts taken me into their home? His words kept matching up with Morgan's vision and visions never lied. Her nonsense words had been a warning, but I didn't know what to make of them.

"They won't force me to go through with it," I replied. They were my family, and they always had been. The transition was my choice, and tonight had been a lucky occurrence. I wouldn't let this man or his weird words sway me.

He turned me back toward him. "Are you sure they will?"

I didn't like the seeds of doubt taking form in the back of my mind. "Yes."

He didn't say anything else as the song ended. He bowed to me, but did not move from the center of the floor.

He turned his head as Jonathan stepped forward, his red hair bright agains the moonlight. He lifted the blade he'd had hanging at his side. "Get out of here, now." He stepped forward and pressed the tip of his blade against the mysterious man's chin.

Instead of cowering away, his smirk etched the edges of his red eyes.

"I was hoping we wouldn't need to do this, but apparently things never change," he said.

I watched in bewilderment as fangs appeared in his haunting smile. He lifted his wrist toward his face and ripped into his own skin. Black blood welled to the surface and covered the thorny tattoo on his arm. I took two steps away from him as power immediately entered the room. As he snapped his wrist away, his blood transformed into a long, whip-like vine filled with thorns. His smile disappeared behind his mask. Only Myrkrian's could bend blood.

The room fell silent as he snapped the thorny whip against the onyx floor.