When Shadows Rise (Book 1)

Chapter 2 (Kayden)

Eka led the way, the silence between them stretching until it nearly shattered the wall Kayden had created to protect herself. As they trudged on, Kayden's nails dug into her palms, but her gloves softened the pain. Removing them, she welcomed the deep bite. The scars that decorated her hands and disappeared beneath her sleeves reminded her of who she was, and—more importantly—why she could never have Eka the way she wanted to.

When they reached their destination, Kayden knelt in the snow at the bottom of the jagged cliff, the coldness seeping through her clothing as she glanced up at the ledge of frost ferns her best friend had fallen from. That was what she told herself.

Jesse had fallen, and there was nothing more to it.

Beside her, Eka dragged her fingers through the snow and clenched it tightly in her fist. Kayden reached hesitantly for her hand and gave it a squeeze, running her thumb along Eka's soft skin that was absent of scars.

Eka pulled away. "Do you ever wonder how he fell?"

"Ice." The lie tasted sour.

The truth was a beast Kayden constantly tried to outrun, but she was slowing down. As it caught up to her, she recalled the way Jesse's blood had stayed trapped beneath her nails no matter how hard she'd scrubbed at it. Till this day, it still stained her mind.

"He was too skilled to make that mistake." Eka's stare burned through her. "You know that."

"He slipped on ice."

"I don't believe you."

All of her well-practiced lies froze on her tongue. "What?"

"Forget it." Eka stood and knocked away the snow caked onto her knees. "I'm heading to Shay's for a drink."

Just like that, the girl tugged her furs tighter around her and left, starting the descent to Clifftop Road. Everything in Kayden yearned to chase after her, but she couldn't, because she had no other explanation for how Jesse had died, at least not an explanation she could give.

Good goddesses, this was bad. The absence of pale purple torbit leaves emphasized it. Eka never left the cliff without sprinkling the leaves over the spot where Kayden had supposedly found his body. After sundown, the leaves would glow, and they liked to believe it was a sign he still lived, despite his spirit resting in the Above now. The two of them did this every few months, but never had Eka hinted she knew Kayden was lying.

Until now.

Emptying her pockets of torbit leaves, she scattered them. What little joy that had remained in her fled now that Eka wasn't here, and she let out an unsteady breath. The familiar embrace of loneliness wrapped its long arms around her, and once again, she was stranded with no one to talk to. Nobody in Freca would understand. Maybe the goddesses would listen, but she cut down that idea. The goddesses had abandoned her long ago, and she'd even been desperate enough to try reaching out to the gods a few times, but not once had she heard a single whisper in return.

What Kayden needed was her twin brother, Alaric.

Alaric understood when nobody else ever could. After Jesse's death, Alaric had been there for her, always listening, always coaxing a smile when all hope had fled.

Now he wasn't.

A cruel twist of fate had stolen Kayden's twin from this world not long after Jesse's death. Hope was as absent as the goddesses and gods now, but maybe, just maybe, she could reach for her brother and hear his voice one last time.

Needing to be closer to the Above, she began scaling the cliff. Her hands blazed with the cold, but it was the only thing that made her feel real in this haze of nothingness. As she climbed higher, she let her impassive mask fall away.