A Walk Amongst Shadows (Book 2)

Present Day

Shaking off our unexpected visit from Stellan, I kissed Aris goodbye and headed into the city.

“You sure you don’t need me to walk with you?” he asked me one last time before I opened the door.

“I’m sure, I think I can navigate this place on my own,” I asserted, trying to seem nonchalant and confident in my abilities.

He smiled, “Good luck, call me if you get lost.” He winked at me and I was off.

I thought about Stellan as I made my way towards the city. I wondered why he had waited this long to visit. Aris and I had been living here together for nearly a year now and it’s not as though we were in hiding. Perhaps he had been away and not heard about us until more recently. A part of me liked Stellan. I couldn’t quite explain why. Are all shadow walkers charismatic? I quickly remembered the weight of the term shadow walker. I wondered what kind of sordid history Stellan had. I wondered how old he was, how he had become a shadow walker, how many mortal lives he had taken. I suddenly felt relieved that he was gone. I knew I had not been in any danger this morning, between Aris and myself, surely, we would’ve been able to handle ourselves, but all the same, just because Aris was trustworthy doesn’t mean all of his brothers and sisters were. Aris. I still wrestled with myself over our relationship. I had decided to keep my focus on the here and now and let his actions speak for themselves. Still, I couldn’t help but feel I was deserving of the reproachful looks I received while in the city.

I surprised myself at the ease with which I was able to navigate the city and find the apothecary. Maybe I was selling myself short. I was perfectly capable on my own. I entered the apothecary and nodded to Deja who was carrying an armful of supplies to the medicine room.

“Hi!” she greeted,

“Morning Deja, is Simon around?”

Simon had been my unofficial supervisor during rounds over the last few months. He was a kind man in his late thirties but had a young boyish face that made him appear a good deal younger than he was. Deja had told me that I was lucky to be taken under his wing as early as I had been. I had learned a lot in the short time that I had spent with him on rounds. Naturally, I didn’t need any of this information to heal the patients I had been assigned. But I had no intention of revealing that part of myself. Not yet at least.

“You called?” I heard Simon ask as he entered the room. He grinned at me. “Ready for rounds?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Well good because you’re in charge of the floor today” he announced, beaming at me.

“Seriously?” I asked in disbelief.

“That didn’t take long,” I heard Deja commend from beside me.

“Yeah, I was speaking with Evangeline about you after our last day together and she and I both agree that you’re ready.” He had a look of pride in his eyes.

I tossed a sideways glance at Deja who nodded encouragingly at me.

“Evangeline and I will be around if you need us, of course,” Simon assured.

“Thank you, both of you!” I exclaimed, “I won’t let you guys down.”

“We know,” he replied, winking at me. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was attempting to flirt with me or not. Was he actually just proud of the progress made by one of his students? Or was he hoping I would look more favorably upon him after being given such an opportunity? I decided not to worry about his intentions. Either way, I knew I was ready for this. I could try my hand at healing magically without being under such scrutiny.

Unfortunately, on this particular day, there were not many patients for me to tend to. Perhaps this is why I was told to start today, start me off slow and see how I handle myself. Nevertheless, I made my way across the floor, checking in on each occupied bed as I went. I administered medication as I deemed appropriate to keep up appearances but I also made sure to give each patient a small influx of life magic as well to strengthen them against whatever illness they were facing. While exciting at first, I quickly found myself getting frustrated. None of these people needed to be here. I had the power to send them all home in perfect health. A small part of me was tempted to do just that. But my intuition told me otherwise. Who knows what would happen if word got out that a life mage was working in the royal city apothecary?

I ended up being able to leave a bit earlier than usual due the low number of occupied beds.

“You sure I can’t lend a hand in the medicine room?” I asked Simon after finishing up with my final patient.

“Positive. You did great today! You’ve earned the afternoon off.”

Despite my excitement at being allowed to work rounds alone, it had been just as routine as my rounds with Simon and I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed as I made my way home.

I was still excited to get home and tell Aris about my day. But I completely lost my train of thought upon arriving home. I saw scaffolding crisscrossing its way on the side of the house along with a lot of loud banging and shouting. One voice I recognized as Aris but the other was unfamiliar to me.

“Rose?” I heard Aris call turning toward me as he wiped the sweat from his brow. I realized neither he nor the other man were wearing shirts. I couldn’t necessarily blame them, this was a particularly hot day. “You’re home early,” he said, wiping the dust from his hands onto a rag he pulled from a pocket.

“What’s going on?” I asked looking behind him.

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, looking sheepish. “Well, it was supposed to be a surprise…”

“Oi!” I heard the man call as he walked towards us. Seeing the all too familiar black eyes and white skin told me he was a shadow walker.

Two in one day, this must be a record. I thought to myself, wondering briefly if Stellan was with them.

“Is this the lovely Rose then?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered awkwardly, “And you are?”

“William,” he replied, taking my hand gently in his. He relaxed his square jaw and the intense stare of his eyes softened ever so slightly. “Pleasure.”

“So… what exactly are you two doing?” I asked, curiously.

“Well, Aris here wanted to surprise you with running water. Somehow, this house has managed to remain in the dark ages all these years. Lucky for the both of you, I was one of the best stonemasons around when I was mortal and I have to say I don’t think I’ve lost my touch,” he boasted as he beamed at his handiwork. “I wasn’t a bad carpenter either.”

“Have I done nothing?” Aris tossed his arms up and laughed.

“You’re good at taking orders I suppose.” He grinned at me, “Would you like to see?”

“Sure!” I nodded, eager to see what all they had done. I followed them over to the side of the house and saw that a small rectangular structure was now jutting out from it. It looked nearly complete. William hadn’t been kidding when he said he knew what he was doing. The walls had been covered to match the existing facade on the house so that it looked like it was part of the original structure.

“Wow!” I admired. “This looks like it’s always been here.” I ran my hand over the stonework.

William beamed with pride.

“Come and see the inside.” Aris waved me around. I saw him stretch his shirt back over his body as he followed me inside. To my surprise there now stood a sink in the kitchen. I raised my eyebrows. I hadn’t expected that. I opened the door to the right and saw a tub with a shower attached and a toilet beside it. I had seen this set up plenty of times since arriving in the city. Unlike Wren’s Glen, modern plumbing was commonplace here.

“Welcome to the modern era,” William jested.

I laughed. “Why thank you.” I curtsied to him.

“We were going to try to have it all finished before you got back…” Aris trailed off. I walked over to the tub and turned the handle. Clear, cool water sprang from it. I twisted the handle back and the water stopped. I couldn’t believe it! I would be able to experience a proper shower for the first time in my life.

“Thank you,” I said, sincerely this time, as I looked at William and then at Aris. “Truly, I appreciate it.”

They both smiled and nodded at me.

“Anything for the great Rose Rivyn,” he said lightheartedly, but his words sent a chill down my spine. I hadn’t realized William knew my full name, and why on earth was he calling me great? This has to be related to the prophecy. Aris looked a little uneasy at his words as well.

“Are you joining us for dinner?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

“As much as I delight in the idea of getting to know you more, I’m afraid I must be on my way.” He turned towards Aris, “Help me take the scaffolding down, would you? Then I’ll be out of your hair.”

Aris nodded curtly and the two returned outside.

“She’s perfect” I heard William mumbling through the walls. “You think this is really it? She’s what he’s been after?” His voice was low and I was barely able to make out his last words. I could hear Aris mumble something in response but couldn’t make anything out. I felt dread building in my stomach. If they were talking about what I suspected, then William was referring to the dark god. So he’s after me now? I thought this all had to do with some prophecy, but perhaps the dark god had a plan all his own in the works. I couldn’t help but feel afraid. I shuddered to think what sort of things he had in store for me if he got his way.