Enjoy Chapter One of my upcoming fantasy romance eBook In shadows we rise.

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«You are one of us and we look out for each other»

–––––––––––        CHAPTER 1        –––––––––––

REIA

My eyes burn, dried out from going so long without blinking. Still, I keep them open, staring at nothing as my teeth tear at the dry skin around my nails. How long has he been gone for? Is he almost back? Did he get caught? Hurt? Killed?

I wince as the coppery taste of blood fills my mouth. Too deep. My teeth ripped out a stripe of living flesh. My eyes flutter shut on instinct, my trance broken, and tears immediately fill my eyes in the aftermath of being open for so long. I mutter a curse under my breath, squeezing my lids shut to keep the water inside.

“You shouldn’t say that. It’s not very lady like,” Dex says, making me whirl around. I didn’t hear him come back.

Hand on my chest, I snap at him, “Gods, you scared me!” It’s a miracle I can even get the words out over the tight vice suddenly around my throat at being taken by surprise. It’s just him. You’re safe. Even as I repeat the mantra, tension burns my muscles and I struggle to get my heart rate to slow down.

He just grins, and the sight of his dimples helps me fight my panic. My next breath comes a little easier. “Means I’ve been getting better at sneaking around. Admit it, you’re proud of me.”

I huff out a laugh and slump against the rough stone surface at my back, barely feeling the pinpricks of the jagged edges at this point. Judging by the faint glow of the southern sun hitting my arm through the broken window on the opposite wall, I’ve been sitting here for hours, waiting for Dex to return. It means he went further than usual. Or that there was nothing to steal.

Even as my stomach turns at the possibility of another day with no food, I muster up a smile for him. “I admit it. I admit it.” His smile widens, but he makes no move to settle down next to me. I scan him for injuries now that my shock has worn off, relieved when there’s nothing visible. No scratches or bruises, and he’s not favoring one foot over the other. But then, why would he just stand there, a few feet away? My eyes fall to his posture, the way his hands stay behind his back, then to his cheeky grin. “Okay, out with it. What are you hiding behind your back,” I prompt.

He pushes his hands in my direction, presenting me with the two buns of bread he’d been hiding. I gape at him, my breath stalling. Bread. Two handfuls. My eyes slowly travel back up to his, which are still brimming with excitement as he waits for my reaction. For my praise.

I bite my tongue, stifling the immediate urge to scold him for being so greedy. Be nice. He means well. He’s just young and perhaps I’ve managed to shelter him a bit too well for him to not realize the consequences of such a robbery.

Despite my best attempts to keep his smile in place, my voice comes out choked when I ask, “Were you seen?” His expression falls, hurt and a hint of frustration at war in those hazel eyes.

“No, I wasn’t. Didn’t I just prove to you how swift I’m getting? You didn’t even hear me come in,” he points out, none of his previous amusement left in his tone. My eyes flit to the thick wooden door barely still attached to its hinges. He’s right, he really is getting great at sneaking around if he could manage the door open on the overgrown ground, then closing it, without alerting me to his vicinity. Then again, maybe I was just that lost in thought. When have I gotten reckless enough to let my guard down so much? Maybe we’ve been staying here for too long if it’s starting to feel safe. We can never be safe. I will never be safe.

He finally crosses the last of the distance between us and settles down next to me, sitting crossed-legged as he hands me a bun. Seeing the defeated look on his face, I kick myself for speaking my anxious thought aloud. It was a stupid question anyway. Of course, he wasn’t seen. If he had been, he wouldn’t be here now, least of all unharmed. Nothing’s free in the periphery of our Kingdom, and Zeugmi is about as rural as it gets. So rural that we don’t even pay in gold—no one could buy a thing—but there are other things to trade. None that Dex and I have. All we have are flimsy prayers that are rarely heard and Dex’s weekly trips into the closest settlement. And now, two buns of fresh bread, it seems.

I stare at the most valuable thing I’ve held in my hands in nearly a decade, my mouth going dry when it should be watering. But… “This won’t go unnoticed.” The words tasted like ash on my tongue because reprimanding Dex when he already had that look on his face was the equivalent of kicking a beaten puppy.

“Then they can go on a witch hunt looking for the perpetrator. No one will find us here, Rei. Right?” He’s giving me that look that tells me I need to agree since I’ve been saying that. That we’ll be hidden here, in this crumbling ruin of a long-forgotten time far off the closest settlement. Or maybe I should call it a village if they’ve got merchants with bread venturing there. I should ask Dex about the layout and approximate head count again, just in case I’m wrong and we should move back into the woods.

My stomach grumbles as if hearing my thoughts. This ruin might not be much, missing its roof as it is, the floor overgrown with plants and dirt and mud to the point where I cannot distinguish what material there once was. It must’ve been built at least 125 years ago, before the Dark Reign started and back when the edges of the kingdom were still being taken care of.

Time has taken a toll on the structure like it has on the rest of the kingdom. The few windows are entirely shattered, but it mostly has four walls, which provides enough cover that I can let my guard down enough to sleep every now and again. With my back up against the wall, no one can sneak up on me from behind. Grab me. Drag me. Push me down. Hands in my hair.

“Let’s just eat, okay? I’ll take less next time, but today, we have this feast,” Dex offers, his voice a little softer, perhaps seeing the shadows in my eyes. Shadows of dark thoughts. Memories.

My little brother has always had the kindest heart. Even when disappointed in my reaction to his, should I call it his achievement, he can’t hold a grudge. My chest aches as I offer him a weak smile and take a small bite of the bun. The flavor hits my taste buds and shoots through me like lightning. I groan a little, chewing the grainy goodness. When my wide eyes shoot to Dex, I catch him smiling softly at me. Like he’s happy what he risked his life for can bring me such joy.

Even while savoring that first bite of proper fresh food in years, the burn in my chest intensifies as I watch him eat his own bun. He’s too gentle for this world. Too good to live the life I forced on him. I can’t even bring myself to tell him to slow down so he doesn’t lose his meal again. Or to only eat a bit so we can ration the rest.

The sharp points of his elbows taunt me, proof of just how malnourished he is. It shouldn’t have been possible to have a growth spurt when he was barely more than skin and bones before, but that’s exactly what happened when he turned twelve two years ago, making him appear impossibly unhealthy. So tall and just bones.

By then, it had been well-established that he was the one to go into villages to scour for food that was left behind. He insisted upon it when he was maybe ten years old and realized I faced dangers he was less likely to. It was hard for me to agree when he was small and gangly, but it was worse after he got tall and looked positively starved to death. I knew, looking like that, every merchant would eye him and anticipate why he was near them. The people in the settlements would shield anything remotely edible out of spite.

But he wouldn’t hear my insistences that I should go. Not after seeing me that day, clothes in tethers, bloody, and scratched up. If I could have, I would have changed before facing him, to shield him from what had happened, but we don’t have spare clothes. We have what we find, and we make due.

I’ve had my suspicions that he strayed from the methods I taught him to only take what wouldn’t be missed; something slightly moldy, anything that might’ve gotten lost in the mud after rain. Now, I know he’s grown much bolder than I thought. Or much hungrier, maybe.

Because of you. Because you took him with you when you ran.

Maybe I shouldn’t have. I thought I had no choice, that he would starve if I left him in that house where no one cared to feed us. He was just five, and I was the only one who made sure he didn’t die since he was a baby. I couldn’t leave him.

I was only ten at the time, but even then, he felt more like my child than my brother at times. My responsibility. So I had to take him.

But it could have been different once you left. It could have. He could have had food. An education. Friends and safety that you can never offer.

“Hey, Rei. Don’t. Just eat, come on. Let’s just enjoy this.” Dex’s softly spoken words rip me from my thoughts, making me realize how I zoned out. I blink at the bun in my hands, getting it back into focus as I fight the sting of dryness in my eyes. Dex squeezes my hand, and I raise my eyes to look at him.

“I’m fine. Sorry. Let’s talk about something. Made any animal friends recently?” I ask, hoping the lightness in my voice is convincing. I know my pain hurts him, so much so that I sometimes wonder if the testing after his birth went wrong and he’s an empath after all.

His lips lift a little. “How do you think I got these? I met a most forthcoming raven on my way to the settlement. He was willing to do me a favor after less than an hour of talking. Said my arm looked more fragile than any twig he’d ever sit on.”

And there’s my proof that the test wasn’t wrong. Dex is bound to Diana, the Goddess of animals. His gift, weak as it is, allows him to communicate with animals like others never could.

I laugh a little, the action almost foreign to my body but my relief is dizzying. “So you really weren’t seen? Clever boy. Next time lead with that.” Had I known he was nowhere near the theft when it happened, I wouldn’t have been so worried. I just hope no sparrows will be hunted in the aftermath of my brother’s actions, but I’d still prefer that over him being in danger.

“I told you we had nothing to worry about. I waited behind the tree line west of the settlement. Now, please, eat. I know you’re already thinking about how long we can stretch this out, but you need the food now. We both do. I’ll figure out something new the next time we get hungry.”