6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“ W e don’t have long,” Lucas muttered. I winced as he tugged my head a little harder under the faucet in the motel bathroom to rinse the dye out. “I don’t even know if this is going to help. You won’t have blinding blonde hair anymore, but the dog is still kind of a giveaway. Are you sure you won’t leave her behind?”

“Absolutely not,” I replied, my voice muffled by the basin.

Lucas huffed but didn’t object, and I tried to say as little as possible, not wanting to annoy him. Even though he’d been nothing but kind in the time we’d been hiding out here, I still half expected him to pinch me the way my brothers did if I said the wrong thing.

I couldn’t have slept more than two hours last night—my nerves had been relentless. What if I was making the wrong decision? Was I putting too much faith in Lucas? He seemed kind, but maybe his intentions weren’t pure and I was just too ignorant about the world to realize it.

Lucas pushed a towel into my hands the moment he was done, and I roughly dried my hair as best I could over the basin. Despite the circumstances, there was a small frisson of excitement penetrating the cloud of nerves.

This was the most interesting thing I’d ever done.

I’d spent my entire life listening to movies and stories and songs about going on adventures and chasing dreams, assuming that I’d never go anywhere beyond the confines of my attic.

And while this experience wasn’t quite as romantic as the ones I’d heard described in stories, it was still the start of a new chapter for me.

The start of a moment in time that would either make my future or break it.

“Alright,” Lucas exhaled. “Let’s do this. You’re due to meet Astrid soon—she’ll take you through to the shadow realm. I don’t really know how, I assume a Shade helps with that part.”

“Are you sure you won’t come with me?” I asked, nervous both about going to a new world by myself and for Lucas. The silence from Moriah had been eerie. Lucas seemed to think she’d assumed I’d run away and had simply chosen not to look for me, but I knew I couldn’t be that lucky.

“I’m definitely not welcome there,” Lucas said firmly. “Though it’s horrible to think that I’ll never see you again.”

Was it? I had assumed that Lucas would be glad to see the back of me.

Maybe once I was in the shadow realm, I could convince them to come back for him. He seemed very remorseful for calling in the higher-ups when he found Verity—surely that had to count for something.

“Have you heard from my brothers?” I asked.

Lucas made a quiet noise of discontent. “They asked if I’d taken you and I said I didn’t know anything about that, and they had no further follow-up questions. I believe they’ve returned to Denver now, though your parents—sorry, Moriah and Giles—are still in town.”

“Looking for me?”

“I’m not ruling that out, but I haven’t heard anything specific through the grapevine, if it helps. If they’re looking, they’re being very discreet about it.”

They didn’t have a choice if they wanted to keep my existence a secret.

I shouldered the small backpack of things I was taking with me, and held onto the elaborate contraption Lucas had attached to Tilly—it was some kind of handle and harness contraption that she was very begrudgingly wearing.

If I said anything at that moment, I might have burst into tears. Lucas was a stranger to me, and yet he’d repeatedly shown me more kindness than my family ever did.

That’s not kind , I scolded silently. It’s because Lucas is a stranger that he can be so patient with you. You haven’t become a burden to him yet.

“It’s a short walk to the meeting point,” Lucas murmured, gently gripping my elbow as we headed outside, the wind immediately chilling my face.

“Is there anything I need to know before I get there?” I asked, wishing I had a coat on to ward off the chill.

“Almost certainly,” Lucas replied. “I don’t know where to begin. The Shade king’s name is Allerick—he is married to Ophelia Bishop, the exiled Hunter that your mother sent over to the shadow realm to secure the treaty. Or to lure them into a false sense of security. I’m not really sure—the reports we received were pretty mixed. Astrid defected to help her sister, and took some other exiled Hunters with her.” He was quiet for a long moment. “That wasn’t the story that we were told at the time, but that’s the information I’ve gathered after spending several days with the Councilors.”

He sounded so quietly betrayed by that, and I had no idea how to respond. Was it such a surprise for him to find out they’d been lied to? Perhaps I had an advantage in that respect. Through the vents, I’d heard Moriah tell someone one thing in their presence while saying something entirely different the moment they left my life.

“You’ll probably fit in just fine with the ones who have already gone over there, Iris. They all didn’t fit in the Hunters’ mold for one reason or another.”

That bolstered my confidence slightly. How lovely to start off with something in common.

Lucas’s steps slowed, pulling me to a stop with him. “Can you walk the rest of the way alone?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly, taking a steadying breath. “I’m not used to doing things on my own. Tell me what to do.”

Lucas grabbed my wrist and pressed my palm against a rough brick wall. “Follow the curve of the building. Astrid should be waiting for you in an alleyway down the side of it. I’ll wait here for a little while too—to guard the entry and make sure she actually shows up to collect you.”

“You won’t come with me?”

Lucas gave my wrist a brief squeeze before releasing it. “In theory, you’re safe with Astrid. I’m not.”

Oh. That made sense.

“If you’ve changed your mind—” Lucas began.

“I haven’t. I know this must seem crazy to you but in my bones, it feels like the right decision. Nana always said that my gut would tell me what my eyes couldn’t.” I found myself smiling at the memory, a sense of peace washing over me. “It seems insufficient to say this after everything you’ve done for me, but thank you for your help.”

Lucas blew out a shaky breath. “I hope this is the right call. Helping you means helping the Shades , and I feel pretty fucking weird about that, but I guess this is the side of the coin we’ve landed on. Let’s hope it was the right one. Now, go.”

I didn’t hesitate, pressing my palm hard enough against the wall that it stung as I picked up my pace with Tilly right in front. My breathing was so loud that I was certain they would hear me coming from a mile away. If that didn’t give me away, then my thudding heartbeat surely would.

Running away had been the bravest, most reckless thing I’d ever done, and I was already replacing it with a new bravest and most reckless thing.

Perhaps Nana had been right to worry about how I would behave once she was gone.

Tilly slowed, alerting me to the fact that there was someone ahead of me. I picked up the faintest shuffle of someone’s feet, though they were very quiet.

Should I say something first? Maybe. I was the intruder here, after all. I was the one in need of a favor.

“Hello. My name is Iris.”

There was a long pause. “Um, hello.”

I suddenly recalled that most Hunters knew each other—or at least of each other. It was quite a tight community that I had no part in.

“Iris Nash . We’ve never met,” I added needlessly. I was confident that she would have never met a blind Hunter.

To be completely honest, “Nash” wasn’t even my surname, but no one had ever told me what mine was so I’d decided to copy my brothers.

“Nash? As in Moriah Nash?”

“My mother.” How strange to admit that out loud.

“Moriah Nash doesn’t have a daughter,” Astrid said, quiet and uncertain.

“Not one that she wants people to know about. No Hunter wants a blind daughter. Especially not a Councilor.” Should I tell her about the attic? I had the oddest feeling that the revelation wouldn’t be well received. “It’s a big house, though. Plenty of places to hide a spare child.”

I’d been trying to keep my tone light and relaxed, but I suspected, based on the heavy silence, the words hadn’t landed the way I wanted them to.

“Do you… Do you want to come to the shadow realm?” Astrid asked eventually. “I can’t imagine you’ve heard many good things about it, living in the Nash home.”

“Not a single one, but I know my mother. She wouldn’t be so furious if there was no cause for concern. There must be something there to entice Hunters such as yourself and Austin—successful, popular Hunters—to leave this world behind.” I jiggled the backpack I was carrying. “I’m all packed. Though it’s mostly kibble for Tilly.”

“Right. Then let’s go, I guess.” Astrid sounded a little baffled by the entire interaction. Maybe other ex-Hunters had approached the move differently. “No pressure, okay? If you don’t like it, let me know and I’ll bring you back.”

“I’m not coming back. I’ve been imprisoned my entire life. The shadows are going to set me free.”

“Alright,” Astrid replied, sounding much more certain this time. “Then let’s go.”

While I couldn’t see the in-between, I didn’t need to know the exact moment we stepped into it. The background noise of the world disappeared. The air cooled—it felt like the mist of the morning fog that sometimes hung in the air when I’d walk the forest paths outside the house. And the odd, faint sensation that had been tickling one shoulder became a solid, heavy hand all of a sudden.

“This is Soren,” Astrid said offhandedly. “Captain of the Guard, et cetera, et cetera. He’s my mate. That’s like… a husband or whatever.”

Soren snorted, perhaps at her rather unromantic description of their relationship.

“Nice to meet you, Soren.”

“Nice to meet you too, Iris,” he replied in a low, even voice. Despite the fact that I knew Shades had two forms and they were more human-like in their own realm, it was still a little jarring to hear him speak.

Tilly whimpered a little and I pulled her back to my side so I could scratch her ears, letting us both be led by Soren rather than having her walk up front.

“It’s okay, Tilly. You’re such a brave girl,” I murmured.

“She is brave,” Astrid agreed. “This must be weird for her. And for you,” she added after a moment’s pause.

“A little. It’s quite exciting to go on an adventure, though.”

“I guess,” Astrid replied, though she didn’t sound that enthused. Based on what Lucas told me, Astrid probably went on multiple adventures each day—undoubtedly, this seemed very boring to her. “We’ve set up a temporary entry to the shadow realm for you—we’re nearly there. Usually, we’d emerge right outside the palace, but Lucas’s note made it seem like you might prefer a quiet introduction to life here.”

“That was kind of you to go to the extra effort.” Though I wished they hadn’t. I was already making more work for people. “What was it about Lucas’s note that made you come back for me? He seemed to think you weren’t very fond of him.”

“Oh, I’m definitely not,” Astrid agreed. “And I absolutely wondered if I was walking into a trap. But there was something about the letter that was compelling, I guess.”

“Did he tell you I was blind?” I asked, wondering if pity had been the compelling factor.

“No. That must have slipped his mind,” Astrid said dryly. “Here we are. Keep hold of Tilly, this might feel a little odd for her.”

I tightened my grip on the handle, but she didn’t try and bolt or anything as we stepped out into a whole new world. There was a gentle breeze and warmth on my skin, and I could hear rustling trees and running water, as well as the faint buzz of what I assumed were insects, though they weren’t ones that I recognized.

“Tallulah, Meera, this is Iris Nash,” Astrid announced. “And Tilly.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” someone said. They sounded worried, and I did my best to be as calm and self-assured as possible when I replied to put their mind at ease.

“It’s so nice to meet you too.”

There was an agonizingly long silence after that, and I tightened my grip a little on Tilly’s harness as I waited. Sometimes, when there were long stretches of no conversation in films, Nana had explained that the characters were communicating with their body language instead. I wondered if that was what was happening now, and wished I didn’t feel so left out.

“What is this?”

Based on the sharp intakes of breath, I wasn’t the only one taken by surprise by whoever this new arrival was. It was a masculine voice—noticeably different from Soren’s. A little brighter. A little happier .

It immediately made me feel happier too.

“What a magnificent creature,” the nice voice said.

Me ? I supposed that I had come here knowing that I would need to be providing my lust in exchange, so I shouldn’t really be shocked. Perhaps it was just the word “creature” that had thrown me off? It just sounded so unsexy.

“He means Tilly. They don’t have dogs in the shadow realm,” the woman who’d spoken earlier said, hurrying out an explanation. “Prince Damen, this is Iris Nash and her dog, Tilly.”

A prince? My only frame of reference for them was the kind they had in fairy tales. Was he like that?

“My service dog,” I added, needing them to know how crucial Tilly was to me. “I’m blind. Tilly is my eyes.”

“Well, you and Tilly are both most welcome here,” the prince said. He really did have such a lovely voice. It was strong and steady without a trace of anger, and it was something that I didn’t know I liked—I’d never heard anyone speak like that before.

I doubted that I would get to exercise my abundance of lust on him, since he was a prince and all. They probably had important Hunters who fulfilled that role. Perhaps they could send me someone like him, though? Would I get to choose? It took all of my self-control not to reach over and touch him, just to get some idea of what he was shaped like.

No one had brought up the lust thing yet, or mentioned that I would need to contribute in order to stay here. It was all very polite.

“I hope you will find the shadow realm a happy home for both of you,” he continued. “Tallulah and Meera stay in the accommodation that has been set aside for ex-Hunters, but perhaps you would be more comfortable in the palace, Iris? I believe it would better suit you and Tilly.”

The palace? I was hardly palace material. I almost objected on principle—somewhere like the attic would be perfectly suitable for me. Then again, this was an adventure, and I didn’t want to keep living the life of seclusion I’d always had.

If I was going to do this, I needed to be brave and say yes to opportunities as they arose. “Well, I’ve never been inside a palace before, just heard about them in fairytales. It certainly sounds like the kind of place where anyone could be comfortable.”

“We’ll accompany you over there,” a different feminine voice said.

“Um, we’ll just start walking straight ahead. It’s about two hundred feet away. The path curves a little on the way, but it’s flat.”

I smiled in the direction of the first woman, grateful for her thoughtful description as we set off on the path. So far, everyone was being very kind and welcoming. I wished I could go back and tell Lucas that there was nothing to worry about—that maybe he could even come too—though I recalled Astrid’s affirmation that she wasn’t fond of him, and wondered if this was for the best. Maybe in time I could convince her that he was really quite kind.

“What made you decide to come to the shadow realm?” someone asked.

“Well, my parents kept me hidden away because they were ashamed of me. And my nana who raised me, recently passed away, so the options of what they were going to do with me were looking quite bleak. Bleak enough that one of the Hunters decided that this would be a better option for me.”

“One of the Hunters decided that?”

“I suspect what my parents had planned for me was very grim indeed for him to make that decision. But it was very kind of him to help me. I owe him a great debt.”

Perhaps if I planted the seeds now about Lucas’s good nature, it would be easier to convince them later on to let him come here. Despite his confidence, I was terrified that Moriah would realize what he’d done and punish him for it.

I’d have to find a way to speak to Verity first—she was the one who’d been harmed by Lucas’s decision to call the Council. She didn’t seem to be one of the ex-Hunters who’d greeted me here today, but hopefully I’d have a chance to meet her soon.

One of the women offered me their arm as we went up some stairs, and the room we stepped into was echoey in a way I’d never experienced before. The ground beneath my feet was hard and smooth, but also uneven, and I barely resisted the urge to bend down and run my fingers over it to find out what it was. Everything felt different to the attic and the little house in Utah I’d been staying in.

There was a lot of noise and I listened with interest at the hushed whispers of everyone trying to decide where I would be most comfortable. I was used to hushed whispers about me, but never because anyone was worried about my comfort.

The woman behind me seemed to be heatedly telling the prince that he needed to help make some decisions, which I was struggling to reconcile with what I knew of royalty and how they were usually spoken to.

Maybe things were different in real life than they were in movies? And, of course, human royalty and Shade royalty wouldn’t be exactly the same. I decided to treat him like he was any other person or Shade I was meeting for the first time, to be safe.

“Damen, you handled things really well out there. It isn’t realistic for King Allerick to personally address every logistical issue that the ex-Hunters face in moving here. You could really help us in this area,” she whispered, a clear thread of impatience in her voice.

“You’re right. Okay. Yes. There’s a ground-floor guest apartment with a small garden area out front, near where Captain Soren and Astrid stay. Please ready that room.”

Oh, that sounded lovely . I wondered if the garden would be safe for Tilly to explore—that would be so nice.

“Have you eaten, Iris?” the woman asked me.

“No, but I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll send for food,” the prince said decisively.

So far, this was all proving to be a very pleasant experience. Everyone had been very kind and welcoming. They were possibly a little intimidated by me—or at the very least, didn’t quite know what to do with me—but they’d definitely been friendly.

“And some water for Tilly. Perhaps we could eat in the dining hall?” Tallulah-or-Meera said—I really needed to figure out who was who—before lightly touching my arm. “We’ll give you a tour of the place now while it’s empty.”

“I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

“Great, let’s go. We’re going to make you feel so welcome here, Iris. Anything you need, just let us know.”