Page 61 of The Shadows Between Us
Inside, I see an outline of black pants and fine shoes.
Kallias?
Is he going to personally escort me from the palace? Why?
Grasping my best attempt at maintaining my dignity, I step into the carriage and sit opposite the king.
The door shuts behind me, and Kallias uses the rapier lying on the seat next to him to tap the roof of the carriage twice.
After a slap of reins and the jolting movement of the horses, we’re off.
The shadows dance along the cushions about his legs and shoulders. He wears a cotton-white shirt. No jacket or vest. Though he wears his gloves. His pants are very simple today. His shoes are fine, but I suspect it’s because he doesn’t own anything else.
By his face, I can tell he’s waiting for me to ask him a question.Why are we here? Where are you taking me? Are you still angry?
But I don’t give him the satisfaction.
I turn up my nose and look out the window, watching the passing scenery. It’s not much to look at. Homes and stone streets and common folk going about their daily business.
But then the carriage turns, and I’m pitched right out of my seat and toward Kallias’s lap.
There’s a sensation like smoke from a fire passing over my limbs, and my nose inhales the lavender-mint musky smell of him. But I don’t feel the outline of Kallias against my body.
When I open my eyes, I realize I haven’t landed on him.
I’ve gone through him.
I’m inside him.
I’m on my knees on the seat he occupies, him and his shadows engulfing me.
“Ahh!”
I thrust myself backward, worried that he’ll somehow stick to me. That I’ll have captured the shadows, that I’ll be forever encased in darkness.
The smoky sensation abates at the same time the carriage comes to an abrupt halt. I have to plant my feet more firmly not to topple forward into the king once again.
But then I realize—
I touched him.
I broke the law.
He’s already cross with me.
Now what will he do?
I look up, see that Kallias is still all in one piece. I haven’t somehow scattered him by toppling forward into the swirling, incorporeal mass of him.
His face is still as stone, despite it not being as solid as such.
“Everything all right, sire?” the driver calls down.
Kallias’s eyes never leave mine. “We’re fine. Continue on.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
We’re traversing up the mountain, I realize. Not down. That’s why I fell out of my seat, why I feel as though I’m constantly about to lose it once more.
