Shadow Weaver (Back on 抖阴社区 2020!)

Chapter 52

The blindfold comes off. The girl running away shouts he's cheating. But Kel doesn't hear her. He walks towards me carefully, as though I might be a dream, might vanish if he moves too fast. I am rooted to the spot, choking on the sight of him. His eyes have almost settled, his face glows coppery from days spent outdoors, his sleeveless arms are strong and muscular.

He doesn't say a word as he stops right before me. Tears roll down my cheeks. I brush them aside but they keep flowing. As though still uncertain I am really there he reaches for the lodestone pendant I gave him and squeezes tightly. The other children with him are growing curious.

"Who is it? Is it her, Kel?" they ask, circling around us. I am sobbing as I hold out my arms. He throws himself into them and I muffle my face against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of flowers in his hair.

I hold him close, knowing when I let go, neither of us will be the same people we were that day I lay on a boulder soaking up the first rays of the spring sun, and he speared frozen fish from the river. That disillusioned girl and innocent boy have been left behind in the hushed quiet of winter. In my mind, I say goodbye to them.

Eventually, I let go of my brother, and unwrap the wooden carving I have made for him on our journey from the Red City.

"Happy birthday, Bud," I say. "I'm sorry I missed it."

He rips off the twine around the leaves and holds up the wooden figurine. The lizard like creature's huge wings are spread wide in flight, a rider on its back. Kel turns it in his small fingers. Then he kisses me on the cheek and links his fingers through mine. "Thank you."

He looks down, noticing my twisted little finger. Then he notices Tug, and his sunny face darkens.

"Why is he with you?" he asks.

"I have things to do," Tug says. He takes his leave with a small nod.

"It's going to be hard," I say, "for you to understand, but Tug is my friend now. He saved my life. Because of him, I came back."

Kel's eyes narrow. "It's because of him you were in danger in the first place. And why are you hobbling? What happened to your foot? What happened to your finger?"

I push away the memories. I don't want Kel to ever find out what happened in the Red City. What I had to do to win both our freedoms and make it back here.

I envision those memories sinking down to the bottom of a great deep well, submerged beneath beautiful visions of the Ruby Palace. I think of the palace's sunburnt walls, toppling towers, and winding passages. I remember the lavish interiors, luxurious baths, four-poster beds, ottomans, and rich foods. If I have learned anything from Tug, it is that even the Uru Ana cannot easily penetrate what a person wishes to hide.

As I am doing this, I remember the way Ma always called up memories from her youth to echo whatever age I was. It suddenly strikes me that maybe Ma was doing what I'm doing now. Maybe her reminiscing wasn't wishful thinking, but a gift to Kel and me. An antidote to all my bad memories.

A child who's been playing with Kel steps closer to see the wooden toy he holds.

"It's a velaraptor!" she says. "I've seen pictures. But they don't really exist."

"Yes, they do," a smaller boy pipes up.

"You're five. You believe in monsters and fairies."

Kel looks at me and I wink. This is our secret.

"Are we still playing?"

He looks at me again. "Go on," I say. "I have to speak with the lady who's been taking care of you." His hand tightens around mine. "I won't be long." He shakes his head. "OK, let's go together." He nods as though his words have dried up.

He runs to Deadran. Deadran fastens a blindfold over Kel's eyes, and though he is blind himself, his milky white irises are turned on me as he ties the fabric knot with his frail fingers. He has recognized my voice. He knows I am the captured shadow weaver the Prince took to the Red City to discover who assassinated his escort. And now, if Kel has not let it slip before, the Prince's old tutor must realize that the boy entrusted to his care is my glitter-eyed brother.

Kel waves goodbye to the other children. As he cannot take my hand, he takes Deadran's. I hobble alongside them through the dim archway.

"Lady Mirra," a soldier says, approaching me and bowing. "The Duke welcomes you back to Lyndonia and requests your presence in the great hall."

The last time I saw the Duke before the Ruby palace came under attack was the evening we arrived in the Red City and the Queen summoned us to the throne room. Unless the Duchess has told her husband the truth, he still believes I am Lady Mirra Tersil of Delladea, the Prince's secret fiancé.

Kel is asked to wait outside with Deadran. I enter the enormous stone hall, draped in carnelian curtains. Tug waits before a wide oval in the center of the room. He watches as I hobble up to his side. Then he turns to face the giant doors where the Duke and Duchess will arrive with their entourage, except they are already there. I sense their minds on the other side of the doors and slip into the Duke's.

He stares at Duchess Elise. She stands before him face turned down, eyes red and puffy.

"You have made a fool of me. Hidden information that could have got me killed. Could have got our children killed."

"I did it for our son." The Duchess looks up, defiance burning in her gaze, but her hands are trembling. He takes hold of her hand.

"What else haven't you told me?"

"Nothing."

"What else!"

"Tug."

The Duke releases her suddenly. "What about him?"

"He is my brother, Tye Keylore."

I withdraw from the Duke's mind, open my eyes and swallow hard.

"What?" Tug asks.

"Elise has told the Duke who you are."

Tug flexes his shoulders and glares at the doors. They open a moment later. But only the Duke enters. His face is as stony and impenetrable as Tug's. I lower my gaze and bend my injured leg to curtsey, supporting myself with the crutches.

From the tension in the air I'm convinced deep down the Duke has known all along who broke the Duchess's heart before she became his wife. Which means he must have suspected for years that Elise was not Tug's flesh and blood, but adopted by their father. Not even a lady.

His guards fan out around him as he comes to stand before us. He looks warily from Tug to me, and back again. Tug clears his throat and raises his eyes to meet the Duke. A storm of recognition swirls across the Duke's face. He sees it now. The man he had known twelve years ago, Baron Tye Keylore, transformed into a beast-face with his tattoos, his long tangled hair, his broad frame, and scars from combat and drinking.

The Duke's expression grows icy. "My brother, the King, is dead," he says. "The Carucan army is weak and the Etean army pushes back our borders daily. These are times of distrust, when friends are hard to distinguish from enemies. Until I hear word from the Ruby Court, I will not decide whether we accept your presence in Lyndonia. For now, you are my wife's guests. She is responsible for you and will be held accountable for your actions. During your stay here, I do not wish to see either of you again."

He turns his back on us, and strides towards the doors followed by his entourage. A minute later, the giant doors close. Tug and I are alone in the grand hall's silence.

"Well," Tug says. "There's nothing like a hero's welcome."

I smile and jog my arm against his. "Lets not forget, everything we did was just to save our own skins. Oh, and Kel."

"Course it was," he says, cocking an eyebrow at me. Then he looks back at the doors where we last saw the Duke and shakes his head. Perhaps, at last, he realizes that Duchess Elise doesn't deserve his undying devotion. Perhaps, at last, his heart can move on.