Shaedes of Gray: A Shaede Assassin Novel

at my mouth.

I lay still, enjoying the pulsing aftershocks that continued to rock my core, while Tyler slowly moved against me. I held on to him, keeping him right where he was so he wouldn’t pull away. He stayed, allowing me to enjoy the feeling of his full weight against my chest as I took in shallow gulps of breath.

We lay wrapped together for another moment or two before I finally let him roll away. He gathered me up in his arms, and I rested my cheek against his chest.

When I turned onto my back, Tyler shifted to his side and began tracing lazy patterns with a finger around my belly button. My body trembled and his deep, throaty laugh stirred the glowing embers of passion that hadn’t yet cooled.

“Leave with me,” he murmured. “It’s not safe here. Things are getting worse.”

“You know I can’t do that,” I said.

“War is just around the corner.” He rose to plant a kiss on my stomach. “This isn’t just about some bullshit job. Azriel is the least of Xander’s problems. It’s something worse. Something altogether bigger than a feud over his crown.”

“I know that,” I said.

Tyler looked up from his trail of kisses, an intense expression on his face. “What do you know?” he asked.

I proceeded to recount the events of the previous night, starting with the discussion I’d had with Raif and ending with the point of my sword exiting through the poor, screaming Sylph’s back. He listened with interest, offering comments when it seemed pertinent. It appeared that he knew what I knew—the Enphigmale might be a bigger threat than we’d thought, and though he hadn’t outwardly admitted it, Azriel was involved in whatever it was they had planned.

“What do you think she meant?” I asked, referring to the Sylph’s strange proclamation.

“I don’t know.” Tyler sighed. “But I don’t like the sound of it.”

“Me either.” Admitting it to Tyler felt strange, but for the first time, I realized that the idea of being anyone’s sacrifice scared the shit out of me.

“I guess as long as you’re not staying for him,” Tyler said, running a hand along my thigh, “I can live with any other reason.”

I didn’t say anything right away. In a sense, I was staying for Xander. I’d made a deal; money had been exchanged. I had my pride and professional reputation to consider. And what I’d told Tyler earlier was true: Xander connected me to my own kind. He’d rescued me from obscurity. But there was also Raif. I felt a strange allegiance to him, and I’d promised to avenge Delilah. I would never back down from a fight, sacrifice or not. But I wondered, as Tyler nuzzled my neck, Could I leave even if I wanted to? In too deep already, I’d been sucked into a world that might not let me go. After hiding out under everyone’s noses for decades, I’d been found. It was too late. I wasn’t going anywhere.

“You . . . aren’t staying for him, are you?” Tyler asked.

“Xander?” I asked. “No.”

“You paused,” Tyler said, sitting up beside me.

“So?”

“So . . . you paused. That means you had to think about it.”

What happened to you don’t have to love me back? Just having a moment of personal thought evidently made me suspect in his book. I sat up beside him. “Listen, Ty.” I stared right at him to get my point across. “I thought we understood each other. Whatever my reasons for staying, they’re my reasons. That should be enough.”

Tyler looked away.

I ran my fingers up along his arm and around his shoulder. I paused just below his shoulder blade and caressed the muscles there. “Ty, this wouldn’t have happened if I were staying for him.”

He lifted his head and a lopsided grin made a welcome appearance. “I meant what I said. You don’t have to love me back. But you will eventually.” He looked so confident as he leaned over and kissed me. “You’d think things like jealousy wouldn’t matter after so many centuries of existence. I’m sorry.” He kissed me again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin a perfect moment.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” I said, feeling a little more mushy than usual.

“So you agree it was perfect?” he asked, smiling as bright as the midday sun.

“Well,” I drawled, reaching down to caress him. His body responded immediately, tensing and hardening in all the right places. I licked my lips, the thought of tasting him rekindling my own desires. “I can think of one thing that would make it even more perfect.”

“What’s that?” he practically growled.

“A repeat performance,” I said, tracing his lips with the tip of my finger.

Wrapping his arms around my waist, he spun, settling me on top of him. I moaned as his fingers and mouth searched and teased. If it were possible, he was better the second time around.

Tyler never disappoints.

I woke before sunrise. Tyler lay next to me, snoring softly. I didn’t want to wake him, so I dissolved into the welcoming darkness. I drifted, enjoying the feeling of being free of my corporeal form, and within moments stood on the roof of my building. I remained a shadow. I didn’t think the world needed to see a naked woman on top of a building, and, besides, it protected me from the late-winter breeze drifting across the city.

Somewhere, Azriel was raising an army of Lyhtan warriors.

Somewhere, the Enphigmale made their secret plans.

In the midst of it all, the Shaede Nation, a society in and of itself, waited for attack from all sides.

And then there was me, sitting in the eye of the storm.

A voice whispered on the wind, and I strained to hear the words that ran together like a sigh. “Why don’t you show yourself, cousin?” it asked.

“You first,” I said.

The breeze increased in force to stormy wind and finally to gale. The gale transformed into a funnel cloud— not large; a few feet or more—and as it died away to again become a gentle breeze, the Sylph appeared.

“Your turn,” the girl said.

“Not to be rude, cousin,” I said, “but I’d rather not. I’m a little on the naked side. So are we actually related, or are you just being nice?”

The Sylph giggled. “Our kind can be traced to the beginning of your lineage. Our ancestor and yours coupled and created the Shaede from that union.”

Lyhtans. Sylphs. Talk about your strange relations. I wondered what that family reunion might look like.

The Sylph shrugged and smiled—I supposed at my thoughts, as if to say she hadn’t thought about that. “You killed my sister,” she said.

Not the best conversation starter. She didn’t mince words, though, so I owed her a likewise frank response. “Yes.”

“It was the only way,” she said in a high and trilling voice that reminded me of wind chimes. “We hold no grudge.”

I remained silent. What was I supposed to say? Wow, that’s a load off my mind?

“If the Enphigmale get you, the world as we know it will end.”

“What makes you think I’m the one they’re looking for?”

“You are marked,” she said.

“You know that for a fact?” This all seemed too orchestrated. “Oracles are supposed to be the future seers, not Sylphs.”

She laughed, and a breeze kicked up around me. “We are not the future seers, but sometimes prophecy is whispered on the wind. And you have been chosen.”

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Sybil,” she said in her wind-chime voice.