The Shadow's heir

Laela touched his arm. “Yorath. . I’m sorry. I should’ve known it from the start.”

“Oh, it never happened to me,” said Yorath. “But it happened to a lot of people. I’ve heard it from some of them face-to-face. It happened to the King, too, once, most likely. But he never talks about his past.”

“That used to happen t’me,” said Laela. “I never went out into the village on me own, but even when I went with Dad, I’d hear it. The other kids never wanted anythin’ t’do with me once they got old enough t’see I was different.”

“It shouldn’t’ve been like that for ye,” Yorath said fiercely. “It shouldn’t. Ye never asked for it, an’ ye don’t deserve it, either. Ye’re a beautiful woman, Laela. Beautiful an’ clever an’ wonderful, an’. . an’ yer eyes. .”

She squeezed them shut. “I know. . these blue eyes of mine. .”

“They’re beautiful eyes,” said Yorath. “So don’t hide them away like that. Let me see them.”

She obeyed. “Dad always said I got them from me mother.”

“Well then, she must’ve been a beautiful woman, Southerner or no,” said Yorath. “Laela-”

“Yeah?” she murmured, almost pressing herself against his chest by now.

“Are ye. . are ye really sure the King doesn’t want to bed ye?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” said Laela. “An’ even if he did, I’d say no. I’m his guest, that’s all. I got no interest in sharin’ his bed.”

He looked her in the face. “Who would ye bed, then?”

“Bold, aren’t yeh?” Laela couldn’t hide a grin.

“Dad always said I got that from him,” said Yorath, unbothered. “I always reckoned I just don’t know when to shut my mouth.”

Laela giggled, which was most unlike her. “Yeah, I’d bed yeh,” she said archly.

Now it was his turn to be taken aback. “What?”

“C’mon, that’s what yeh really wanted t’know,” said Laela. “Why, ain’t yeh interested?”

“Oh, I am,” he mumbled. “I just wasn’t. .”

“Well, like Dad always said, say what yeh mean an’ mean what yeh say. I like yeh, Yorath. An’ I would’ve said so before, only. . well. Lots of reasons, really.”

He grinned. “Can ye keep a secret?”

“Yeah, I can keep a secret just fine.”

“A big secret?”

“Little secret, big secret. . they’re all the same. I can keep ’em all. Why, what did yeh have in mind?”

“This,” he said, and kissed her on the mouth.

She stiffened and drew back at first, but he came after her, and she shook off her surprise and her nervousness and pressed herself against him. She’d never kissed anyone before, but she did it now-clumsily, but eagerly. His lips felt wonderful.

When he pulled her toward the bed, she let him do it. She didn’t care if it would hurt, or if she was ready, or. . or anything. She wanted him.

Afterward, Laela snuggled in Yorath’s arms. His skin was deliciously warm.

“Gods, I had no idea,” she murmured.

“Was I any good?” he asked. He almost sounded anxious.

Laela laughed softly. “I’m a virgin. . was a virgin, Yorath. What’d I know? But it was amazin’.”

“I didn’t hurt ye?”

“No. Well, maybe a bit. But I don’t care.” She yawned. “I love yeh, Yorath.”

“An’ I love ye, Laela.”

She yawned again. “I saw me future today, y’know. In the water, at the Temple. Aderyn showed me how-the priestess what took me there. Have you ever done that?”

“No. What did ye see?”

“A griffin,” she said sleepily. “Saw a griffin. An’ I saw somethin’ looked like a ring. Aderyn said I might be able t’figure out what it meant. I got no idea, though.”

Yorath chuckled. “A griffin, eh? That’s somethin’ special t’see. Wonder what it could mean?”

“Yeah, me, too.”

“Maybe it means ye’ll be a griffiner,” he teased. “Eh?”

She nudged him. “Stop that.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s all right.”

A moment later, she fell asleep.

She didn’t dream of Gryphus that night. In fact, she didn’t dream at all.

She jerked back into the waking world abruptly, and terrifyingly.

“Get up! Move!”

Hands were dragging her out of bed, none too gently, and she came awake a moment before she hit the floor. It was daylight, Yorath was gone, and a couple of powerfully built guardsmen were hauling her to her feet.

Laela struggled. “What the. .? Let go of me!”

One of them shoved her toward the bed. “Get dressed. Now.”

She grabbed the dress she’d left on the floor and pulled it on as quickly as possible and managed to get her feet into her boots before they took her by the shoulders and marched her out of the room. They completely ignored her protests, and when she tried to break away, one of them silently caught her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back so hard it made her eyes water.

Her first thought was that she was being taken to the King, and the panicked thought crossed her mind that he knew about Yorath. He’d found out somehow. But what was he going to do to her now? Had she finally pushed him too far?

But the guards didn’t take her to the dining hall or any of the other places where she’d met the King before. They took her downward instead-down and down to the ground floor, and then into a passage that went underground. Laela thought they were taking her to the crypt instead, but she quickly realised that this was a different passage than the one the King had shown her. Gods help her, where was Yorath?

They hadn’t gone very far along this new passage before she realised where they were.

Her heart thudded painfully. They were taking her to the dungeons. The same dungeons where the worst and most dangerous criminals were taken-the same dungeons where the King had been tortured long ago.

Laela began to struggle violently. “No! Stop! I ain’t done nothin’ wrong! Let me go! ”

The only reply was a blow so powerful it snapped her head sideways and slammed her teeth together with an audible thump.

Dazed, with blood dripping from her nose, she staggered on in the direction her guards chose. Her ears were ringing so badly, she only just heard the brief conversation with another guard they met along the way. A barred door opened, and they passed into another passage so narrow they had to walk along it in single file. There, the guard in front of her unlocked a door and pushed it inward. His comrade shoved Laela through it, and she stumbled forward and collapsed onto a hard stone floor as the door slammed behind her.

She lay on her stomach, her blood dripping softly onto the stone beneath her. Her face hurt so badly, she thought she was going to pass out, but her mind was clear enough to know what was going on, and she didn’t have to look up to know that she was in a cell.

What happened? What did I do?

It would be a long time before she would find out.

She spent the rest of the day in her cell-a tiny, cold, stone-lined thing whose only furniture was a narrow wooden bench bolted to the floor and an oversized jar in one corner meant to serve as a lavatory. A guard eventually brought her a jug of water but ignored all her questions.