Shift of Shadow and Soul (SoulShifter Book 1) Page 9

  “Nothing,” she repeated, her fantasies of the women taking their warrior places next to the men shifting away like the sand through his fingers.

  If the General did not know of the magic, perhaps he would not believe in it. And if he did not believe…

  “Will you help me hide my magic, then? Or will you unwittingly destroy everything I hold dear?” she blurted, unable to hide any longer that her life had suddenly grown infinitely more dangerous. “I can’t be found out. You cannot tell anyone! Please!”

  She knew she was begging, and she would hate him forever for making her do it, but all she could think of was Jyesh, sitting small and proud and accusing as the Weshen sent him to sail the MagiSea alone. That could not become her fate. Penna and Kosh couldn’t lose her - she was all they had left. They were all she had left.

  “Please,” she repeated. “What will it take?”

  Chapter 9

  Sy’s stomach bottomed out at her desperate question. His heart felt like a battlefield the morning after, strewn with good intentions and the reality that had cut them down. He didn’t want to ask this of her. He hadn’t meant this to be a bargain.

  But perhaps this way, they could solve both of their problems.

  “Tomorrow is the hunt. My father said I must…” He stopped, keeping his eyes to the sand, but the silence finished his request.

  Her hand fluttered to her chest, pressing just above her heart. “You wish an exchange,” she whispered, her fingers scratching lines in the sand between them.

  His head snapped up, but she wasn’t looking at him. A curious sort of fear flashed through him.

  It was not a small thing to ask, but it was against both of their wills. Perhaps that made them equal.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t wish for anything that you wouldn’t wish for. But the General…he will pass my rights to Reshra.”

  Her shoulders wavered with a shiver. “Keep what you’ve seen a secret, and you may catch me tomorrow,” she said, the strength in her voice surprising him. Finally she raised her eyes to meet his, and the gold in them burned in the candlelight. “For show. But I will bear you no heirs. I would sooner sail the MagiSea alone.”

  He flinched at her harsh words, and a glimmer of regret shadowed over her face. But she said nothing to back down. And really, Sy didn’t want her to. He realized with a start that he had begun to care for her enough that he would fight to keep her from being hurt. Somehow, it had grown to more than sympathy for the vicious blows life had given her.

  “There is a way to falsify a child, at least in the beginning,” she said, watching him carefully. “This is one of my family’s secrets. But if your father insists…”

  Sy felt his shoulders sag, and he moved to stand, knowing it had grown late. “He will insist.”

  He extended a hand to her to help her stand, but instead she stood and shook it, as though sealing a transaction. He tried not to let that hurt, but he wished, now more than ever, that the Weshen ways were different. “I need to go now,” he continued, keeping his eyes hidden from her. “I will see you tomorrow, at the hunts.” He turned and stepped toward the cave’s entrance. “And Corentine,” he added, guilt banding tightly across his chest, “don’t let Reshra catch you.”

  “Why would he catch me?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.

  “He wants anything I have. And he thinks I have you.”

  It was a simple answer, all too reminiscent of Lorenya’s description of Reshra. Coren wished the girl hadn’t been quite so accurate. But even through the skin of fear, her pride bristled at the arrogant assumptions of both boys.

  General’s sons, she thought in disgust.

  “Neither of you has me, nor will you ever. I’ve never been caught, and I’ve avoided it with great skill, and I will not be caught in my last year.” This time, her voice could have frozen the entire cove.

  Sy ducked his head, unwilling to meet her eyes. He believed this, of course, but Resh…

  “I have never been caught before,” she said again, a challenge in her eyes. She knew he could dispute the truth of such a statement, yet she made it, and he let her.

  “I promise not to hurt you,” he said instead.

  “And you will break that promise,” she answered, turning away and darting from the cove before he could find the words to reassure her otherwise.

  Coren ran the path to her home, repeating instructions to herself like a mantra. She would not feel fear of Reshra. She would not feel fear of her bargain.

  She would hide her magic until the General announced its return himself.

  Syashin’s expression as she had left had not been victorious. Instead, his eyes had flashed with a curious sort of fear at their agreement. That alone gave Coren hope that perhaps he did not truly want to ask this of her.

  It didn’t make a difference, not really, but then again, it did. If they made this deal against both of their wills, then perhaps that equality would allow her to survive this summer.

  Maren’s cloaking spell would soon be ready, and if the magic truly was returning to the Weshen people, perhaps Coren might still become the warrior she’d idly dreamed of and hunt the Restless King herself.

  She paused outside the entrance to her yard, gazing at the stars above as she entreated the Mirror Magi for their protection, thinking of Sy’s statement that her family had been blessed. Certainly, twins were once considered a blessing. But that was when the Weshen had magic, and twins symbolized embodiments of the Magi - the two sides of shifter magic, split between two minds.

  Now they were just a reminder of the power her people had once enjoyed. Her thoughts filled with long-buried memories of Jyesh, Coren slipped inside and beneath her covers without a sound.

  Resh was sitting on his brother’s bed when Sy stumbled into the tent. A mug of liquor rested in his hands.

  “No girl tonight?” Sy asked, stalling for time as he tried to gather his thoughts. He knew why Resh was here.

  “Never the night before a hunt, brother. You know that. So. Why Corentine Ashaden?”

  Sy startled at the sound of her name and Resh laughed, the low crackle of a boat breaking on the sharp rocks. He took a deep draught, then offered the mug to his brother. Sy shook his head, and Resh shrugged.

  “Yes, Sy. I know who she is. I know her desolate family and her lack of friends in the village. I know her brother was accused of Sulit witchery and her father was a traitor and her mother lost her mind before drowning herself in the sea. I even know that her grandmother was cozy friends with the Sulit in StarsHelm once upon a time. What I don’t know is why my brother, who must be desperate for an heir, has chosen so poorly. Such a girl will never be suitable for a General’s son.”

  “She runs in every hunt, yet has never been caught. She is worthy of my skill,” Sy tried.

  Resh narrowed his eyes and lay back on the bed. Sy was left standing in his own space, shifting from foot to foot like a nervous child.

  “Father has commanded you to hunt this summer, hasn’t he?”

  Anything Sy might say would answer the question, so he stayed silent.

  “But surely there are better ways to produce an heir. This girl may even be barren, and you will have wasted your last summer.” His tone was soothing, as though there were nothing more he wanted than to solve Sy’s problems. He finished his drink. “I can show you a few girls who are more than ready for your heir.”

  “And why would you help me, little brother?” Sy finally sunk onto the edge of the bed, shoving Resh’s legs over and fixing him with a serious look.

  Resh glared and sat back up. Sy knew he hated reminders of his status as Second Son. But he wanted him angry enough to slip up and tell the truth. Surely he had guessed their father’s gamble. Did Resh hate his status enough to hurt his brother, or love him enough to help him?

  Resh stood and kicked at the pillow that flopped onto the floor. “You shame our family, Sy! A General’s First Son who does not hunt? Do you know the rumors the men laugh about w
hen you are not around the fire? What I hear when they think I am not near?”

  Sy shrugged and lay back on the now-empty bed. Rumors meant nothing to him.

  “They say you prefer boys.”

  Sy only watched his brother pace. He’d never been with a boy, but he’d never accepted that as a slur, either. Before the Separation, love had just been love for the Weshen.

  “They say you are afraid of the girls.”

  Sy sneered. He was never afraid of what he was hunting.

  “They say you are probably not a great hunter at all, and perhaps Tag has killed your MagiCreatures all along.”

  “Lies! And you know it!” Sy had finally had enough of his brother’s taunting. He lunged for Resh and tackled him to the floor. Surely the men were not so stupid as to believe any of this ridiculous gossip.

  But Resh only laughed as he struggled to push Sy’s hands from his throat. Rolling to the side, he leaned against the bed to gain his breath and patted the ground next to him. “Sit with me. Of course I know these rumors are not true. But you must have a real reason for avoiding the hunts. Tell me. I can help.”

  Sy eyed his brother as he sat, but offered no answer or explanation.

  Resh shook his head, gazing at his brother in a sad sort of wonder. “You are a contradiction. A ruthless killer of creatures who is afraid to take a girl, or a peerless Paladin who fails to track a single female along a rocky beach. And what did I find out when I set out to catch the only girl you had ever caught? Lorenya. Yes, you think I don’t know their names. But that one I remember.”

  Sy suppressed a groan and shook his head, as though this could erase what he knew Resh would say. Surely Resh hadn’t only caught her because of competition. He had to reach Coren first tomorrow.

  Resh leaned in and gripped Sy’s arm. “She told me strange stories, brother. She nearly cried when I asked her about you. She told me you weren’t like the rest of us - that you were meant for something larger. She told me you believed in love.”

  He let the last word soak into the silence around them. Sy mentally smacked himself - why had he ever spoken such things to a girl? “I was a stupid young boy then, Resh. I would never try to undermine the Sacrifice. If our elders claim the magic of love was a casualty of losing our shifter magic, who am I to contradict?”

  Sy hoped the words sounded better to Resh, because they echoed falsely in his mind. Of course he wanted to contradict the elders. He did it regularly on his long hunts, when proximity to the NeverCross Mountains allowed him to visit his hidden teacher.

  If shifter magic could survive the generations, love could as well.

  “So how exactly do you plan to help me?” Sy asked, hoping the change in topic would help Resh to just forget about the rest.

  Resh eyed him but answered the question. “I want you to catch a girl. I’ll point one out to you tomorrow. Catch her. Take her. Lie with her every night. Then catch another one. Prove them all wrong. Take back our father’s name, Sy. Don’t you realize that your actions reflect on him? On me? His men must respect him to follow him. You’re corroding that with every hunt.”

  “And what of Corentine?” Sy whispered, unable to help himself.

  “Forget her. It does you no good to focus on one girl. This is the purpose of the hunts. It’s why the elders created them. If you spend too much time with one girl, you might start to believe in something as crazy as love…or magic. Those are things Weshen are no longer permitted to rely on.”

  Sy groaned and leaned his head backward onto the edge of the bed. His hands scrubbed at his eyes. He ached to show his magic with Resh, to share Corentine’s power. But even in his excitement, he knew it wasn’t enough to save them from the king, and in sharing he’d only be giving Resh another reason to dislike Corentine.

  “Besides,” Resh said, shoving at Sy’s shoulder, “the adrenaline from the chase makes things better. The thrill is like an aphrodisiac. Even when the first-summer girls hesitate at first, it is a small thing - a part of the game.”

  Reshra’s words - a small thing - rattled in his head, reminding him of Corentine.

  Nothing was small when it was against your will.

  “Games are for children,” Sy retorted, feeling like sand clogged his veins. How could he understand this strange girl more than he understood his brother?

  “Then consider it part of the hunt!” Resh’s anger flickered back to life, his muscles tensing. “Why should we not hunt women in the summer, when we hunt MagiCreatures every other season of the year! Our purpose in the winter is to harvest the creatures’ bounties and hunt talismans and protect our people from the Restless King. Our purpose in the summer is to produce heirs, so our race does not dwindle into nothingness! When we are strong in numbers again, we will be able to take back our place in Riata!”

  “But our place was to use magic to protect people from the creatures,” Sy argued. “Without magic, we are worth nothing more than any other race of people.”

  “We do not need magic to overthrow a king who does not have magic,” Resh said.

  Sy didn’t answer or look up. Just as he knew magic still existed, he was sure the king would know that as well. The world was not as simple as it appeared from the beaches of Weshen Isle.

  “But brother, you’re better off forgetting that girl,” Resh warned. He looked into the still-empty mug and glared. “We can’t always have what we want, no matter how powerful our desires.”

  “She said I can catch her tomorrow,” Sy answered finally, a little ashamed at the hope that swirled in his gut.

  “Fine,” Resh said, aggravation pushing him to his feet. “Catch her if you must. But Sy. Please take her. Even if she is unsure. Remember - it is her Magi-inspired duty to provide a Weshen child to replace herself, if not to grow our numbers. Remind her of that.”

  He pushed aside the flap to his section of the tent, looking back darkly at his brother.

  “Remind her, Sy. Or someone else will.”

  Resh left his brother with a stricken look on his face and strolled down the beach, out to the water’s edge.

  He hated roughing up Sy’s mind like that, but he just couldn’t remain silent when his brother insisted on believing in such fairy tales as love or magic.

  Something in that girl had grasped his brother’s mind, and Resh didn’t like it. He hated it, in fact. Even the youngest boys in the training academy knew that to show sympathy for the creature you hunted was to open yourself to attack.

  He hurled the mug into the sea, watching the ripples as they widened and dissolved into the soft waves. He needed a plan. Resh knew he would never grow as tall or strong as his brother. He would never be the fiercest fighter.

  But he had something Sy didn’t: Resh thought in layers.

  Opening Sy’s eyes to what the hunts really meant - that was one layer. Embarrassing his brother, so he felt the need to resurrect the General’s respect. Another layer. But he needed more. The girl obviously couldn’t be trusted. She was playing the oldest game the women knew - building Sy’s anticipation by refusing him what the Magi instructed her to offer freely.

  And her family…before the Separation, they’d practically been a coven of Weshen witches. He didn’t believe for a minute the girl was innocent in his brother’s fascination.

  Resh walked the length of the beach, his eyes alternating between the stars and the camp behind him.

  Magic and love had been taken from them before they were born, and Resh didn’t waste time missing what he’d never known. Weshen knew only war and death, and it would be that way until they had the numbers to defeat the Restless King.

  If it came to war and numbers, Resh took comfort in knowing he had a small army at his disposal. Picking up a handful of pebbles, he skipped them one by one across the water, watching how each ripple he created layered on top of the others, forming a complex pattern that shifted the water’s surface completely.

  Chapter 10

  The morning was already hot.

&
nbsp; Sy pushed back the curtain that separated him from his brother. Resh blinked at the intrusion of sunlight. He scrubbed at his face and cursed at Sy.

  “The hunts begin shortly,” Sy said.

  Resh flopped an arm over his eyes, his mouth twisted in an ugly grimace. “I’m taking the day off. The girls will cry, but it can’t be helped.”

  Sy studied his brother. An empty bottle of wine was toppled next to Resh’s empty mug. Resh rarely missed a hunt, but it wasn’t unheard of. He had been drinking a good deal the night before.

  “Go,” Resh muttered. “Catch that girl and get her out of your mind. Make me proud, big brother,” he laughed, turning into his pillow.

  Sy snorted but left his brother to sleep. He arrived at the beach just as the girls were lining up along the water’s edge. Corentine was in her usual spot, closest to the paths back home. She didn’t even glance in his direction, and it made him smile.

  For a brief second, Sy considered taking Resh’s advice to just find a girl who wasn’t such a challenge. But somehow he knew Corentine would not be false with him, so he would complete his promise as well. He would keep her secrets.

  The horn sounded and she was gone before he could blink. He shook his head at her stubbornness and started after her, but halfway onto the beach, a curvy brunette with mischief in her eyes collided with him, nearly toppling them both. He clutched her slim arms to steady her, and her full lips stretched into a grin.

  “Hello, First Son,” she said, bending her head low.

  Sy blinked, his brain slow to process what she had said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” he began, but she drew closer to him, tilting her face up at his. Her lashes swept her cheeks demurely, but Sy had the distinct feeling she was anything but.

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I’m after a different girl.”

  Her eyes flew open, the hurt in them obvious, and he felt slim fingers grip his arms.

  It’s okay,” he whispered. She glared.