Shadow & Light

Chapter 9

I startled awake with panic. Where was I and how had I gotten there? All of a sudden yesterday's events came flooding back in a tidal wave of emotion that left me breathless.

A knock at the door had my head turning so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. I attempted to call out for the person to come in but was stopped when my voice cracked worse than that of a male teenage fae going through puberty. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Come in!"

I saw James peek his head around the door, with his cropped black hair and those silver eyes that make it so difficult to believe we weren't related. I had never seen another face with the same silver eyes as mine, and the more I stared at him the more I saw myself in his face. That s**t-eating grin though... that was all him. His smile looked like it could melt the sun.

I couldn't help but smile back at him, his smile was more infectious than any human disease I had read about. "Hi James" I spoke softly, nudging my head for him to come in. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to have breakfast with me? Malichi is in his office dealing with some work that piled up during the planning of the raid. He plans to come get us later so we can go to the mandatory meeting but I figured maybe you and I could get to know each other." I stared down at my hands, unsure of what to say. I still couldn't accept him as any sort of family. Too soon. Too scary. But that face. How was I supposed to say no to him? He was looking at me like a little faeling begging their parents for a toy. This man must have known exactly what he was doing because he began batting his eyelashes so exaggeratedly that I let out a very unladylike snort at the sight. This grown man was batting his lashes like a schoolgirl.

"If it will make you stop doing that I will do pretty much anything." James leapt up into the air, off the bed and began doing a victory dance that made me wish I no longer had functioning eyes. I threw a pillow at his head, doubling over in hysterical laughter as the firm pillow caught him so off guard that he fell sideways. My laughter was cut off as a pillow soon landed on my own head with a muted thud.

"Hey!" I shouted through my laughter, "I had a valid reason for smacking you with that pillow. Your victory dance was reminiscent of a dancing goose, if the goose were blindfolded and only had one leg. It was excruciating to look at!"

James huffed in feigned indignation and stomped his foot like a child. "I will have you know that my victory dance is simply superb."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say" I laughed once more, throwing a final pillow at him, which unfortunately he caught. "Now get out so I can change and I'll be right out."

I went into my closet and stared at my minimal clothes. The majority of them were plain t-shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans, some cardigans, and a bunch of workout clothes. I was going to look so...so ordinary in this castle. I mean James came in wearing a suit. For breakfast. I would have to make do with what I had. So I shoved on a black t-shirt, my nice black jeans, and a blue cardigan that made my silver eyes pop. Like a nicely dressed librarian. Mrs. Tillet would be proud. I quickly combed my pin-straight hair and decided I didn't look like a rat. That would have to do.

Stepping out of my room I smiled at James, who nodded his head and smiled back, signalling for me to follow him.

"Mialichi said we could use his private dining room for breakfast." I sighed in relief, I hadn't even thought about the possibility that James would bring me to the dining room where our--no, his-- parents would be eating.

Once we were seated and given the most amazing smelling breakfast I had ever laid eyes on, filled with French toast, pancakes, sausage and bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit. James and I dug in. We sat in a comfortable silence, both of us focused on our meal, too focused to bother with unimportant things like conversation. Once our meal was done James began asking me about myself, everything from my favourite colour, hobbies, to the events of my life, which I once again decided to tell him more good things than bad. Halfway through our discussion Malichi strolled in, ever the picture of grace. His sculpted body was also clad in a pristine suit that fit him like a glove. He wore his crown again today, I guess to create a sense of authority during the meeting. The people of Wrelia would still be hesitant to transfer loyalty to a new king so Malichi maintaining an authoritative presence would be crucial. Malichi took a seat and a plate was brought out for him. He began eating while listening to me talk. They both exchanged wordless glances once in a while, filled with words I couldn't hear but they seemed to understand perfectly. Possibly noticing when I was leaving out the details they wouldn't want to hear. I would have to ask them about that another time.

Eventually, I managed to turn the conversation away from myself, asking James a million and one questions about his life. I now knew that his favourite colour was also yellow, he loved woodcarving and even had his own room in the castle where he could go and do it whenever he pleased, he absolutely "abhorred" shrimp- his words not mine, and that his favorite place he had ever travelled was on a diplomatic trip to the Sazarian Dynasty where they got to visit the beautiful beaches along their territory and swim in water so clear blue you could see the sea bed. Which Malichi then mockingly reminded James that he spent the whole trip trying not to drown– as it turned out James was not good at swimming in the slightest. During this, it took everything in me not to snort orange juice out of my nose because I was laughing so hard while poor James had the biggest pout on his face. Malichi and James continued telling fond memories and more hilarious stories until I was doubled over clutching my stomach with laughter.

When a lull in the conversation came around, Malichi turned and looked at me with a somewhat serious expression, making my heart flip-flop and my hands fidget with each other under the table.

"So, Alina, before I came in here I was speaking with one of the medical fae who works in our town's hospital." I frowned and nodded for him to continue. "I mentioned briefly the fact that you might be related to James and she informed me that we have some technology available that can test if you really are related. It's called DNA testing.”

James's face lit up like a torch–actually more like a bonfire–while all I could manage was a lame, "Oh."

I guess this is what I wanted, confirmation that I was or was not related to James. That I did or did not have parents and siblings. That I may or may not have spent my entire first two decades unaware that there were people who had been missing me, who could have loved me. I needed to calm down. Oh and breathe. Breathe damn it Alina.

"There is no pressure to do anything right now my love." Malichi could tell I was spiralling. James was looking at me like he was dying of hunger and I held the last plate of food in this and every other dimension. Did I want to risk disappointing him? Or did I want to risk finding out that I was not, in fact, his sister and that I truly will never have a family?

"Yes," I said before I could lose my nerve.

"Yes?" The starving man questioned as he was presented with a feast.

"I'll do it. I guess I can't avoid it forever. At least this way we will know for sure." But my shrivelled black heart ached painfully in its confines. I had grown to really like James. I wanted him to be my brother.

"Alright then I will go ask my assistant to pass the message on to the hospital, and we will go after the town meeting. Which reminds me, I need to start the meeting soon and people should be heading over now, so why don't we do the same?"