Shining Through Shadows

The Girl in the Snow

Zachary

Another one? Already? With a final look at Lydia in front of me, I tore my eyes away from her and stalked towards Travis. As we walked out of the dining hall, I gave him a puzzled look and asked him what was on my mind.

“How come you didn’t link me?”

“I f*****g tried, but you’ve blocked everyone out…” He raised his brow at me with a curious expression. We hurried down the stairs and I could feel my beast clawing my insides as he was desperate to get out and run some steam off.

“I, uhm…” I began, not knowing why I was about to defend my reasons for putting up a block in my mind. “I was trying to suppress the shadows.” His eyes widened, knowing full-well about my issues with the growing darkness within me.

“I see. I didn’t mean to pry.” He apologized and bowed his head before he led the way outside where both of us shifted into our giant wolves. His wolf was white with gray streaks, the perfect coat to hide in the snowy landscapes we had chosen to live in.

Since I was born in the Citadel of Mistra, a much warmer part of Saclair, my wolf was a rich, dark brown color, with black markings on my muzzle and up between my dark blue eyes. Not the ideal color for hiding in the white landscape.

As we paced through the dense layer of snow, I couldn’t stop wondering what would’ve happened between Lydia and me, hadn’t Travis interrupted us.

“Almost there!” Travis yelled through our link. We were close to our north-western border when I noticed two patrolling wolves guarding something in the snow.

My heart broke when I was close enough to see what they were guarding. A young woman, perhaps even a girl, was lying in the snow. Her arms were wrapped around her knees in a poor attempt to keep the little warmth she had left.

Her hair was frozen solid, like icicles, and her skin was gray and dull as the frost had taken its claim on her. Death had taken her, another innocent soul in the game my brothers had devised to gain more power. Another X to put on my map.

“Take her body to the barn. Tomorrow we’ll help her soul to the afterlife.” I said softly through our shared link. The two other wolves nodded their big, fluffy heads and I turned around to go back to the main house.

No one deserved to die alone in the cold like that. Sadly, she wasn’t the first one we’d burnt, and she wouldn’t be the last one either. Not until my brothers had claimed my spot in the hierarchy. And once they did, no one was left to take care of those who needed help.

I wanted this to stop, to end the meaningless deaths of innocent people. But how was I supposed to do that when I was running out of time myself?

It was in the middle of the night when I finally returned to the main house. My shoulders were slumped, and my head was spinning with all the thinking I had been doing the last couple of hours.

There was only one thing keeping me from the sleep I really needed. Or rather, one person. I had to see her just once before I headed to bed.

With silent steps, I wandered down the hall to the servant's quarters. Everything was quiet, only the soothing sound of an old clock coming from the library could be heard. My hand lingered over the doorknob leading to the women’s quarters.

Louisa would slap me on the back of my head, or even worse, if she knew I was there, about to enter the room of several sleeping women. Goddess, why was I doing this again? Because of Lydia.

With a sigh, I slowly opened the door and poked my head inside. Luckily, everyone was asleep, so I snuck further into their quarters and followed the scent I longed to inhale.

There she was, fast asleep, with her long, blond hair in a mess across her pillow. She was sleeping on her stomach, her head to the side and an arm tucked safely underneath her pillow. Her breathing was almost soundless, and her lips were slightly parted.

She was absolutely beautiful. More so now at this moment, when her face was completely unaffected by my presence and the bad impressions I constantly gave her.

I couldn’t stop myself as I squatted down beside her bed and stared at her precious face. Her closed eyes were fluttering, as if she was dreaming, and I wondered briefly what she was dreaming about? Hopefully, it was something nice.

My hand acted on pure instinct and reached out for her, gently caressing her cheek. Soft tingles appeared from where our skin met, and I felt all the turmoil within me disappear instantly.

“Sleep well, m’sahni.” I whispered before placing a feather-light kiss on her forehead. It was time for me to leave before someone woke up and saw me.

As I stood, I glanced at her one final time, before carefully walking to the door again.

“Z… Zachary?” Lydia whispered, her voice heavy with sleep, and I let the shadows within engulf me to shelter me from her eyes. As I stared at her from the safety of my shadows, I could tell she wasn’t even awake and was probably talking in her sleep.

“Zachary…” She said softly, not as a question this time, and it made me wonder if she had been dreaming about me.

As I stepped out of the shadows again, about to leave their chamber, I found myself hoping that she was indeed dreaming about me, because I had a feeling that her face was going to haunt me in mine…