Shadows and Shade Box Set

by Amanda Cashure

  Roarke closes the book, sitting it softly on the floorboards.

  “Does it make me a bad person that I want to slap her right now?” I ask.

  “No,” Roarke says, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “But none of that gave us the information we need.”

  Roarke can’t really meet my gaze since he’s behind me, but Seth can. I offer him a worn-out smile. The guy reaches up and wraps his hand around behind my head, shifting so he can pull my face down to his.

  “Don’t tell Roarke,” he whispers, then presses his lips to mine.

  I don’t fight him, not one bit, giving in to the pressure of his hand behind my head, of his lips on mine, and of the wild fluttering of my heart. Pretty sure I’ve forgotten how to breathe. His tongue explores my mouth, and his hand runs up my back.

  No, not Seth. Seth has one hand in my hair, but his other is pressed to the floor, lifting his weight just enough to keep our lips together. It’s not Seth’s hand tracing down my spine and hooking under the hem of my shirt – it’s Roarke’s.

  A new rush fills me, hot and alive with a fearless desire to break the rules. To have both of them. All of them.

  Roarke lifts my hair, twisting it to the side, before leaning forward to put his lips beside my ear.

  “Roarke already knows,” he says.

  My insides skip warming up or simmering and go straight to the boil. Seth is kissing me in front of Roarke. Roarke is enjoying watching Seth kiss me. I’m not sure what to do with this information – except that it’s a lot less confusing than I thought it would be.

  I can’t even move or argue even if I wanted to, tangled between two men who I desperately want – is it possible to want them more now? To feel twice as alive with the two of them?

  I can’t think about Roarke because Seth is kissing me! A little moan hums over his vocals and into my mouth, making my breath hitch.

  Then I can’t think about Seth because Roarke is nibbling my earlobe. Small nips that have not just covered my whole body with goosebumps but make me tremor enough that I’m sure both of them can feel it.

  A sound escapes me that could be a chuckin’ moan – if I had any concentration to spare to listen to myself.

  Which I don’t, because I have the Seed of Chaos at my front and Allure at my back.

  Suddenly Seth leans back, his eyes open, and his focus slips straight past me to look at Roarke. “Did I distract her?”

  Roarke actually chuckin’ chuckles before slipping himself free from behind me with a conspicuous moment of pants adjusting as he stands up. “If that was your intention,” is all he says.

  Seth pops to his feet, sizes up his brother, then laughs. “Unexpected bonus.”

  I find myself sitting on the floor with Seth standing on my left and Roarke on my right – the book and the empty chocolate wrapper on the floor with me along with all the other things that Roarke has discarded down here. A small wooden crate filled with pine cones is one of them. Why, when the woman has the whole tree out there, would she collect pine cones?

  Noticing the pine cones doesn’t stop me from feeling upset about that moment ending. I was really, really enjoying it. Like, Seth’s lips are amazing, and Roarke’s touch is like finding something better than chocolate – and I just had them all at the same time.

  “Well, what Eydis did was low – even for a Master – and it seemed like a good distraction,” Seth argues.

  “Look,” I say, holding both my hands in the air in the hopes that both my men will get the idea and pull me to my feet.

  They do. Roarke with a gentle hoist and Seth with a sudden jolt.

  “Clearly the woman was losing her knead on the dough because I got through your borders just fine, and I’ve been living in your realm as well.”

  “Not just fine,” Killian grumbles, taking the last step off the staircase before I realize he’s approaching.

  Almost. I almost knew he was there, just hadn’t stopped to pay attention to him or the subtle addition of his strength to the room. Seth and Roarke were pretty damn distracting.

  “Pax is still outside?” Roarke asks.

  I understand why Roarke looks ready to run, but I’m about to ask why Pax’s whereabouts might be an issue right now… then I get it. Get why Roarke was the one reading, and Seth was the one keeping me company, and what they might have expected Eydis to say.

  Because Lord Martin was my master, and I was his servant in almost every way – something I’ve been told would not sit well with Pax.

  “Would he honestly have had trouble with any of what Eydis wrote?” I ask.

  “I didn’t know what was in the book. I didn’t read it without you,” Roarke says.

  I run my hand down my face. Having to tread lightly around Pax is hard work.

  Roarke scoops the book up off the ground and flips it open. Leafing to a specific page, he holds it out for me. Line after line after line.

  “I’m sure that’s not all of them,” he says softly.

  I run my finger over the inked scratches. It’s like the smallest wild animal in history has used the page for anger management.

  “Tallies,” Roarke says.

  Seth’s hand settles on the back of my neck, making my breath stutter and stop as his fingers trail down my spine.

  “He’s not ready,” Killian says.

  I tilt my head back, feeling my heart ache. Honestly, I’m not ready either.

  Seth leans down to steal another kiss, Roarke steps away, and I damn near fall backwards. Almost, but both of them catch me – Roarke with his hands on my shoulders and Seth with his arms around my waist.

  “I just wanted a little kiss,” Seth chuckles at me. “No need to swoon.”

  I slap him and try to stand.

  Seth doesn’t let go of me, which makes trying to stand on my own kind of pointless. Roarke leans in, kissing my temple before turning for the stairs.

  “I’m going to look for the Spring again,” he announces.

  “Yeah, sure you are,” Seth teases.

  “It’s dark,” I say, which is obvious, and what I really meant to do was ask what else Roarke would possibly be doing outside after dark.

  “Feed her, then sleep her,” Killian orders, turning to exit to the tune of Seth laughing.

  “Yes, boss,” Seth announces, leaning down to scoop me up.

  “Sleep me? What is sleep me?” I demand, then squeak and try to escape my captor.

  And fail.

  Then give in.

  I take my time on the south of the domain. First decompressing after my time with Kitten, then reading through the rest of Eydis’ book, finally being joined by Pax and Killian and doing some calculations. The distance from the cottage to the barrier. The distance around the barrier. Water flow and speed. Incline angle. We even dig a great big hole to find the bedrock beneath and judge the depth of the soil. But still no Spring.

  “One more lap,” Pax says, looking toward the cottage where Seth is watching Shade.

  “You’ve left them alone together for a long time,” I point out.

  “Seth’s power doesn’t make him dangerous in that way,” Pax says. “And Seth values his head being attached to his body.”

  The value of Seth’s balls being attached is a better analogy. His power might be the least likely to cause damage from a single kiss, but it’ll kill her just the same if he goes any further.

  And he wants to go further.

  “He could have helped us with this, though,” I say, waving a hand over the dirt Killian is tossing back into the hole. It has an ominous scrape and thump sound.

  I still think he’s getting off easy, regardless of the feelings that the guy has bottled up inside toward the mostly-mortal that he’s currently sleeping with. The feelings he can let out, that’s not a problem at all, but the steadily-growing-louder beat of his desires needs to stay firmly muffled. Under laughter, under jokes, under pillows, whatever it takes – so long as it’s effective.

  It’s almost sunris
e when we slip down the boulders and up onto the deck of Eydis’ cottage. Pax collects Eydis’ strewn clothes off the pen railing, and Killian takes a moment to check over the horses and dump an extra bucket of water in their trough.

  Small chores that have to be done. Especially scenting Kitten’s clothes. Pax throws half the items at me and the other half at Killian. The garments hit him in the chest, then fall in a flutter of fabric to the dirt.

  “No point, she can just wear ours,” Killian says.

  “Did you see how much she enjoyed wearing a ladies’ shirt?” I ask, rubbing the items all over me.

  We’ve been digging, sweating, so it doesn’t take long for Pax to nod his approval.

  “Scent them,” Thane snaps at Killian.

  The Darkness obeys, snatching the clothes off the ground. Minutes later, we swap, with no further argument. Until Killian turns sharply toward the barrier.

  “Who?” Pax asks.

  “Jada.”

  There’s a weight-being-lifted sensation around the group. Now the real work begins.

  I pull one of three cords from my pocket, a truth stone on the end. Simple enough, a trinket for children even, that does little more than change color when held in the palm of your hand for long enough to warm the core of potion-filled Silvari glass. Only this one hasn’t been filled with a potion to show a spectrum of colors based on mood. Red for anger, blue for calm, green for happy, and so on. Cleverly, Eydis used this trick and filled the stones with the ingredients needed to let a person and those they’re escorting through the strongest ward in her books. Which makes it a key.

  “Here. Maybe leave it with Jada so she can help escort people in,” I suggest, handing the key to him.

  “She’s definitely going to want a key, but she’s not going to escort Sabers. This is Jada we’re talking about,” Pax mutters.

  The reminder settles uneasily in my stomach, but I shove it away. Jada follows commands; she just makes the commander’s life miserable if she doesn’t want to – even Mother’s orders. But she was close to her, being adopted in an arrangement made by Mother to a wealthy family, and being treated like the princess Mother never had broke a lot of healthy boundaries. Jada has spent more time at the Black Castle than we have, and she still lives there now.

  She’s our inside ally and all of our plans hinge on her, so if escorting Sabers is going to rock the boat, then Pax isn’t going to ask her to escort Sabers.

  Together, Killian and Pax make their way up the hill. Sometimes domain doors move, shifting locations to confuse intruders, which would actually be horribly annoying. I hug all of the clothes and beeline for the second story.

  Kitten is snoring softly in Seth’s arms. The big guy’s partly on top of the covers, with one leg curled up to the contour of her body. She’s wrapped in the blankets. It actually looks like Seth has tried to trap her in them. After what happened last time, that doesn’t surprise me at all.

  He’s fully clothed and cracks an eyelid the second I step into the room. I’ve no doubt he dozed during the night, but sleeping two nights in a row without a huge expenditure of energy between is almost impossible.

  I grab the hangers and Allure some speed to get the clothes in their place.

  “Sun’s not up,” Seth murmurs.

  “I know,” I say.

  “I don’t. Go away,” Kitten moans.

  Just the sound of her voice lightens everything inside me.

  “Well, in that case I need to piss,” Seth says, practically bounding off the bed.

  Kitten bounces, pulls the blanket higher to cover her face, and grumbles something that could be ‘Seth’ or it could be ‘piss off.’ Not sure.

  Probably ‘Seth’, Kitten is more likely to say ‘chuck off.’

  Shade sits up sharply, huffing at the hair in her face and glaring at the room. She’s still fully clothed too, but they’re fresh from yesterday.

  “I don’t want to get up,” she moans, but she tosses back the covers and pulls her hair into some kind of control.

  I move into her bubble so Seth can get out of it, then suddenly she flops back and pulls the covers over her head again.

  “I thought you were getting up,” I say, more than a little confused.

  Behind me Seth’s using the toilet, and the other guys are moving around downstairs.

  “Does he have to use the toilet?” she demands from under the covers, her voice small and muffled.

  “Where did you think I was going?” Seth calls out.

  “I don’t know, into the woods or something.”

  I chuckle at her and sit on the edge of the bed, waiting for Seth to fasten his pants before tugging the blanket off her face. It pulls her hair down again and makes her huff.

  “Shared toileting is way up there on the relationship scale. Way, way up there,” she says.

  “You do it all the time,” Seth says, walking up to the end of the bed.

  “I don’t have a choice – you do!”

  I might be about to say something, but Seth launches himself on to the bed, and Kitten scrambles to get off it.

  “Both of you, over there,” she demands. When we don’t obey, she adds a stern point and a heavy frown. “Now.”

  “Okay, bossy,” Seth says. “Girls have issues.”

  “You have no idea.” I obey and stand between Seth and Eydis’ clothes rack.

  “One of you is going to end up sitting in my lap while I pee. It’s gross, and I don’t want to talk about it,” Shade says – getting off the toilet in what I assume is record time.

  The tap in the sink flicks on, then off, then she emerges from the little bathroom alcove.

  “That’s not going to happen,” I say, trying to sound reassuring.

  “I don’t mind,” Seth says, shrugging one shoulder.

  I do, but I’m not about to say that out loud. She gets a wicked little smile on her lips before reaching up and clapping both hands on Seth’s cheeks.

  “You will when you realize I wipe with my hands,” she giggles, retreating.

  Seth rubs at his face, launching after her, before Pax lets out a high-pitched whistle.

  The sound bounces up the stairs, leaving the windows rattling and making Kitten jump. She hesitates, and Seth takes that as an invitation to pick her up, toss her over his shoulder, and bound out of the room.

  “Seth,” she squeaks, but he’s already carrying her down the staircase.

  I follow, meeting her gray eyes – full of mock pleading.

  “I’m not going to rescue you when you started it,” I tell her, reaching the bottom of the stairs and turning toward the kitchen. The cottage is warm with a fire that we’ve managed to keep burning despite how busy we’ve all been.

  “Seth, put the mortal on her feet. Unless she’s forgotten how to walk?” comes a female voice. “Though I am surprised she’s still alive.”

  Jada has finally arrived, and she’s hovering near the kitchen, eating a small apple. Well not hovering – Jada is tall, elegant, defined like a dancer, deadly like any Saber, and more than capable of breaking men’s hearts.

  Or having her heart broken – not sure she’s forgiven Pax for turning her down.

  I’m also not sure if I’m happy to see our old friend or unsettled by the presence of a new person in Kitten’s life. The weight in my chest hints that I’m not completely comfortable, though I don’t know exactly why. We’ve known Jada for a few hundred years – this shouldn’t be a problem.

  Kitten twists in shock, trying to get a look at the speaker in the doorway, but Seth’s grip doesn’t relax – though he does chuckle.

  “Jada, if I’d known you were coming, I would have prepared a welcome gift,” he says. “But not her, I’m keeping her.”

  “I was always coming, Seth you knew that,” Jada retorts.

  What Seth does or does not know is anyone’s guess.

  I move to the right, Killian to the left. Kitten is practically bristling over Seth’s shoulder, and her desire to get do
wn and face off with Jada leads me to believe Kitten sees the Saber as competition. I lean back against the wall and prepare to watch the show.

  There was a time Kitten would have been right.

  “Seth,” Pax rumbles, motioning for Chaos to put down our girl.

  A movement that Shade doesn’t get a chance to see, though she twists in Seth’s arms and tries.

  Defeated, Seth obeys at the same time as Shade says, “Words, sweetie, use your words.”

  “Yes, sweetie,” Jada mirrors, half a bite of apple rolling around her mouth.

  She looks at Pax playfully and just a little bit too intensely. The desire to command the room and our attention presses down on me.

  Before anyone can react, Kitten is on top of her. She knocks Jada to the ground, snatches the apple out of her hand, and rams it into her face. Of course, the thing doesn’t fit up Jada’s nose – it’s never going to fit – but that doesn’t stop Kitten from drawing her arm back ready to try again.

  “Get her off me!” Jada screams.

  I realize Pax can’t move, and Killian is too busy trying to get his hysterics under control, and before Seth or I are close enough, Kitten manages one more apple-punch.

  Jada twists her hips and sends the mortal toppling to the side.

  Killian takes a big step between Jada and Shade, his stance strong – he’s a solid guy, so Jada would probably just bounce off him. I move myself between Pax and Jada, not sure which female Pax’s wrath will focus on first.

  Kitten’s on the ground, an almost cackle spilling from her lips. Jada stands very indignantly, brushing off her clothes and wiping her face with her hands.

  “Why didn’t one of you stop her?” she screams.

  “You started it,” Killian offers, looking down at Kitten out of the corner of his eye and winking.