Shadows and Stars

by Becca Fanning

  “I don’t care. I will kill her to avenge my fallen brothers.”

  “You kill her and I’ll tear your head from your body!” Padraic growled and showed his fangs.

  I took a deep breath and then slammed my elbow into the green skinned thing’s side. It bellowed and released me enough to run to Padraic. Padraic leapt forward faster than humanly possible and killed my attacker.

  Blood was soaking into Padraic’s side where his shirt had been cut.

  “You’re injured,” I gasped and rushed towards him.

  He allowed me to lift his shirt and inspect the small cut which looked like it was closing on its own. “I have fast healing abilities as an elf.”

  “Oh,” I whispered and felt embarrassed for fawning over him. “Are you alright?” I asked him.

  He put his finger on my chin and tilted it up so that he could look at my throat. “I’m fine. You should have stayed in the bakery.”

  “I was worried about you because you hadn’t come back yet,” I whispered and then walked over to where my sword was lying in the dirt. “What were they?”

  “Goblins. Are you sure that you’re alright?” he asked and then turned me around to face him.

  I had been trying to hide my tears, but he saw them and wiped them away with his fingertips. “Eoghan thought I would be safe here,” I whispered.

  “You are safe,” he whispered.

  “You were hurt,” I reminded him. “First Eoghan is taken and what if there are more next time and they take you?” My breathing became erratic and I started to hyperventilate.

  Padraic put his hands on each side of my face and gently blew air into my face. I gasped and he whispered, “I cannot promise you that I won’t die. Everyone dies at some point and if I must die to protect you then so be it. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe and stay by your side until the King returns. Okay?”

  “How did they get in when he sealed the boundary?” I asked instead of responding to his statement which left my stomach feeling strange and my heart beating erratically.

  “They must have already been here,” he said.

  “What if…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say it.

  “He’s alive. I would know if he died.”

  “How?”

  He pulled out a small rock which glowed brighter and softer in what almost looked like a heartbeat. “If this stops glowing, that means he is dead.”

  I reached out towards it and he tipped his hand so that it fell into my palm. As soon as it touched my skin strange energy filled me and I gasped as I felt like I was transported away from Padraic.

  “Alyssa?” Eoghan whispered in my head.

  “Eoghan!” I gasped.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked me.

  I was certain that was not the most important question to ask. “Where are you? Are you alright? Padraic won’t let me come rescue you.”

  “I’m fine. No, you cannot come after me. Stay there with Padraic where you’re safe.”

  “But…”

  “I want you safe,” he said.

  “Eoghan…”

  “I feel the connection slipping,” he said quickly. “I’ll escape soon and return to the castle. Don’t worry about me. Stay safe and wait for me at the castle. That’s an order.”

  “Okay.”

  “Promise me?”

  “I promise.”

  “Alyssa…”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m glad that you figured out how to do this. It’s nice to hear you and know you’re okay.”

  “I don’t know how I did it, but I’ll try again later.”

  “Is Padraic being nice to you?” he asked.

  “Yes. He is with me now, we are at the town near the castle and he got me some boots and some weapons.”

  “Weapons? Why?”

  “I asked for them.”

  “I wish I could speak with him.”

  “When you come back you can. I…” I paused because I wanted to tell him that I missed him, but it seemed strange since I didn’t know him well enough to have that feeling. Yet, I did.

  “I miss you too, Alyssa.”

  “Eoghan, hurry back. Please.”

  “I will,” he promised.

  The connection broke and Padraic was holding me in his lap and looking at me with a worried expression.

  “Hi,” I whispered as his face came into clear focus.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I spoke to Eoghan.”

  His eyes widened. “What did he say?”

  “He’s going to try to come back soon. He ordered me to stay with you at the castle.”

  “Are you sure that you’re alright?” he asked.

  I stood up and my legs wobbled. “I am a bit tired,” I admitted.

  “It must have taken quite a bit of your magic to do that,” he said and then before I could take a step, he picked me up and carried me and my items towards his horse.

  “I can wa—”

  “Hush,” he ordered me.

  I pinched my lips together and obeyed. He set me in the saddle and then hopped up behind me. My eyes grew heavier with each step the horse took and I would have fallen off if Padraic hadn’t had his arms around me.

  “Alyssa?” he asked.

  “Tired,” I muttered as I fought to stay awake. “Can’t keep my eyes…open.”

  He scooted closer to me so that I was pressed up against him. “Go to sleep then. I’ll keep you in the saddle.”

  “Not fair…to you,” I whispered. “You fought…injured…”

  “I’m fine. Elves are a tough lot with lots of stamina. Go to sleep, Alyssa.”

  “If you insist,” I replied and then turned my head to the side so that it rested between his shoulder and neck and fell asleep.

  SIX

  I WAS SO SORE after three straight days of training in horseback riding, magic, and fighting that I couldn’t get out of bed without help the fourth day. I soaked in a hot bath until my fingers turned into prunes, and then I lay on the grass in the back of the castle grounds and watched the clouds passing by.

  “Lunch time,” Padraic announced.

  I groaned and wasn’t sure if eating was important enough to warrant trying to walk, but it turned out that I didn’t need to walk because he had brought the food to me.

  “You’re amazing,” I told him and groaned as I sat up.

  “Have you been stretching like I told you to?” he asked me and set a tray of cheese, meat, and bread slices down beside me.

  I grabbed at the tray blindly and chewed on a piece of cheese. “Yes.”

  “You’ll feel better if you walk around,” he said.

  “No, I won’t.”

  He laughed. “Alright, I’ll let you be for now.”

  “Alyssa,” Stacy called. She was a maid in the laundry room.

  “Over here,” I called back since I wasn’t sure where she was and I wasn’t going to get up and look.

  “We’re going to play that game you taught us. Will you please play with us?” she asked and stopped at my feet so that I could see her.

  “I—”

  “Please,” she begged and stuck her bottom lip out in a fake pout.

  I laughed and then groaned from my sore stomach muscles. “Alright, but I’m not going to be any good at it.”

  She smiled warmly and I took a few pieces of meat and cheese before Padraic helped me stand up. I shuffled behind her towards a flat area where I had begun teaching the servants to play soccer. All of them were already gathered and they cheered when they saw me.

  With Eoghan gone, they didn’t have as much work as they wanted so they were all bored during the day, but they couldn’t voice that opinion to anyone without worrying about backlash. I’d ordered them all to learn to play soccer from me and play with me and the joy that I’d brought them was the greatest reward I’d thought I could receive.

  “I’m not going to be much help,” I told them.

 
“We don’t mind,” Timothy the chef said to me.

  “Alright, let’s get started,” I called.

  The teams took their positions and I stood in the rear so that I wouldn’t have to run down field and could hold a defensive position.

  They started playing and I laughed along with them as the women in dresses hiked them up so that they could kick the ball. Timothy scored the first goal and everyone cheered, even the opposing team.

  “What’s this?” Eoghan asked loudly, but in a pleasant tone from behind us.

  I turned around. He stood on the balcony with Padraic beside him. He looked healthy and real and whole. “Eoghan!” I squealed and despite my soreness, I ran as fast as I could towards him.

  He noticed my abnormal gait and frowned a moment before jogging to meet me halfway. I threw my arms around his neck before I thought better of it and hugged him. He smelled just like I remembered, but his bed sheets and pillow had long lost the scent and I was so glad that he was back.

  “You’re here! You’re back!” I whispered in shock. “I’m so happy to see you.” I hugged him around the neck tightly and he hugged me back.

  “I’m happy to see you as well, Alyssa,” he whispered and squeezed me a bit harder, which made me squeak in pain. “Are you injured?” he asked.

  “Just sore,” I told him and then realized that I was still clinging to him. I stepped back and smoothed down the dress that I wore, it was an off-white color with blue flowers and vines along the bottom.

  “Your Majesty,” Timothy said.

  I turned and everyone was bowing to him.

  “Stand, please.”

  Should I have bowed to him?

  “No,” he whispered in my head. “You never have to bow to me.”

  “Please continue your game,” he said out loud.

  “Join us,” I offered and tugged on his hand.

  “I don’t know the rules.”

  “I’ll teach you,” I promised.

  “She’s taught us all,” Stacy told him.

  He unbuttoned the jacket he had been wearing and tossed it to Martin who had come outside and stood next to Padraic. “Alright,” Eoghan agreed. “But go easy on me.”

  I held onto his hand as we walked to the field. “I’m so happy that you’re back,” I whispered.

  He squeezed my hand and said, “I promised that I’d hurry back.”

  We were holding hands.

  I let go of his hand and turned towards the others. “Alright, let’s go.”

  “Wait, what do I do?” Eoghan asked frantically.

  “These four are on your team; the others are the opposite team. The objective is to kick the ball into the other team’s goal, which is the space between the two sticks we put in the ground over there,” I explained and pointed at the goal.

  “Got it,” he said with a serious face.

  “Go!” I yelled and the ball went into motion. Eoghan followed cues and orders from the servants and kicked a goal on his first try.

  Everyone cheered and Eoghan beamed happily. “That was fun,” he told me.

  “We should get back to work,” Stacy whispered to me and they all went into the castle, but with smiles on their faces.

  Eoghan pulled me into a hug and I inhaled his scent as though I could keep it in me and savor it.

  “Are you really alright?” I asked him softly and looked up into his eyes.

  He smiled and tugged on a piece of my hair. “Now that we’re together again, everything is exactly as it should be.”

  I smiled back and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’m sorry that you were caught because of me.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Is Treyce…okay?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Yes, but we won’t be seeing him for a long time, hopefully.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  He turned and headed towards the castle and after a moment he linked our hands together. “He demanded that I give you up to the shifters…to him.”

  “Oh,” I whispered. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t like Treyce, since I hardly knew him, but I didn’t want to leave Eoghan or Padraic. I had made friends with Stacy and some of the others at the castle. It wasn’t my home, but it felt like it could be…

  “Can we, um, talk in private?” I asked him.

  Padraic held the door open for us and looked at me with a frown.

  Eoghan looked down at me curiously, but instead of questioning me he nodded. “Alright.” We went to his room and when he stepped inside he inhaled loudly and exhaled through his mouth. “It smells like you in here.”

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “Martin said that you wanted me to stay here, but I didn’t think about the fact that my scent would…”

  Eoghan put his finger over my lips. “I didn’t say that I didn’t like the smell.”

  Oh. I felt my cheeks warm and I turned away from him. I could do this. I could do this. I walked across the room and stroked my finger down one of the book’s spine in the bookshelf and then turned to face him. “What happens now? Do you want me to stay here, in your castle? Or will you find me somewhere else to stay? I’m sure that you want your room back and there are other rooms that I can use, which I’m fine with, but if you want me to leave and…”

  Eoghan froze. He was so still that I wasn’t certain if he was breathing or not. “Do you want to leave?”

  “Eoghan, that’s not the point. I’m asking what you want me to do,” I argued.

  He picked up the shirt I had slept in last night that I had left on the bed. Had I known he would be coming back today, I would have cleaned up a little. He raised the shirt to his nose and inhaled and then tossed it back on the bed. “I want you to be happy,” he told me as he walked closer to me.

  “You can’t answer my questions with a question. I asked you specific questions about what you want and me being happy isn’t an answer to those questions,” I countered.

  He stopped just in front of me and asked, “You want to know what I want?”

  I nodded.

  “Fine.” He leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. I stared at him in disbelief until he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him and kissed me again, and then I returned the kiss. We separated and he whispered, “I’ve wanted to do that for weeks.”

  I couldn’t speak. My heart was hammering away in my chest, my stomach was a quivering mess, and my brain had decided that thoughts were unimportant at the moment.

  “This is completely backward and irregular, but will you allow me to court you?” he asked.

  “You want to court me?” I asked as my brain started working.

  He nodded.

  “But, I’m not a real princess. I’m just, me.”

  “I don’t care that you’re not a real princess,” he said with a smirk.

  “You’re a king though. I’m—”

  “It’s okay to say ‘no’,” he whispered and took a step away from me.

  “It’s not…” I paused and scolded myself. My insecurities were affecting what he thought I thought of him. “I would love to have you court me. I’m just worried that I’m not the best person for you.”

  “That’s the point of courting, we figure out if we are meant to be together or not,” he said and smiled.

  “So, I can stay here if I agree to let you court me?” I asked.

  “You can stay here whether you agree or not,” he told me seriously.

  “You do want me to stay here then? To live in the castle with you?” I asked for clarification.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Yes,” I said with a nod.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, I would love to let you court me,” I clarified.

  He hugged me and spun me around in a circle. “Thank you.”

  I put my arms back around his neck and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

  “I never thought you’d ask,” he whispered and leaned forward slowly until our lips touched.

 
“Your Majesty,” Padraic said and opened the door that joined their rooms. He came to fast halt when he saw us kissing. “Oh, uh, sorry.”

  “What is it?” Eoghan asked him and kissed my forehead before turning to his guard.

  “Martin wants to meet with you so that you can debrief us on the events that transpired,” he explained and looked at me and then looked away.

  “Very well,” Eoghan agreed and turned to me. “I’ll be just a couple minutes. Will you wait here?”

  I nodded. “I need to pack my things anyway.”

  “You don’t…” he stopped and said, “I’ll be right back.”

  They left through Padraic’s door and I grabbed all of the clothes that needed to be washed and put them in a basket to take to the laundry room later to wash. I packed the rest of my items and stood at the doors that opened to the balcony and the garden.

  I was going to be courted by a king. A real king. It sounded like a hallucination. What if this was just one huge hallucination? What if I woke up back in the apartment and none of this had happened?

  “This is real, I assure you,” Eoghan whispered from behind me.

  I jumped and spun around to glare at him. “You startled me on purpose.”

  He smiled wide and said, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

  “Are you done with your meeting?” I asked. He nodded. “Are you going to show me my new room?”

  He fidgeted with his shirt a moment and then asked, “Would you think me a boor if I asked you to stay here? I’ll behave and I promise not to try anything uncouth. I just…”

  He wanted to know I was safe and smell me. Just like I did with him. How could a few weeks together change so much?

  “You have no idea how happy that makes me,” I whispered.

  He took my hand and we climbed onto the bed. I lay with my head on his chest and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I listened to his breathing and his heart beating and closed my eyes to focus on his scent and the sounds of him with me.

  “I was so scared for you,” I whispered.

  He tightened his grip and then began to stroke my hair slowly. “I’m sorry to have worried you.”

  “You’re safe and here. That’s all that matters,” I whispered as I began to drift off.

  “Alyssa,” he whispered.