Fear of Fire and Shadow (The Fade #1) - Samantha Young Page 0,27
my face. Afterward, I pulled on the nightgown and flopped down onto the stool by the dressing table. My face reflected in the oval mirror situated atop it, eyes dark with worries and fears and frustration. Gradually they blurred, and I grew numb as my face became more and more unfamiliar. Tears trembled on my eyelashes and I didn’t know why.
“You’re just tired, Rogan,” I whispered to myself.
I stilled at the sound of a key turning in the lock in my door. My pulse jumped wildly in my neck. Shooting to my feet, I delved quickly through my traveling bag and removed the dagger Matai had given me before I left. Sweat dampened my skin as I tiptoed barefoot across the room and stood behind the door.
Slowly, sinisterly, it opened inward. A black-booted foot appeared first. I waited as the familiar figure stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Disgruntled at my height, or more so his, I lunged up onto my toes and looped an arm around his neck, drawing him down so I could press the dagger in my other hand to his throat. He let out a startled yelp and halted, immobilized at the feel of cold metal against his skin.
“Grof Krill,” I growled, shocked and terrified that he had come into my room. Pride willed my body not to tremble.
“Now, Lady Rogan.” The grof held his hands away from his body, the key to my room glittering between his fingers. “I mean you no harm.”
I pressed the dagger until it pinched, and he hissed in pain. “No harm, indeed. What do you want with me?”
“Your magic.”
I was so taken aback by his answer, I inadvertently loosened my hold and he ducked out of it, spinning to face me. I thrust the dagger at him and he took a wary step back. “What do you mean?”
“I need your help,” he replied, his eyes sad, desperate.
“Is this the reason I was subjected to your abysmal attempts at seduction this evening, my lord?”
He flushed, groaning, running a hand down his face in mortification. “I’m not a very good flirt, my lady. Please accept the apology of a foolish man.”
“Why the flirting?”
He shrugged. “I thought if you liked me, you might be more inclined to help me.”
“With what?”
“I want you to find the woman I love.”
I shuddered as the wave of my magic crashed through me. I sensed her. Beautiful and gentle, Ariana, who worked in Javinia … as a governess. I threw Grof Krill a speculative look, glad he had no idea that my magic had already obeyed his command.
“The woman you love?” I queried, curious despite my exhaustion. A spark of indignation lit within me. “You intended to seduce me to help you so I could reunite you with the woman you love?”
Grof Krill winced. “Not the most honorable plan, I know.”
“I should say not.”
His shoulders slumped, his throat working as if trying to hold back emotion. “I wouldn’t have, my lady, but … Ariana. My lovely Ariana. Ward of our family friend the Baron Roe. She was the daughter of his cousin who died when Ariana was twelve. I hadn’t seen the baron for years—we were school chums. He returned to Raphizya from Daeronia three years ago. Ariana and his daughter, Dru, were of an age, both seventeen. I fell in love with Ariana almost instantly.” He sighed. “She isn’t like those twittering idiots at court. She’s intelligent. Quiet. Gentle. I miss her every day.”
“What happened?” I whispered, finding myself lost in his heartbreak despite his terrible behavior.
He smiled humorlessly. “We were like two peas in a pod. We loved one another very much. But my aunt discovered my love for Ariana and was furious I wanted to marry someone of low birth. She blackmailed Ariana. She’d gotten wind of Dru’s affair with one of the stable boys and threatened to expose her.” He snorted. “So cliché, I know, but a word from my aunt and Dru would have been ruined. And Ariana loves Dru, so she took up the situation my aunt offered and disappeared. My aunt wouldn’t tell me where she’d sent her and then my aunt died a year ago, leaving me no clues. I’ve hired people to find Ariana, but nothing. My aunt was a conniving old witch, but a clever one.”
“So you want me to seek her?”
He nodded, coming toward me in his excitement. I held the dagger back up. “I won’t hurt you, Lady Rogan.”