Bride of The Shadow Lord

ning, I woke

tapped against the window in a steady rhythm, and for a moment, I forgot where I was. I expected to hear

nly silence, st

the bed and disappeared before I could ask her name. Warm bread.

ed to

ke me? Why did Kael-no, the Shadow Lord-say I was born

tall window. The cliffs below were shrouded in fog. I could barely ma

as somethin

igu

st beyond the far courtyard.

lin

o

the library t

l hadn't told me her name, led me through rows of towering shelves, some reaching so hi

me a leather-bound book. "You are to

. The lettering was o

d: The Lin

sed to be unders

he was weighing whether I

ast. That shou

n she w

-

if I breathed too hard. But the words were there-shaky handwriting,

wer and magic was sealed inside human blood. A pact was made between the first Storm Bride a

s sealed in

uld hear it whisper. Who felt storms before they came. And every hu

the king

himsel

he book, he

this

rained? Why I'd have dreams I didn't unde

Not the one from the painting, but someone older. Her eye

ame scratched i

ri

spere

ndles flic

o tired. Maybe part of me had already accepted th

d the book's pages were suddenly

ett

someone n

egins with a storm. I tried to warn the others. The west wing-don't go near it. That'

d the bo

y room, watching the embers slowly die.

e pact. The "one

my mind, or w

l-the Shadow Lord-

this was

oth o

from

k on my door jus

the quiet shuffle of a maid

was slow.

t in my throat. The fire wa

ed the

fr

ed in shadow, his eyes

ary," he said. Not a

odd

d about

her

permission. His presence changed

," I said, finall

e. "The truth

am

d surprised. Then amus

fore-this is n

what i

ring into the flames like

every bride since. Watched them come and go.

wSomew

t me then-a

a

l p

e br

speak, but the window

w lodged in t

d it, a blood