Shadow Lives

Chapter 15

Done with the day, I pull my house's front door shut behind me. Exhausted from the enormous amount of paperwork for Aishat's arrival and an overly long conversation with a boring treasurer has drained my energy.

Sighing, I hang my black coat on the coat rack and kick off my heels.

When Elien and I finally decided to buy a house and settle down somewhere, I specifically wanted something small. I could have bought a villa but after a childhood in a castle, I wanted something manageable. A forest cottage on the edge of Livas was ultimately the choice.

The stone house was old and dilapidated when we first stepped into it. With some help, money, and tools, we fixed it up, but it's never completely finished. The stones and thatched roof are old, requiring endless amounts of attention. In winter, with the fireplace burning hard to keep it warm, it still feels like you're standing outside in some places. It's far from perfect but everything we wanted.

The narrow hallway leads you directly to a wooden staircase on the left that takes you to the upper floor. Upstairs you'll find three doors. The right one is Elien's, the left one mine, and the middle one the bathroom.

I continue down the hallway that leads me to the living and dining room. The other door goes to the kitchen. The stone wall has a less artistic touch than the orphanage. Here, dried flowers of various colors hang on the wall, pots with green plants stand around, and paintings of vast green plains hang up. Elien has even added his own touch by hanging old tools by the stairs.

The old wooden floor creaks under my feet as I walk into the living room. The space is divided into two parts. The living area is on the left. The couch is the biggest mispurchase I've ever made. I had forgotten that Elien's feathers are black and sometimes fall out. The thing is covered with signs of claws and black feathers that I can never get out again. The white sheepskins that were originally on the floor I later replaced with black ones. Next to the couch are wooden tables with candles or a place to put your glass. There are plenty of plants too, from small to large.

In the middle of the room, against the wall, is the wide fireplace. The thing is the centerpiece of the room. The old wooden frame is decorated with plant-shaped carvings. On the mantle stand a few horse statuettes that Elien received from a woman for his work. In front of the burning fireplace are two comfortable armchairs from the same maker as those in the orphanage. They're almost identical, dark green with wooden armrests. Between the chairs stands a wooden table with a half-full bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

On the right side stands the wooden dining table. The robust piece of furniture is made of oak which gives it even more life. Under the table lies a beige carpet woven by a weaver Milly once visited with school. The four chairs are covered with white sheepskins, some with an extra brown cushion.

And Elien sits on one of those chairs.

With his black reading glasses on his nose, he looks up from the map where he was making notes with a pencil. Although Elien now has 100% more vision than he had, it's not optimal. Three years ago, when he finally mastered reading, it became clear that his close-up vision left much to be desired. With difficulty and after a year, I managed to convince him to buy reading glasses, but to this day he denies their necessity. It's very rare that he wears them, and you'll never see him with them outside.

I walk directly to the fireplace, grab the whiskey bottle, and pour a large glass. I barely look up at Elien before I take a sip and the liquid burns in my throat.

'Long day?' Elien asks as I turn toward him and take another sip.

'Yes,' I sigh and walk his way. I push the chair opposite him away slightly and let myself fall into it.

'Silver?' he asks and takes a sip from his own half-full glass of whiskey that was already beside him.

'No. The cheeath boy, Aishat. The paperwork is endless, especially because there's no direct reason of danger to take him in.' Elien nods, takes another sip, and puts his glass back.

'It is progress to have a cheeath, their magic and strength are powerful.' I nod.

'That's also why Alisha wanted it so badly. Though she emphasizes finding the girl even more, female cheeaths are stronger.' Elien silently picks up his pencil from the table. He lets it hover in his hand over the map until it stays above Runcast.

'Where's Alisha?' he asks without looking up.

'Working,' I answer and take a sip.

'You said that according to legend, that girl attacked her human parents in Runcast thirteen or fourteen years ago?' he asks. I nod, thinking about what Alisha said exactly.

'Then she must be seventeen or eighteen now,' Elien concludes, more to himself than to me. You'd think such a striking being and magic as that wouldn't just disappear, especially not around Runcast.

I take a new sip of my whiskey, watching how Elien moves the pencil point just above the paper along the surrounding villages of Runcast. He pauses briefly between the two smallest ones, his eyebrows furrowed, before putting the point on Lentier.

'She should be here, if she was taken in by someone there and started living there. Lentier is the only village at a distance that would be feasible for a four-year-old child and also the only one where she could have survived. It's a collection of farms with a small village center. The most dangerous things in that village are the watchdogs.' Elien puts his pencil back on the table, takes a sip of whiskey, and removes his reading glasses.

'Would you fly by Lentier to see if you can catch a glimpse of the girl's story?' I ask, looking into my little brother's black eyes. A small smile plays on his lips as he takes another sip of whiskey.

You might think his completely black eyes would be frightening and repulsive to women, at least that's what I had expected, but nothing could be further from the truth. The women are more than interested in his attention. Whether it's the hair, his personality, or something I don't see, I don't know, but if he tries, he could have someone different every day. Fortunately for me, Elien doesn't bring them home, so I don't know exactly how many there are.

'If you go visit Chanel.' I look at him in surprise.

'Chanel?' He nods and puts his empty glass back on the table.

'Yes, Chanel, our new queen. Someone from us needs to go gauge what she's planning and whether our heads are back on the chopping block.' Of course, I had thought of this myself but I had skillfully been putting it off. The last time I set foot in that castle was when we invaded, eight years ago. I decided then that I would only take a step inside there for the absolutely necessary. Diana and Galen gave me no reason to visit, so I never had to do it. I only had to send a letter and whatever I wanted was arranged within an hour.

Whether Diana's bastard daughter will cooperate just as easily remains to be seen.

'Why don't you go?' I make an attempt. Elien looks at me with raised eyebrows.

'You're joking, I hope?' Sighing, I take the last sip of my whiskey. Elien is suitable for a good number of things but politics absolutely not.

'Fine, I'll go visit Chanel but then you go to Lentier.' With a satisfied smile, Elien gives a nod.