Dakkar

Extract/Sneak Peek

“You are going to leave me aren’t you?” Ulliel asked abruptly. He cast his eyes down to the floor, unwilling to read the truth in Shiane’s face. He wanted her to lie to him, but he had been brave enough to bother asking – why ask at all, if not to find out the truth?

“No,” she answered honestly. “No, I will not leave you.” Her words were true and the essence of this truth rang out. Ulliel’s relief was measurable in the sag of his shoulders. He seemed to suck in a breath so deeply that Shiane wondered how long he had gone without air.

“I love you, Shiane. You know that don’t you? I love you and our child,” he told her earnestly and yes, she knew it, but she also knew what was coming. She might not be leaving him, but he was certainly about to leave her.

“I love you too, Ulliel. At first I thought you had sought me out to complete the prophecy, but the second you looked into my eyes everything else just disappeared. Even if I wasn’t carrying our child, even if you went away and tried to secure a male heir with someone else, I would still love you.”

“That will never happen,” he insisted.

“I know. But I also know it is your responsibility to do so.”

“No. There is only you. Perhaps, eventually, we will have others . . . more children to join with Aletheia? You never know what the future holds.” Shiane barked a cough and raised a single brow. Ulliel realised his mistake and laughed as he spoke, “Okay, maybe you do, my little prophetess.”

Shiane nodded and shuffled over to their fire. The black Summoner’s flames danced in the hearth, casting shadows around the witchlights. She pulled a pot of stewing roots off the hook and poured them each a small bowl full. Ulliel took her hand, led her outside into the ever-dark outlands, and sat her carefully down upon a pile of old cushions. He liked being outside and now, with the warmth of her new cloak, Shiane found she minded it less.

“What will you show me tonight?” she asked, brushing a drop of soup from his chin.

“How would you like to see the stars?” he responded, his face as lit up as a child’s might be upon their birthday.

“I should like that very much.” Shiane watched as he summoned a pool of shimmering light over their heads. They were not real stars—the real ones were lost to the orb, hidden behind the poisoned sky—but it was a facsimile of them, a vision pool suspended in the air.

Shiane thought it fitting that they look at the twinkling light of the stars tonight, just as they had on their wedding night. It was a perfect circle. Their first night together and their last; their love bracketed by twinkling stars.