Shadowbook

Chapter 10: Love

"𝔜𝔬𝔲'𝔯𝔢 𝔤𝔬𝔫𝔢. 𝓘 𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔰. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝑦 𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔱 𝔪𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔡𝔞𝔯𝑘 𝔴𝔞𝑦𝔰. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝑦 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔡 𝔬𝔣𝔣 𝔪𝑦 𝔭𝔞𝔦𝔫. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝑦 𝔪𝔞𝑘𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔪𝑦 𝔱𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔰. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔰 𝔠𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔢. 𝔚𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝑦𝔬𝔲! 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔤𝔬𝔫𝔢. 𝓘 𝔯𝔢𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔪𝑦𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔣 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔯𝑘𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰..." - 𝔉𝔯𝔬𝔪 "𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔰 𝓒𝔞𝔩𝔩" 𝔟𝑦 𝔏𝑦𝔫𝔷𝔦 𝔅𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔢𝔯 

"Astor!" I cried, turning around sharply.

I'd somehow forgotten just how beautiful he was. His eyes were wide and dark in the dim light, with a thin ring of purple iris. His skin was so pale it looked ghostly, unreal. His misty folds floated delicately, seeming to melt right into the darkness around him. His long, dark hair fluttered in the cool night breeze. His silvery lips looked so soft...

"Astor..."

"You just faced a Decision, did you not?" He sat down beside me. His wings stretched out behind him, like a cape. "Nyx, be honest with me: Are you afraid of me?"

I sighed. "I just... I... I thought you would suck out my soul!"

"I am so sorry," Astor moaned. "I should not have shown you a hunt! You were not ready. 'Tis so normal to me... I forget what it must have looked like to you."

"No, Astor, I needed to see. I needed to see who you really are."

"You know very little about me. You know very little about my society, my lifestyle, and why we live and act the way we do. I want to teach you, Nyx. I want to share my life with you. I thought that was obvious, but then again, I suppose I forgot how the Conscious mind works. I neglected to see things through your eyes, to understand that you cannot yet recognise my sincerity. I thought that I was making it so clear that I loved and trusted you by giving you my folds; I forgot that you would not understand that gesture."

"I was honored! I know how important your folds are to you."

My folds are a part of my soul, and the source of my power! To lose them would leave me very vulnerable." He held his folds tighter around his body as he spoke. "I do not trust anyone with my folds except my parents, and yet I trusted you. I literally handed you my power, my protection, my history, fears, desires and secrets! Any Shadow would recognise that as a gesture of perfect love and perfect trust, or foolishness. I thought that in giving you my folds, I was making it obvious that I trusted you and would not hurt you. Of course, it would not come across that way to a Conscious person. I should have known."

"Astor, your sister said that —"

Astor gritted his teeth. "My sister! She went to talk to you? Of course she would! She tried to convince you that I was going to hurt you!" He was suddenly frustrated, talking fast. "Jasmine rarely hunts! When she does, she just finds a sleeping Conscious person, sucks some of their Elixir, and leaves. That takes all the fun out of it!" He tossed his head and scoffed. "Shameful!" I started laughing. "So, she tried to warn you about me. Why does she care?"

"No, Astor, she just came by to see who I was. I asked her if she thought you would prey on me."

Astor paused, and then sighed. "Oh Nyx... Nyx, I am so sorry. Hunting is all I know how to do. I have never legitimately courted a girl before, let alone a Conscious one. Admittedly, I was hunting you, but without malicious intent. Seeing me hunt Karrine must have made everything worse. My sister is right. I am such an idiot. I suppose it is— perfectly understandable why you thought I would prey on you."