Shadowed Read online

  “Oh, it’s not. Not really.” Xandra smiled brightly. “Although there is power in purity of spirit, which I can never again hope to possess myself.”

  “But I still don’t understand why you’re willing to help me.”

  “I…because I…”

  The witch began to shake. Her yellow eyes suddenly rolled up, showing only the whites, and her voice deepened to a strange sonorous tone.

  “Dark and Light

  Wrong and Right

  When one finds Peace

  The other may Fight

  Day and Night

  Growth and Blight

  One in Love

  The other in Flight

  Tied together

  Fate to fate

  Strangers, brothers

  Mate to mate

  Prisoners they no longer be

  When one is healed

  The other is free.”

  “What?” Reddix stared at her, wondering if she was having some kind of a seizure. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Xandra’s eyelids fluttered, and she suddenly looked normal again. Or as normal as a swamp witch with pale white skin, yellow eyes, and fingers with too many joints could look, anyway.

  “I beg your pardon, my dear Reddix. Where were we?”

  He frowned. “I was asking why you’re willing to help me in the first place.”

  “Oh. Because in this deal, I can’t lose.” The witch patted his cheek, or tried to—Reddix jerked away before she could touch him. “Tsk tsk, so skittish.” She shook her head. “Anyway, as I was saying, I can’t lose. If you return bringing the girl with the healing hands and I cure you of your RTS, I’ll have done a favor—one which I expect to be repaid—for the future Clan Overlord.”

  “And if I don’t?” he growled.

  Her yellow eyes glowed. “Then I’ll get to watch as the Clans that threw me out clash in a bloody civil war. I’ll get to watch as the Touch Kindred and all they love burn.”

  “Burn…as they burn…burn to ashes…”

  “Reddix? Reddix, wake up.” There was a sound like snapping above his face, and then someone patted his cheek, gently but firmly.

  Reddix flinched away from the touch instinctively. Despite the briefness of the contact, he could feel the concern of whoever had touched him like some warm, sticky syrup dribbling over his cheek. Ugh.

  Abruptly, he was awake, and the memory of his encounter with the witch dissolved. Only the stinging of the tiny lthss embedded in the flesh of his wrist remained. He shuttered. Gods, of all things to dream of…

  “Can you hear me?”

  “'Course I can hear you. I’m not fucking deaf.”

  Reddix forced his eyes open and saw a concerned face—a male with ice blue eyes and white-blond hair—leaning over, staring at him.

  He immediately felt naked. Where was his hood? He reached for something to cover his face but the other male stopped him.

  “Don’t. Your hood is safe, and I’m the only one here. I won’t touch you again except to examine you, and that will be very minimal, I promise.”

  “Who are you?” Reddix licked his lips with a tongue that felt like sandpaper. “Where am I? What happened?”

  The male smiled, and Reddix felt his amusement, tart-sweet at the tip of his tongue.

  “One question at a time,” he said. “I’m Sylvan, one of the physicians aboard the Mother Ship, and you’re in a private room in the Med Center.”

  Reddix frowned. “You still didn’t tell me what happened.”

  “You fell and bumped your head.” Sylvan frowned. “According to your friend, Saber, you lost consciousness well before that, though. Has this happened to you before?”

  “Once or twice,” Reddix said before he thought about it. Immediately, the other male’s concern increased, making him even more uncomfortable. Damn it, why hadn’t he lied? “I mean, not really, no,” he amended quickly.

  The blond physician frowned. “Mmm-hmm.” Clearly, he didn’t believe Reddix. “Saber tells me you have RTS.”

  “Yeah, but it’s under control.” Reddix started to sit up. “Can I go now?”

  “Not so fast.” Sylvan pushed him gently but firmly back down on the exam bed, and Reddix tried not to flinch from his touch. “How long have your symptoms been this advanced?”

  Reddix glared at him, but the other male simply looked back patiently. “We can stay here all day if you like. Or you can tell me what I want to know and go back to your guest suite a lot sooner.” His voice dropped to a gentler tone. “I just want to help you.”

  “Nobody can help me,” Reddix growled. “But if you have to know, my symptoms have been getting worse ever since Saber left Tarsia. As second in the line of succession, I’ve had to take on a lot of his duties. That means more public appearances, more council meetings, more of everything to do with other people.”

  “And that forced contact makes your symptoms worse?”

  “Having all those people staring at me, feeling about me, their emotions constantly Touching me…” Reddix shook his head. “Let’s just say it’s no fucking picnic.”

  “Hmm.” Sylvan nodded. Instead of pity or disgust, Reddix was surprised to feel the other male’s curiosity, marching like a line of insects along his skin. “And what are they feeling?” he asked.

  “What do you think they’re feeling?” Reddix snapped. “I’m an oddity to them—a freak. A freak who might wind up ruling them if anything happens to Saber. Now there’s an idea that stirs up strong emotions—none of them very Goddess damned pleasant, I might add.”

  “And the more emotion you’re forced to endure, the stronger your symptoms get. So how long have you been blacking out?”

  Reddix ran a hand through his hair, which was long and shaggy, in desperate need of a cut. “Just for the past solar month or two. It never lasts for long—I wake up feeling a little weak, but it passes. I’ll be fine—can I go now?”

  “Actually, you won’t be fine.” Sylvan’s ice blue eyes were filled with concern—so much so that a sticky film of it seemed to coat Reddix’s skin.

  “Please don’t,” he said thickly. “Don’t feel for me. If you have something to say, just say it.”

  Sylvan nodded. “All right. Reddix, I hate to tell you this, but the symptoms you’re experiencing are serious—very serious. I believe that your RTS has progressed to the point where it may very well be fatal.”

  Reddix took a deep breath and blew it out. “Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”

  Sylvan looked surprised. “You knew?”

  “You don’t get a disease like RTS and not research the hell out of it,” Reddix said. “I’ve looked for years for any kind of hope—any kind of a cure. But I also learned what could happen if it went too far. I know the blackouts aren’t a good sign.” He shrugged. “But what can I do?”

  “Slow down for a while,” Sylvan advised. “Stop the public appearances and council meetings. Take a break—your system needs a rest before it completely overloads.”

  Reddix shook his head. “Can’t do it. Now that Saber is gone and isn’t coming back, there’s no one else. I have to keep going.”

  Sylvan frowned. “If you do, you’ll die. The next time you black out, you might not wake up.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Reddix demanded, irritated by the worry and disapproval he felt coming from the other male. “But stopping isn’t an option. Besides, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine—I need to get back.”

  “Tarsia will keep turning without you for a little while longer,” Sylvan said gently. “I want to keep you here in the Mother Ship for at least one solar week—you can spare that much time, surely.”

  Reddix frowned. “I’ll give you two days.”

  “Four days,” Sylvan said grimly. “And that’s my final offer. I won’t clear you to fly until then.”

  “Clear me to fly?” Reddix frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? I came here in my own ship, and I’l