Free Shadowplay by Laura Lam Page A

I leaned back, but decided to take advantage of his talkative mood. “You haven’t told me your story yet, you know.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “My story?”
    “Well,” I began, hesitant. “I only know you were born Drystan Hornbeam. I don’t know why you left university, or how you know Maske.”
    He did not answer for so long that I did not think he would. “Do you realize, Micah, that despite all you’ve seen, even recently, you’re still remarkably sheltered?”
     “You don’t know all that I’ve seen,” I said, churlish, though I knew that in many ways he was right.
    He laughed. “I would not assume to. But I have a feeling you have not truly seen the dregs of Imacharan society.” He sighed and turned to me, the candlelight playing on the angular planes of his face, the circles under his eyes. Though he hid it well, he still suffered. As did I, but I had not killed a man. Though I had blinded men.
    As Gene, I would have hugged my friend Anna without a second thought when she was upset. I’d not touched Drystan often, except during the pantomime and that night everything fell apart. How often did boys hug each other? My arms stayed heavy at my sides.
    I did not tell him to forget it, that I did not need to know. Because I did.
     We stared at each other, his blue eyes boring in to mine.
    “Do you want the long version or the short version?” he asked.
    “The long one,” I whispered.
    He sighed, composing his thoughts.
    “I was raised with the best of everything,” he began. “And I was a rotten child.”
    It was at odds with the Drystan I knew.
    “It took an embarrassingly long time before I realized that the world did not, in fact, revolve around me. This happened when I was sixteen and about to start at Snakewood.”
    My age. The six years between us seemed impossibly far. And sixteen was a young age to start at the Royal University, which was notoriously selective in its exams.
    “What happened?”
    He shrugged. “I liked a girl, or thought I did. Linda Aspen. She was a pretty thing – long dark hair and blue eyes. I decided I’d court her, and my parents approved of the match. Thought it would be easy. Nothing challenged me, you see. My marks from the tutors were nothing but praise, and I did well at hunting and court dances. I had friends from the best families.”
    “Sounds like you were a plonker.”
    He laughed. “Oh, I was. You would have hated me.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Definitely. I gave Linda the best gifts – the finest chocolates from Byssia, bouquets of sugared flowers from Linde. I thought she’d be mine by month’s end.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “Yech.” Not that I’d been courted much as Gene, but I knew enough that it would not have turned my head. Though if it had been Drystan… I quelled that thought. “Didn’t work, did it?”
    “She was unmoved by my affections.” He winked. “This, of course, made me think that the answer was simple: more gifts.”
    I groaned. “You cad.”
    “You’re fond of insulting me tonight.”
    I pushed his shoulder. “I’m not insulting you now , I’m insulting you then .”
    “Of course. But yes, I gave her more gifts. Asked her to dance at all the balls. Came to her house unannounced and asked her to walk with me in the park.”
    “Good grief – you stalked her?”
    “I didn’t stalk her! Alright, maybe slightly. I thought it was romantic.”
    “Stalking is never romantic.”
    “True enough. Once, just the once, she accepted my invitation to walk in the park. And I thought I had her.”
    “Uh oh,” I said.
    “Indeed. She only walked with me to tell me to leave her alone. She turned and walked away, leaving me stupefied in the middle of the park.”
    “Poor little Drystan.”
    “You won’t feel too sorry for him. Poor little Drystan made a spectacle of himself.”
    “You didn’t.” I leaned toward him.
    “Oh, but I did. I yelled and stomped after her. Everyone turned to stare, and it was a fair summer’s day.