Free Shadow Hunt by Erin Kellison Page B

bully with a monster’s strength.
    Cam had known what she was capable of. He’d known a long time ago, way back when he’d first met that angel who’d put the two parts of her together. He’d been very careful with her ever since; it was time she was careful too.
    She could not kill like this. Cam was right: the act would loose her shadow. A year ago the shadow had been dangerous; now it was deadly.
    When Cam let go of her, she kept back.
    He rolled the hilt of the knife between his hands and started forward. Ellie didn’t need to look at him to know his expression, those black eyes burning with magic; she could see a reflection of it in Slight’s fear.
    And then Slight shivered and fell back on the earth with a hard, hollow thunk .
    Her shadow tried to reach him but was stopped by a barrier. Cam tried too, reaching a hand out before him and quickly pulling back as if singed. The wards.
    When Slight stood up, tears flowed down his face.
    Gunnar Martin had opened his wards to the stray, which he must have done in the past so that Slight could train. But this was different. Slight had been protected by an act of Martin House, when Martin would never stoop to protect a stray. A House protects its own, which meant Slight was a stray no more. It was a mage fairy tale come true.
    Cam turned abruptly, looking into the trees, as something bit Ellie on the shoulder; a mean sting of pain, followed by a numb coolness that quickly spread across from her arm and neck to her mind. She fell, surprised at how cloud soft the ground was and how the world continued to move after she’d stopped.
    Cam leapt to shield her, hoarsely shouting, “Help us! Help us!”
    She knew he was calling to his invisible fae. He could see them, but her very smart man didn’t seem to comprehend that they weren’t actually there. Cam himself had explained to her the symbiosis between the Other world and this one; they coexisted yet remained divided. Why was it so hard for him to understand now?
    The coolness spreading within muted her thoughts so that the scene before her was almost abstract.
    A mage—Nial, if she remembered correctly—emerged from the trees and bound Cam with snakes of black magic, pulling him thrashing to the ground. She witnessed only a little of the attack before Cam fell out of sight behind her. Her shadow hadn’t defended him.
    She arched her neck to see her shadow, knowing exactly what she’d find. Her darkest, deepest self was as transparent as a ghost, a weak wisp of air, and would dissipate utterly . . . now . . . as her consciousness drifted.

Chapter 6
    Ellie wouldn’t wake. Whatever drug they’d used to knock her out had been strong. It didn’t help that they’d thrown her unconscious body on the floor of their suite before locking them in. She had a bump the size of a walnut forming on her forehead. Cam had tucked her in bed, but the pallor of her skin had him very worried.
    He paced. Of course they would knock her out. They’d figured out that the only way to stop the shadow was to incapacitate Ellie. Cam had once been forced to do the same, though he’d used even more drastic means.
    Anyone could see the separation between Ellie and her shadow, and know the latter for the impulsive, id-born part of Ellie, while she herself was analytical, reasonable, even-tempered. Strong emotion was the one thing that united the two parts. Only someone who’d watched how the shadow worked would understand the key to defeating it.
    The Martins had studied Ellie. They’d taken the lessons at the Seminary to heart and had used them to distract the shadow with Slight. No direct attack would work. Strike at Ellie herself, and the shadow would self-defend. But distract the shadow with blinding emotions like grief and bloodlust, and Ellie was left defenseless.
    Two days and the Martins had rendered Ellie vulnerable.
    Had they made their point? Would they let them go?
    The day wore on. Light was overtaken.
    Cam’s eyes burned with