Free The Dark of Twilight (Twilight Shifters Book 1) by Kate Danley Page B

fear.  It was the first time she had ever seen him scared of anything.
    Aein hung her head.  "I am afraid you have fallen prey to the curse of the stronghold."
    Finn seemed to be at a loss for words, and then finally he spoke.  "Am I one of them?" he asked.  "Is that the reason I have not been able to remember what happened between sunset and sunrise today?"
    Aein nodded.  "It is true."
    Finn, for all his strength, for all of the power he held as a warrior, at that moment he seemed to crumble.  He jumped up and turned away so she could not see the tears which she knew were flooding down his face.  Instead, she only witnessed the rise and fall of his shaking shoulders and a few muffled sobs into his clenched fist.  She waited, allowing him the time to overcome his emotions.
    He wiped his face and then turned back to her.  "Do you think that there are people who fell to me?  Did I kill my own people?" he asked.
    Aein glanced up at the treetops around them, thinking of how close he came to killing her.  How he had chased she and Princess Gisla through the stronghold.  How they had barely escaped.  Her silence was the answer Finn was looking for.
    "You believe I did."
    "No!" she replied quickly.  "No.  I think...  I think you escaped the stronghold this morning before you had a chance.  You were out here..."
    The silence hung between them again.  Finn looked up at the tree, at her sword, at her arrows upon the ground.  "...I was out here stalking you," he said, finishing her sentence.
    "You did not know what you were doing," she assured him.  She was making nervous flapping motions as she searched for the right words.  "You could not stop yourself."
    He came over and knelt beside her, taking her hands in his as the last rays of light faded from the sky.  He could not meet her eyes, he was so full of shame.  "I am sorry," he apologized.
    She took her palm and let it rest it on his cheek, forcing him to look at her, just as he had forced her to live the night before.  "I would not have survived without you," she said, willing him to hear her, to understand her.  "And I need you now to help me stay alive."
    "I..." 
    "It is your duty," she said, throwing down the last card she had to play.
    He rose and nodded.  He walked over and picked up her arrows and her sword.  She stood to meet him halfway, hobbling slightly on her turned ankle.  He caught the movement and she could see another wave of guilt wash over him.
    "I just need to walk it out," she stated, unwilling to allow him any more self-pity.  She snatched the bundled shafts and dumped them into her quiver.
    He turned the sword towards her, offering her the hilt.
    "Last time you offered a lady a sword, it did not end well," she tried to joke.
    Instead, it flared up more worry in his eyes.  "The Princess Gisla?"
    "She is alive," said Aein, taking the sword gently.  "Alive, but... cursed."
    He gritted his teeth and kicked the ground angrily before he asked, "How do you know for sure?"
    "Do you remember last night, we were together in that chapel?"
    "I remember," he said.
    "She was the one who chased us."
    "Oh," he said.  He rubbed the palms of his hands into his eyes.  "But she lives?"
    "She saved me," said Aein.  "She was safe in the stronghold the last I saw her.  She will have changed back to wolf with the sunset, though."
    "And the others?  How many casualties?"
    "I do not know.  When the sky changed, there was a moment where we thought those who were wolves were now people and it was safe.  I think many, like us, rushed to see who survived.  Only..."
    "...only once they were together, out of hiding, they were in prime position to kill their most loved one."
    Aein nodded. 
    Of all the impressions she had of Finn, intelligence was the strongest.  She could almost see the moment the last puzzle piece fell into place.  The last piece was Aein.
    "Do you change?" he asked her.
    She shook her head.  "No."
    "Why not?"
    Aein stabbed the ground