One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)

by Rachel Gillig

We’d only been apart an hour. Still, I couldn’t help but feel every time I saw Ravyn Yew, I was looking at a different man.

So n.u.a.n.c.e.d.

I felt drained—tired and alone, the jostling of the carriage making it impossible to rest. When I reached into the darkness, I felt for the Nightmare—searching for something familiar.

Such a trauma response

I trailed him with heavy steps, shooting daggers into his back. I wanted to shout, to break the glass of his control. But I could not find the words. The day had stolen them. And the night had buried them.

It was easier to hate him for being secretive and dishonest than admitting I hated myself for the same reasons. But I could not tell him that. I could hardly say it to myself.

Awww they're the same <3

His silence held an edge. It cut at my insides, a bitter sting. In my attempt to wound him, I had only injured myself. “That’s what I thought,” I snapped, slamming the door in the Captain of the Destriers’ face.

“Most of what we know of the Shepherd King we take from lore. His histories were destroyed, and none of his children survived to claim the throne. Brutus Rowan, his Captain of the Guard, became the next King of Blunder.”

Oof. That was a sledgehammer.

Something tightened deep in my stomach, watching him gloat.

Nothing really went anywhere with this emotion. I'm disappointed.

Strange, how quiet he felt when I was with Ravyn. Almost as if he was gone altogether. Almost. I felt him there in the darkness. When I nudged him, he stirred but did not speak, stretching his claws like a yawning cat before retiring deeper still into blackness.

What's with the cat motif?

“Small—seasonal. Oval, finely toothed leaves that yellow in autumn or, for some rarities, turn a deep blood red.”

Is this something to do with the yellow eyes? This didn't go anywhere. Disappointing.