Bride of Shadows - Night IV (Heretic) - Excerpt

In both routes of Night IV you'll wake from a nightmare and into a bond check. Whichever RO you have the highest bond with will be the one who is waiting for you when you wake, though the Heretic route will offer an opportunity to get quite tactile. If you strike the right notes, your choices could lead somewhere downright sinful. Here's a PG-13 snippet from the elusive Valdricht route. This passage follows the rather bold choice to "✧ Stay" in Valdricht's arms after you stumble into him. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to mind. Romantic +3 required.

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"I had a nightmare," you explain. "It felt so real. Like I'd woken up, but I couldn't see anything. I knew I was here in the tent, but I wasn't alone. It was..."

You pause, trying to think of how to explain the logic of dreams.

Valdricht asks, "Why did you call my name?"

Heat creeps over your cheeks. "I did?"

"You talk more in your sleep than you do in your waking hours. Granted, you do sleep a lot."

You arch your head back to regard him, then wonder if it's possible to simultaneously regret something and revel in it. Valdricht is looking down at you, his face perilously close to your own.

Whereas before everything seemed disjointed, the waking world is now glaringly interconnected. With each fall of his hard chest, he exhales warm air through his parted lips. A corner of those same lips slants as you hold his gaze, while the thick curtain of his dark lashes dips low. Rather than dampening the gleam of his crystalline eyes, the shadows accentuate their glow, making them appear luminous.

Your own body has become tethered to his. It isn't just his hands, still firmly gripping your waist. It's also how your hands move up to rest on his arms, and how your fingers curve around his wrists, returning his gentle pressure with that of your own. It's how holding his gaze makes your heart beat forcefully, each drumlike pulse reverberating through your body, rousing forbidden places. It's how your breath now rises and falls in tandem with his, as if you were not two separate beings, but two halves of a single entity finally settling into place.

Valdricht says, "Continue staring at me like that, and I will tell you of the dream you roused me from."

Your face falls. "I woke you up?"

He gives you an affirmative hum. "Nei prysvel. Worry not. I sleep lightly, unlike that one." He nods toward Serax, who's now snoring. "He once slept through a blaidvari raid. Only the scent of their blood was enough to wrest him from his slumber."

"Blaidvari?" you ask.

His gaze intensifies, the barest crease marring the smooth skin of his brow. "You aren't the least bit Nazralti."

Not a question, just a statement, but you answer all the same. "I already told you, I'm from The Summer Isles."

"Indeed," he says. "You must be relieved to be in the native lands of your people."

Your nose wrinkles. "I'm only half-shadewalker, and neither half of me appreciates this climate."

"I have noticed," he says, eyes flickering with amusement. "I spent the moonday listening to the chattering of your teeth."

You twist in his hold, just a little. Enough to settle comfortably in his lap and rest the side of your head against his chest. You talk as you do so, hoping he doesn’t notice how familiar you're being with him.

"It wouldn't be so bad if I had proper clothes. Which is not to say I am not grateful for what you and Serax have given me, only that I am considerably smaller than Serax, and his clothes make for an airy fit."

"I have noticed," he says in a manner that makes your skin prickle. "In Meyrrvik, I will buy clothing more appropriate for your diminutive stature."

"Diminutive?" You start to grin, but it quickly falters. "Why would you spend your coin on clothing a woman you'll be leaving behind?"

The firelight dims, casting shadows over Valdricht's face. "By that same logic, you might ask why I bothered to pull you from the ruins, to feed you, and to shelter you when it would have been far easier to leave you to your fate."

✧ Express your gratitude. (Proper +)

✧ Ask why he didn't leave you. (Inquisitive +)

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I love how Valdricht's mention of his dream goes right over the MC's head. Things only get cozier from here. Check back in a couple days for a Pious route excerpt with Serax and be on the lookout for the weekly progress report on my new blog, Mortish Writes. I'll be posting that tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm also cooking up ways to deliver some fun Bride of Shadows content in between updates. Wyransith translations seem pretty in-demand.

-Mortish