“Babe, put on a robe. Something warm. As much as I detest you covering up your body, I don’t like you cold.”
At least he didn’t realize she was affected by his arctic reaction. She slid off the bed and made her way to the walk-in closet, grateful she could keep her back to him. She needed the respite. Why was it that she was the one so distressed and he seemed so in control? Pulling the longest, thickest robe she owned from its hanger, she slipped into it.
As she came out of the closet and approached the bed, she noticed the wall where the night-light shone. A single shadow danced there. When she looked closer, she realized it was two shadows intertwined. Her shadow. His. The two shadows were bound together by a million threads. Not threads. Veins. Arteries. Something else. She couldn’t quite figure it out. Even so, more ropes seemed to be knotting around both of them, rapidly tying them together.
She stared at the strange phenomenon for some time, long enough that Valentino turned his head to look as well.
“Weird, isn’t it?” she finally said. “People are bound to notice that.”
“It will eventually fade,” he said. “With enough ropes, according to the story, it will fade if we both have an absolute commitment to each other.”
Emmanuelle sat on the bed again, studying his face. He sounded like he was telling the truth, but really? That was insane. “That can’t be true. Our shadows will fade from the wall and not be seen by others if we both equally commit to our relationship.” She did her best to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
“I’m only telling you what I translated, baby. I thought it was a crock of shit, too, but so far, everything that damn thing said has been right on point, so I would venture to say the shadow fades if we both commit.”
She tapped out a rhythm on her thigh, keeping her focus. “What else, Val? What is the dark part of the fairy tale? What happens if I try to run? How do you keep me in line?”
He sighed. “I don’t. I wish it were up to me. I’d drag you back and put you in my bed. Keep you there until we figured it out. You don’t like something I do, baby, you tell me, we fix it. That’s how it works. We talk about it. You don’t run from me.”
“Val.” She tried to sound stern when for some inexplicable reason she wanted to laugh. She pushed her knuckles into her mouth to muffle any errant sound. He really would chase her, drag her back and think they would find the answer in bed. Maybe they would. They talked about important things better in bed than anywhere else. “If you aren’t the one keeping me in line if I run, who is?”
There was a long silence. His features darkened. He turned his head slowly toward the wall where their shadows were tied so tightly together. There was something about the way Valentino turned his head, slow, stealthy, almost as if he didn’t want to be noticed, a predator watching a predator.
Emmanuelle frowned as she observed the shadows. What was it Val was trying to point out to her? The shadows weren’t in any way normal, but then this entire Saldi mythology with the capture of her shadow with ropes hadn’t been from the start. She narrowed her eyes and watched intently as the two shadows interacted. They mimicked Val’s movements as well as hers, yet there were a few spontaneous movements of their own, as if they were separate entities.
She blinked rapidly. That wasn’t possible. She kept her gaze fixed on the shadows as she inched closer to Valentino for comfort. This time a chill encompassed her entire body. Something very sinister was happening right there in the sanctuary of her home. In her bedroom. In the haven of her shadows. Her lip trembled, and she bit down hard to stop it.
Val reached over and pulled her right onto his lap. He often did that, so she cuddled into him, never taking her gaze from the shadows on the wall. She realized every movement she made, her shadow followed, same with Val’s. Once they settled together, so did the two shadows. That was when the spontaneous movements began again. It wasn’t her shadow moving by itself; it was his alone. Each time the shadow jerked or took a step on its own, it seemed threatening. Menacing. Evil, even. She didn’t know why, because when the shadow interacted with hers, it was just the opposite, loving and sweet.
“How can it do that? Why is it doing that?” She whispered the question, reaching up to hook one arm around Valentino’s neck. She wanted to climb inside him. The thing freaked her right the hell out.