The Shadow King, Kallias, moved through the crowd like a predator through tall grass. He was physically unreachable—swathed in a literal aura of shadows that kept everyone at a five-foot distance. To touch him was to die, or so the rumors claimed. To Alessandra, it was simply a puzzle to be solved.
Alessandra didn't flinch. She turned to find the King's Master of Guard, a man whose eyes were as cold as the floorboards. "It’s hard not to stare at a man who wears darkness like a cloak. Tell me, does he ever actually touch the ground, or does the abyss carry him everywhere?" The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
"He touches nothing he doesn't intend to destroy," the guard replied. The Shadow King, Kallias, moved through the crowd
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed his handsome, pale features. The shadows recoiled slightly, reacting to his internal shift. For a second, the barrier thinned. To Alessandra, it was simply a puzzle to be solved
"Perhaps your darkness just hasn't met the right kind of light," she countered, her hand hovering inches from the barrier of ink-black smoke. "Or perhaps you're just lonely up there on your pedestal of gloom."
"And I," Alessandra whispered, leaning into the freezing cold of his aura, "am the girl who is going to help you rule them. Or take them from you. I haven't quite decided yet."
That night, she didn't wait for an invitation. As the music swelled into a haunting cello melody, she stepped into his path. The shadows around him hissed, rising like cobras.