I buck into her, slowly at first and then faster as Raze picks up his own pace beneath our mate. Peri sways between us. Every little sound that works from her lips is the most precious delicacy I’ve ever consumed.
It doesn’t take long before I’m on the verge of bursting. I bow close, kissing her neck, her shoulder, and strumming her clit with all the skill I based my old reputation on.
Peri comes apart with a cry and a clench of her muscles around me. I can’t hold myself back from spilling over in turn.
Raze groans a few seconds later and arches up to lock Peri in the fiercest of kisses.
Our mate’s satisfaction radiates through me for my final few thrusts and our sagging together onto the bed. The mattress’s chill doesn’t nip at my wintery skin, but I force myself to press close to Raze so we can support Peri’s body off the cool surface between us.
“Mmm,” she says in a dreamy voice that almost makes me come all over again. “That was a good distraction.”
She cuddles close to us for a few minutes longer before she sighs. “We should be getting back. Gracie might already be awake.”
I suppress my impulse to argue. I’ve given Peri what I could. The last thing she needs is me holding her back out of fear.
I kiss her one last time and help her off the bed. We blink through the shadows into our clothes and emerge at the edge of the camp.
When we come into view of our cluster of trailers, I halt in my tracks. Shadowkind are rushing here and there in an apparent panic.
My gut knots. I dive toward one who’s slipping past us. “What’s happening?”
The being whirls around. Her voice is taut. “This warped atmosphere… It’s spreading on the shadow side too.”
22
Periwinkle
By the time we’ve found Rollick, I still haven’t wrapped my head around what we heard from his assistant.
“How can the shadow realm be warping?” I demand without preamble.
Rollick has a harried look that makes me suspect he wouldn’t mind if all of us warped to some other plane of existence. He rubs his face and manages a crooked smile. “We didn’t think the mortal realm could warp until these rifts started belching their shadows all over the place. All that matters is, they are.”
Hail frowns. “So, what, on the shadow-realm side of the rifts, they’re vomiting sunshine?”
It’s hard for me to imagine how beaming daylight could be a bad thing, but Rollick shakes his head anyway. “Not exactly. The shadowy atmosphere is thinning, which makes sense if you assume some of those shadows are being poured into this realm. And what’s left… is twisting. We’re hearing about the aggressive,morphing creatures rampaging on the shadow side now too. Strands of darkness are wrapping around beings like murderous seaweed. And the regular shadowkind, if they stumble too close to those twisting areas, have had their bodies warped too. In the worst cases…”
He stops, looking sick. I’ve never seen the demon so unsettled he’s lost his words.
“In the worst cases?” I prod tentatively.
His mouth tilts into a grimace. “We’ve gotten a few reports of beings actuallydyingin the shadow realm. Which shouldn’t be possible. In all my millennia, I’ve never heard of it happening. I trust the people who reported their observations to me, though.”
My heart stutters. “They’re just… completely fading away? And not coming back?”
Yes, that is what dying normally means, but it’s not something shadowkind normallydo. The one benefit of the shadow realm compared to the mortal world has always been that our essence can’t totally break apart when we’re at home in the shadows.
If that advantage is off the table… We might be in just as dire circumstances as the humans who evacuated the city.
What’s next—all the chocolate in the world turns into cow manure?
Rollick waves his hand dismissively, though his expression stays somber. “My associates are looking into the problem more closely. We may have more answers soon. The important takeaway is, we need to get those rifts closed as soon as possible.” He fixes his gaze on me. “The sorcerer’s daughter is awake and seems coherent. Why don’t you find out what brought her out here searching for you?”
Does he think Gracie might know something about the strange rifts? I don’t see how that’s possible when none of us hadany idea that they’d come or what they’d do, but it’s hard not to hope.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the answer to the biggest problems the world has ever faced dropped into our laps like a perfectly flung buttered croissant?
Okay, even I can tell that’s optimism on overdrive.
