His mouth flattened into a line. “I assumed as much.That is not ideal.”
“I don’t know how much time you have before they come to claim you.”
“I cannot be claimed, for I have already given all of myself away.”
I flapped my hand dismissively, refusing to let the weight of that statement settle on my shoulders. “You know what I mean.”
“Tomorrow. We will have tea. Your cottage.”
“Okay. Tea. Sure. What will you do until then?” I pulled the key to his cell out of my pocket and twirled it idly in my fingers. He watched the movement with rapt attention.
“Do not worry about that, wife.”
I slipped the key into the lock and turned it. The latch opened with an audible click that was deafening in the quiet of the dungeon. Brambleby returned to my feet, and I scooped him back up into the sling. I did not pull the cell door open—he would have to do that on his own.
“Tomorrow, then,” I said, feeling suddenly shy.
He nodded.
His eyes burned into the back of my head as I departed.
The sensation lingered.
CHAPTER 34
Shade
The critters of the forest were slowly growing used to my presence.
They still scattered once they sensed me, of course, but eventually, they returned.
I sat on a fallen log and stared off into the night, enjoying the way the darkness cloaked me, clung to me like a second skin.
I was stitching my past together like a patchwork quilt.
Erebus. The God of Shadows. The name rang with familiarity, resonated in my bones, hummed in my blood.
I had been… away… for a long while. Years. Centuries? Eons? Averylong while.
How long had it been since I last walked the realm with the mortals? Had I ever? The memories were hazy. Cloaked in fog. Drenched in shadows.
I was sent away. We all were. To that dark, dark place.
Wedidn’t go willingly.
But why?
My brain squeezed painfully as I stretched it.
The shadows grew more responsive, as though they too were becoming used to my presence. They were remembering me as their commander.
They were an extension of my very being, even if they didn’t know it yet.
I closed my eyes and breathed through the darkness, drawing it in, letting it whisper to me.
A small wisp of darkness shared sweet secrets.
Ginger was sleeping in her cottage with her dragon curled up at her side. Her room was dark, saturated in shadow. If I strained, I could almost see her in my mind’s eye.
