I sighed. “Exactly what I’m talking about. Everyone makes mistakes; it’s just how it works.”
He shrugged while continuing to lead me through the library toward the Earth hallway. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sunshine. I was designed this way by the universe, a perfect predator.”
And where was the lie? Whatever his role to fill in this world, he appeared to be doing a fantastic job at it. He’d created a damn subgroup of humans when he’d merged us with animal souls. Who else could herald a claim to fame like that?
“Just don’t expect me to start kissing your ass,” I muttered. “You’re still the enemy.”
This time it was an actual grin, wicked and tantalizing. “Oh, yeah, Sunshine. You’ve made that very obvious. Except last night when you were screaming my fucking name.”
Jesus. My thighs clenched again, but I didn’t blush—I would not give him the satisfaction. There was something that had to be said about my time in Faerie, though.
“Thanks for helping me,” I told him seriously. “I don’t remember everything, but the pain before was really memorable.”
He paused in the white hallway. “It was my fault that I hadn’t checked the Fae calendar before I decided to use it as a safe zone. It was up to me to fix my mistake.”
My smile was bright enough to blind a person. “All I heard there was that you’re not quite as perfect as you seem to think.”
He shook his head, shoulders heaving as he let a rumble of laughter escape. “Don’t push it, pup. I could still kill you if the mood struck me.”
It was almost a joking threat at this stage. Not that he wouldn’t kill me, but he’d at minimum feel bad about killing me now, so we were making grounds in our relationship. And thankfully, what had happened on Faerie hadn’t sent us ten steps backward.
Denial was working out pretty well.
52
Shadow’s spell had been designed to draw all the creatures to the same place. Again, in the pack mountain area of Torma. “Why here?” I asked.
“Most of them were already here, of course,” he said shortly. “You being the shadow magnet that you are.”
Gah, there was such a double meaning to that now, and I again forced yesterday from my mind. It had been a one-time deal. One fucking time. I needed to wrap my head around that and move the heck on. Maybe if I continued to repeat it, my traitorous body would finally get on board.
“I hope one day I figure out what it is about me that bypasses the normal rules that govern you and that land,” I murmured.
Shadow just shot me an unreadable look, but there was no time to reply because we had arrived at shadow creature central.
“Holy shit balls,” I said, my breath catching in my throat at the sight of dozens or more creatures captured in a huge circle of fire they couldn’t seem to cross. Shadow’s fire was as badass as he was. “There’re so many!”
He nodded. “Yeah, it seems that this time, you opened a multitude of doorways from the realm. Thankfully, in the high echelons, you appeared to only release Igorna and the two hunters, so the rest shouldn’t be too much headache.”
“What happened with Igorna?”
Shadow’s face wreathed in dark satisfaction. “After a little convincing, he’s having a bit of a nap in one of the cells.”
Nap… Yeah, sure, that sounded plausible.
“How are we going to get them back? To their world?” It was starting to become a larger issue with so many of them on this side of their door now.
Shadow’s expression turned introspective. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the last few days. At first, I was focused on getting the doorway open, but now… What if we’ve been looking at it the wrong way? The spell on the door is clearly no barrier for you since you keep opening your own temporary portals into Shadow Realm. If we figure out how, there’s a chance you can act as a conduit, and a more permanent doorway might be established. Then I can use my power to return the creatures, and maybe even follow as well.”
I nodded as I let the idea marinate in my brain. “Yeah, we haven’t tried that before. It feels like I might have more of an idea how to do that than getting around the spell on the door.”
Shadow’s lips tilted just enough to give him a sinister look. “Once I destroy the one who created the spell, the door will no longer be barred. I just have to get into the realm first.”
He’d have his revenge, and I’d be thrown aside, no longer any use to him.
Hopefully, there’d be more than a shell left of me when that happened, because it was clear that Shadow would do almost anything to achieve his ultimate goal and seek his revenge.
There was no more time to stress on it, because he was striding across the rocky ground toward the creatures. It didn’t really snow much in Torma, but we still had cold snaps, and judging from the iced ground, it had to be close to the winter solstice. Which meant…
