“And win we did, Sunshine,” he said, breath brushing over my skin.
Dammit, there he went again. Who would have guessed that my Shadow Beast was a secret romantic? Very,verydeep down.
53
We were on a countdown clock, and since I wasn’t too keen on Dannie busting out of her prison before I found the creatures and could wrest control of them back to me, I moved forward with a laser focus.
Shadow, true to his word, remained as a giant ball of fun at my side, silent and deadly, his attention on what lay ahead as well. The fact that he would soon take part in destroying his mother was not an ideal situation, but he would not hesitate or shirk his duties. He never had.
“Can you feel them?” he asked as we got closer to the castle entrance.
I hadn’t been inside this part of his home before, and I was curious to see what was on the other side. “I feel something. There’s a huge gathering of energy behind here,” I said as we paused at the massive entrance doors. They looked to be barred on our side with long, metal planks, and I wondered if the other side was the same, or if Dannie had just done this to tie the creatures in.
Shadow flicked his hands and the planks, which no doubt weighed a damn ton each, were jerked out of their cross-barred placement and flung into the fire-razed land behind us.
The doors opened easily, making it clear that the intention had been to lock them in, not keep someone out. Definitely the work of a Danamain.
When it was open, we stepped into a dark, dank room.
My eyes adjusted fast, but with the persistent low light of the realm now, there wasn’t a whole lot of free natural light to pick up the smaller details. To counter that, Shadow’s flames lit up, and I did the same. When it came to Dannie, it was safer to be totally sure we weren’t walking into any traps.
As soon as we had light, it was immediately obvious where the damp smell in this room came from. The front entrance was coated in what looked like moss, grey and brown moss that had grown across the walls and furniture before dripping down to coat the windows that lined this front entryway.
“Don’t let it touch you,” Shadow warned, his voice an annoyed snap. “It’s a lot like the tar that almost killed you last time we were in the realm. Only this is worse. The porous underside of this creature is filled with razor-sharp needles that dig into your skin to suck your energy out.”
“It shouldn’t infiltrate my skin now,” I reminded him, while still sidling closer because the thought of being coated in a layer of bitey moss… Yeah, no thanks.
“No risks, Sunshine. No more damn risks.”
I nodded because it was a good plan.
As we walked through slowly, I was relieved to see that the moss was wary of our fire and didn’t venture closer. It slid across the walls, showing just how quick it could move to attack any normal being entering or leaving this castle. A second layer of defense, in Dannie’s insane plan.
“She must have had a reason to keep the creatures locked in here,” I said softly, finally breathing freely once we’d made it past the entrance. “Something to do with her plan once she had the Nexus complete.”
“No doubt they would form part of her new world,” he said shortly, before focusing on the next obstacle in our way.
I did the same, eyeing the window-lined hall, which was clearly a thoroughfare into the rest of the castle. It looked fairly innocuous when we first stared down it, right up until Shadow sent a small ball of power along it and a bunch of arrows fired in unison.
“What the fuck?” I exclaimed, shaking my head. “This is due to all the times Dannie made me watchIndiana Jones. She loved the ancient booby traps.” The bitch had created her own pyramid of disasters to keep her prisoners in their cage. It was fitting that she herself was also in a cage.
Shadow wasn’t worried about this hall, his power shielding us as we walked along. This particular set of traps was definitely geared toward regular inhabitants of the realm, not those of us who were a touch more powerful.
“This is really not as impressive anIndian Jonesadventure as I expected,” I grumbled to Shadow as we made it through the hall. “Just… moss and arrows. Not very inventive.”
His chuckle was low. “One day, in the very near future,” he said, his deep voice a caress on my senses, “you and I will spend a week in bed, where I destroy your body, and in between, you can let me be part of this world of movies you enjoy. LikeIndiana Jones.”
I coughed. “I legitimately heard nothing after thedestroying my bodypart, but it doesn’t even matter what you said. My answer is yes. Always yes.”
“Now you’re getting it, Sunshine,” he said with a small smile.
Shaking my head to clear the lust from it, I focused again on what was awaiting us next, but it appeared that Dannie had run out of boring ideas after the first two.
The next room was an outdoor courtyard. In my head I was arranging the castle layout, seeing that the outer thoroughfare of a hall led around the outside, while at the center was this large, open space with no roof and plenty of room for recreational activities.
This was the gathering point for all who made their home here. Market stalls and socialization and parties. Made sense that this was where we’d find them—not just my creatures, but thousands of royals and freilds and other inhabitants.
I blinked at the sight, not expecting to see so many Shadow Realm beings here. And clearly, they returned the sentiment, gaping at the two fire-coated weirdos who had wandered into the middle of them.
