Page 154 of When Death Whispers

I burst out laughing, the formality of it warming my heart at the same time as the determination hits my chest through the bond. “Steo, please. Just call it food.”

None of us have time to say another word before he returns with a solemn expression—and a fistful of mustard packets. Rad nearly chokes on a laugh.

Hudson, though, laughs outright. “Mustard? Seriously, dude? That’s usually Rad’s thing.”

Rad’s choking turns into a growl, but the bond betrays him, and I can feel amusement from two of the threads tethered to my heart. The third is unmistakable confusion.

Steo frowns, utterly sincere. “Human sustenance options are overwhelmingly complicated. I selected at random.”

My laugh bubbles over. Even Rad’s lips twitch.

The burrow glows brighter in response, the roots pulsing gently around us like they’re in on the joke.

“You know,” Hudson says, glancing around, “this makes us some kind of demonic breakfast club, doesn’t it?”

Steo blinks. “What is a breakfast club?”

I dissolve into helpless giggles.

Rad’s eyes glint. “Donotexplain it to him.”

I lean back against the moss and shadow and root. Steo’s solid form supports me from one side, regaining his earlier spot, Hudson’s warmth brushes my other side from where he kneels on the floor, and Rad finally stops looming and sits at my feet, his tail curling lazily near my ankle.

For once, I’m not afraid of what comes next.

“So… are we always going to feel each other now?” I ask.

Hudson nods. “Seems like it.”

Rad sighs. “Unfortunately.”

Steo’s voice rumbles like distant thunder—low, steady, absolute. “We will adapt. You belong to us. And now… we belong to you.”

I stare at them—all power, shadows, and fire.

“So… no more death attempts, right?”

A beat of silence.

Then, impossibly, Steo exhales. Not quite a sigh. More like a long-suffering release of air, as if even he can’t believe how far he’s fallen.

“If I gave the order now, my shadows would refuse me. They answer only to you.”

His gaze doesn’t waver. “I no longer command them. Not where you are concerned.”

Warmth spreads through my chest, curling into the cracks like sunlight. But doubt still lingers. “This is completely insane.”

Rad huffs, his lips twitching upward. “Welcome to our reality, Beholden.”

Hudson snorts. “We’ve got… an understanding now. Sort of. No more soul-ripping. No more shadow-choking.”

“For now,” Rad adds.

Steo’s shadows twitch, but his voice remains quiet. “She commands. We endure.”

And somehow, in the soft, glowing heart of the Evergloom—surrounded by monsters I never meant to love—insanity feels like the safest place I’ve ever been.

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