Page 34 of Taken to the Shadow Realm

“You don't have to apologize to me. You don't have to apologize at all. I just—” She cut off, her lips pressing together in a thin line. “I wanted you to be safe. I was worried about you.”

Her admission caused my heart to soar.

“You finished early,” I said, trying to change the subject as uneasiness unfurled in my stomach.

Her eyes searched my face before she nodded.

“Your friend is doing well. It seems like you're not the only human who has found a better life in the demon realms,” she told me as she looked into my eyes. “I daresay my friend is quite enamored with her.”

“Does that mean you are enamored with me?” I asked, batting my eyelashes. A whisper of a smile spread across her lips.

“More than you would ever realize,” she admitted. “I never felt this way about anyone, let alone a human.”

My throat closed, and tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

“You barely know me,” I whispered.

Her clawed hand reached out to run her fingers through a stray strand of my hair.

“My shadows accepted you as one of their own,” she said. “No one else has ever been able to see them or interact with the souls the way you can. I am not sure I believe in the Fates, but I will not ignore the signs. You did not stumble into my arms by accident. You asked me once why I picked you, and there’s no real reason except that I felt you. You hadn’t even come on stage yet, and my shadows were already telling me about you. Like you were meant for me.”

I couldn’t take it. Not when she was looking at me so sincerely. I can’t trust it. Who in their right mind, demon or not, would want someone like me? Especially after knowing me for such a short period?

I wanted more than anything to believe it. I yearned for a love like the one she was promising… but the voices of Mother and Father were swirling around my head, reminding me I would never get it.

I stepped away from her, looking down at the ground with my heart pounding in my chest.

“I’m hungry,” I muttered.

She was silent for a moment before she wrapped her arm around me and pulled me back toward the house.

“Okay,” she said in a tone softer than I had ever heard from her. “Let’s go inside, hm?”

Yien

My little human needed space.

As soon as I saw the smile slide off her face, I knew that I had gone too far.

It didn't matter if I already knew what she felt. Or that I could feel the way she relaxed against my shadows. I hadn't lied when I told her that no one had ever been accepted by them or allowed to see the souls’ memories.

Maybe it was too soon. Or maybe it was too hard to hear.

But I could wait. For her, I would wait an eternity. I would give her as much space as she needed, no matter how much it pained me.

In the meantime, I had things to do.

I had been agonizing over Allura. Desperately trying to think of ways she might still be alive.

But with each passing day, I found myself more and more angry.

Angry that I hadn’t noticed. Angry that I hadn’t been able to stop it. Angry that I hadn’t been more motivated to find out what happened.

I let myself materialize from the shadows into a room that felt like it should have been the dining hall. But where a long table with hundreds of chairs should have stood, there was a large bed placed snugly against the wall instead.

A fireplace was off to the left and floor-to-ceiling windows to the right.

Everything looked expensive. From realms other than this one. Everywhere I looked, the entire room was drenched in wealth. Like every other royal, the twins were no exception—they loved to show off the absurd amount of money they had in every facet of their lives.

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