Page 6 of Shannon in Sombra

One is in his shadow form. His purple eyes shine out of the black shadows, the slightly hazy appearance making it difficult to recognize which of the doppelseers has come tonight.

The other male? He is the reason that we stand near the shadowy trees that back up to my home.

His colorless, white skin glows beneath the main moon almost as brightly as his unusual blue eyes. His crystalline crown twinkles softly, a hint of something delicate on a big, hard demon with sharp tusks and long, pale hair.

Duke Haures.

As the ruler of Sombra, he is welcome in every clan. Same with the powerful doppelseers. Apollyon would grovel in the ash to greet the duke if he knew he was here, but as we wait for the prophecy to unfold that was set into place as soon as the first-human, first-demon spawn was born, Duke Haures insists on keeping his cyclical visits between the four of us: the duke, the doppelseers, and me.

No. Five, including Alana.

From the moment she was born and Duke Haures realized that my daughter has no shadows inside of her, just like him, he’s taken a special interest in her. He’s convinced that she will develop a special gift as she ages. Haures is a bondmaster; he can sense, view, and break mate bonds with a whim. Even if she wasn’t the spawn mentioned in the prophecy, he’d be curious to see what my halfling child might be able to do one day.

That is why he brings one of the doppelseers when he visits. Each one occurs the evening directly after the gold moon—which is why I knew to expect them tonight—and he insists on having the seer read my daughter. He told me he would do so immediately after she was born, and this is the fourth time he has returned with one of them instead of just having the doppelseersseefrom their charmed cabin.

Duke Haures believes the closeness will help them get a better read. It hasn’t so far. Like their mate had done before, Alana is blocking Lucian and Damien. They see nothing of her future, or that of Sombra.

The fires of Sombra will be done…

Cupping Alana’s head, holding her to me, I approach the two in silence.

Duke Haures never speaks. Probably because the duke can sense how nervous he makes me, or because he has nothing to say to a humble artist. I can’t help but remember how he’s always known—considering this prophecy is as old as Haures’s reign as duke—that the first half-demon, half-human child born would trigger the possible end of his realm.

Is that why his first law as duke was to close the portals between the mortal realm and Sombra? Why it took nearly two thousand years for the matefinder spell to land in the hands of the human female meant for Haures? Why he’s obviously refrained from mating on the night of the gold moon himself, instead waiting from his crystal throne in Mavro to see who would be the first Sombra demon with a human mate to bring a child into our worlds?

I don’t know, and I can’t ask the duke. I just stand there, continuing to match the quiet, as the doppelseer drifts forward, eyes locked on Alana.

He exhales softly. “No. There’s no change,” he murmurs, and that his voice has a rougher edge and no riddle to his words, I know it is Lucian who has come to Nuit tonight while Damien stayed behind with their fire-haired mate.

Duke Haures inclines his head, an unasked question.

Lucian shakes his. “I see red, and then there’s green.” He pauses for a moment. “Green eyes. Green Sombran eyes.”

“Glaine?” I ask. He’s the only green-eyed soldier that has any contact with Alana. No one else in Nuit is a member of the duke’s guard except for him.

“No,” Lucian echoes. “A soldier, yes, but none that currently serve Haures.”

I look over at the duke. His expression is thoughtful, but still he stays silent as his gaze is drawn down to the curious spawn tucked against my chest.

She bubbles out a laugh, flexing her chubby little fist as if reaching out for something only she can see. It’s not me. It’s not the shadow demon or even the imposing duke.

It’s something else, and I don’t know what.

“This spawn will either save Sombra or doom it,” whispers Lucian.

He’s right.

And none of us know which, either.

CHAPTER4

THE EARTH LIBRARY

SHANNON

My whole adult life, I worked a 9-5 in an office. It paid decent enough that I could eventually live on my own without a roommate, though I wouldn’t say it was my calling or anything.

And then, shortly after Kennedy read theverus amorspell and summoned Loki into her life, I found myself running the used bookstore where I first bought theGrimoire du Sombra.Somehow she ended up just giving it to me after she decided to stay in Sombra, and since I liked the idea of being my own boss—especially since she told us to take over her apartment over the shop, too, so it was like working from home with Mal hiding in his shadows whenever customers were around—I was like: fuck it. Let’s do it.

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