Page 34 of Satanic Shadow
Dane wets his lips and tucks his hands into his pockets. Waiting. He’s waiting for me to say something.
I want to punch you.
“Why are you staring at me, mortal?”
I cross my arms, acting as indifferent as he is. “Task three is due by Tuesday.”
His half-lidded eyes drop to my chest for a split second before looking to the side. “I’m aware. It’s Friday.”
“I’m aware.”
Dane snaps his gaze to me. “Do you always act like a child?”
“You know, I may be older than you, or I could be a baby compared to you. What if you’re like a thousand years old? I like older men, but not that old.” I raise a shoulder. “Unless you’re Valin.”
“The monster who tried to fuck you. Of course you’re fine with him. A few apologies and you forget the way he approached you?”
I smile. “Apparently so.” Lie. Valin gives me the creeps, but I like to push Dane’s buttons. It seems he doesn’t like Professor Mallory too much. “Was that you who spoke to me before you blasted into my room and wrecked everything?”
“What would your boyfriend think of you being so open about fucking someone else?”
My brows narrow, and confusion sets in before I remember I lied that I had one before, so I tip my chin and stay silent.
Dane stares at me for a long moment before scoffing. “I’m needed elsewhere. Be gone, human. I don’t need people seeing me conversing with you.”
I raise a brow. “Because you’re the prince of shadows and I’m a mere mortal?”
“No. Because I’m the heir to an entire realm and you are nothing.”
I smirk, spinning on my heels and walking away from him. “One day, you’re going to realize repeating yourself gets you nowhere.”
I’m away from him as soon as I turn the corner, and I press my back to the brick wall to catch my breath. Something was tugging on me when I was in front of him, like I needed to touch him, to run my fingers through his hair and feel all of him against me again.
The rush to approach him was like bad adrenaline.
That’s new.
Maybe as the tasks are completed, the magic that was cast for our pairing grows stronger? If so, I’m not sure what things will be like in a few tasks’ time. It would explain Orsen and Mel jumping from hatred to barely being able to take their eyes off one another.
As I head for my dorm, I stop near the library. It could be a good idea to know more about Dane. His powers and history and what caused his world to perish.
Each realm has a different story, but they’re all linked to one source of power. Poppy once explained to me that it was like a missing piece of a jigsaw. One broken element, and the worlds are slowly falling apart.
I rush to the library and hunt for a book on the Shadow Realm. He said he was the heir, so surely there will be information on him? His family?
It takes me nearly three hours, but I eventually find one. It’s at the top of the shelf, so I grab a ladder, slide it over, and settle my bag at the bottom of it.
The book is heavy and full of dust, but I manage to carry it down to the bottom. I drop to the floor, crossing my legs and leaning my back against the bookshelf.
The hard cover cracks as I open the front page. I cough into my sleeve and screw my eyes up from the dust. The smell is rancid, like it’s been through wars and drains and death. The writing is in a different language altogether, but there are some illustrations.
I skip pages until I reach one that looks familiar. A symbol, similar to the yin and yang yet distorted. The lines of the shape are written words. Handwritten. These symbols have been drawn into the book instead of being natural to the edition.
Dane has this one on his wrist. The exact same. I try to read what it says beneath, but it’s not a language I’ve ever come across in my world.
I flick more pages, until I see another symbol, another Dane has on his skin. There’s the tiniest line of words beneath it.
The divine darkness does not exist without her.
