spun in a huff, annoyed by everything being a secret in this world. My curious nature was driven crazy by all the unanswered questions, and it felt like Shadow was doing it deliberately at this stage.
Although now that I knew Inky was possibly linked to his weakness, maybe he was just extra cautious about revealing any information to do with his little minion.
“Inky has ties to the library that go beyond the norm,” Shadow said after a few seconds of awkward silence. I had not expected him to answer, so I was genuinely shocked. “He’s also connected to me, and between the two, it allows him to form a small magical portal. It comes in handy at times.”
Inky wrapped around us both, and I dragged my fingertips along the darkness. At some point, just like with Shadow, I could touch it without any repercussions. How that had happened, I had no idea, but I wasn’t upset. We’d made progress in the time I’d been with them. Shadow might have only trusted five beings in the world, but I was no longer the enemy I had been at one point.
To test the theory, I casually brushed through Inky and let my hand scrape across the skin of Shadow’s hand that rested near his side. Just a graze. But there was no pain.
I couldn’t stop the broad, triumphant grin from crossing my face. Shadow shot me a half-smirk, like he knew exactly what I was doing. “Don’t get too comfortable, little wolf,” he warned me. “You should take care to protect yourself at all costs.”
I nodded. “Always have, Shadow. And I always will. I’ve been let down too many times to be any other way.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but that was okay. I’d been underestimated just as many times as I’d been let down in my life.
Vague warnings aside, the rest of my time with Shadow went smoothly. The box was like a picnic extravaganza, with sandwiches, salads, and some cold cuts. Shadow didn’t eat with me, but he remained nearby while I dove in. When I was full and couldn’t possibly fit one more delicious morsel of food in, the box shut. I eyed it sadly and Shadow sounded amused when he said, “It’s magically sealed. Everything will stay fresh and cold inside.”
A relieved sigh left me. “Good, because wasting food is a sin.”
Shadow, who was sprawled back on his couch across from me, grinned lazily. “Sin is my calling card, Sunshine. It’s what I built my entire reputation on, and the reason I found myself kicked out of my land.”
He might not have been eating, but he did have a drink in hand, twirling the glass so the amber liquid swirled. He looked relaxed, and since he currently couldn’t go anywhere else to escape me, I decided to ask about the Shadow Realm.
Leaning forward, I tucked a fluffy pillow against my chest, propping my head up on it. “Tell me about the Shadow Realm,” I said softly. “Why is the doorway blocked? And how the hell am I drawing beings from there to here?”
His first instinct was to deny me the information; I saw that in the closed-off expression that replaced his relaxed features.
“This involves me,” I reminded him. “And you’re asking me to complete a task without giving me all of the information I need to complete it. For the sake of all our sanities, and possibly lives, it’s time to tell me now.”
His face remained set, the stubborn bastard.
“Why is the fucking door barred?” I lost my shit and those words came out a bit shoutier than I’d anticipated.
“Because of me,” he shot back. “I was born as the next Supreme Being, the true heir, and my family conspired against me, taking my crown and power. I was betrayed by the one who was supposed to have my back, and when they shot me out into the space beyond my world, they barred the door with a spell I’ve never been able to best.”
There was a deep-seated pain buried under his cynical expression. For thousands of years, his family had kept him away from his home… his land.
Bastards.
“And I thought my family tragedy was bad,” I murmured. “That’s super fucked-up. Even if you did something terrible to deserve their wrath, no one should be barred from their home.”
Shadow’s flames roared to life around him, a giant fireball that turned into his flaming wolf. I’d never seen him shift into a literal beast, but this time as the flames