Page 46 of Shannon in Sombra
Okay. First things first?—
The name sounds familiar, but… “Who the hell is Yelios?”
At the same time as Mal says, “the former king,” and Sammael tells us, “Queen Alana’s mate,” and Glaine says, “a fierce soldier,” Damien’s eyes brighten until they’re closer to lavender than dark purple.
It’s his voice that carries over all the others as gestures around him. “This is Yelios.”
“The shadows were the deposed king’s home,” adds Lucian.
King. Wait. I know this story. Mal told me about the bravest demon queen in their history, and the king who tried to avenge her for centuries before he walked into the shadows one day and Haures took his throne…
Tandy gasps, covering her mouth with her fingers. “But now heisthe shadows.” She shakes her head, her voice returning to normal instead of taking on her mates’ prophesying tones. Oh, gross. We’ve spent hours crawling around inside of some ancient, crazed king.”
Oh, I hope she’s wrong. I really, really do because, suddenly, I have a sinking feeling in my stomach about why we had to journey as much as we did to get to this point and westillhaven’t seen a sign of my daughter.
The sinking suspicion only drops lower when Haures says, “Apollyon tells me that it was a human male who stole the spawn. I suspected this might happen one day, and Lucian’s recent visions only confirmed it. But, fear not, Malphas. Shannon. It’s not the human who sought your child. He only took her to deliver her to Yelios. And Yelios will never harm her which means that the human won’t either.”
To be fair, that does make me feel the teensiest bit better. As much as I fuckinghatethe idea that somebody broke into my house, kidnapped my baby, and decided to hide her in the shadows, I have the tiniest amount of relief that she’s at least safe.
But it’s only a small amount because it just doesn’t make sense to me.
“Why would he want her? I mean, what kind of monster kidnaps a baby?”
Nox clears his throat. “My mate was a spawn of only eight human years when I first recognized that Amy was meant to be mine.”
Though I already knew the story of their mating, I’m not surprised that Amy tugs on his arm before saying, “Not helping, hon.”
He shrugs, unrepentant. “I waited until you were a mature female,” he reminds her. “No honorable Sombran would ever claim a child.”
Hang on?—
“Alana is not his mate,” I argue. “She’s a baby, remember?” When no one rushes to tell me that I’m right, not even Malphas, I turn to Lucian. “Okay.” So the human guy didn’t take Alana for himself. He took him for Yelios. That’s still ahell, no. “Tell me that my baby isn’t fated to be mated tothatmonster.”
“No,” says Lucian. “Your Alana has a far greater destiny. If we can save Sombra, she will go on to save Noctavara.”
Savewhat?
“Her path is to save Sombra, but never stay, her fate tied to the one with a shadow for a heart, a gilded touch, and the wrong way,” intones Damien. “For her broken wings will only end the curse when her own heart stops.”
This is not the time for another one of his prophecies, even if it suggests that Alana will survive today.Today.Because the rest of what Damien said…
Heart stops.
Stops?
Stops?
“But Alana is immortal.”
“She has human blood.” Haures. God damn it, why does the duke have to sound sosmarmyright now? “It will be a whole lot easier for her to be killed.”
I fist my hands. “Do you think you might not tell me how fragile my daughter is when some insane demon king has her?” I shake my head. “And why would he take her in the first place? He had a mate. Queen?—”
Oh,fuck.
Malphas is right there, supporting me as I start to fall. “No. It’s just a name. Mal wanted to name her after a strong demoness. She’s not the real Alana. She’sourAlana.”
“I did. To honor the fallen queen, and to show that she could grow to be a fierce warrior,” my my mate agrees.
