The library was quiet when I entered. This in and of itself was not that odd. There were often times that the goblins who ran the place were the only ones around. But today, teamed with the fact that I was trying to win this bet and Shadow had warned me he was going to make it tough, there was a stink of him in the air.
Gaster came into sight after a few minutes, dashing around with an armful of books.
“Hey, Gaster!” I called, waving him over.
Frantic eyes darted in my direction, and outside of a muttered “Too busy, sorry,” he wouldn’t even make eye contact. This happened over and over, no one coming near me, speaking to me, or looking in my direction if they could help it. The few times anyone did accidentally catch my eye, the panic in their faces was hysterical. At least it would have been if I wasn’t completely fuming about this bullshit.
When lunch rolled around, I slammed my way into the table, ordering in short clipped tones to the robot servers. They apparently were not off-limits, because I couldn’t have sex with them.
While I waited, I tried to control my breathing and calm down.
“Shadow got to everyone,” Angel said. “Bastard is unbeatable when you challenge him.”
In my fury I hadn’t actually noticed her there. “You’re allowed to talk to me?” I asked, exasperated.
She shrugged, an apple in her hand today, with a small break in the skin. Maybe the smell was stronger that way. “Shadow can’t control me. I don’t fear him or his particular brand of persuasion. He knows that, and we have reached our truce of sorts.”
I huffed. “Well, looks like I have to lose my virginity to you.”
She turned fully toward me, abandoning her fruit. “What’s a virginity?”
Oh, wow. Well, this was going to be an interesting conversation.
“So, like, humans when they haven’t had sex…” I trailed off as she grinned. “You know, don’t you?”
Her laughter was one of the prettiest sounds I’d ever heard. “Yeah, I’ve actually spent a lot of time monitoring the human world. I’m fairly fluent in your languages and expressions.”
“Why did you monitor Earth?”
She shrugged. “Family business, of sorts. Keeping an eye on certain human families, ensuring their longevity and safety.”
I swallowed hard. “Kind of like a guardian angel?”
Those ancient-as-fuck eyes rested on me, the depths plundered with pain and memories. “Yeah, something like that.”
For some reason, that hit me harder than almost everything else I’d learned in this fantasy library. Guardian angels felt like a god thing, and maybe this was where the scriptures had come from—mythical beings from Honor Meadows, seen around Earth…
She chuckled again. “I’m still the same reticent asshole you met on the first day here. Don’t paint me with a halo just yet.”
My lips twitched and I couldn’t stop laughter from spilling over. “Okay, fair enough.”
She scooted a little closer, wings bumping into me as she settled in. “Now, let’s figure out your Shadow issue.”
I loved that I had a friend to brainstorm with, because I was going to need all the help I could get.
“What’s your current plan?” she started.
Taking a bite of my sandwich, I chewed a few times, mulling it over. “At first, I thought I’d just use the library as my hunting grounds. Talk with everyone who came through, and see if any sparks happened naturally. But since Shadow has decided to play hardball, I need to be a little more aggressive in my approach.”
Taking another bite, I sighed at the delicious flavors dancing across my tongue. At least one aspect of today was still good. “The library will not work at all,” Angel said. “You’re going to have to choose a land and find your sexual match there.”
I nodded, swallowing before speaking. “Yeah, that was Plan B. I just was afraid of stumbling into an unknown world and somehow getting myself killed.”
Angel’s lips twitched. “What about Earth?”
I stilled. “I didn’t even think of Earth.” Once again, proving that the more time I spent away from my home planet, the less I felt connected to it. “But it does make sense. The easiest world for me to navigate is the one I’m from.” Not to mention, human dudes were basically walking dicks. Their downstairs brains were strong, and they had no qualms about taking someone home for one night.
Angel was full-on laughing again, and I had literally never seen her this animated and relaxed. “Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.”
“How will I get to Earth without Shadow stopping me?” I wondered, knowing he would have already anticipated me using a door to escape and win the bet.
“I might have an idea,” Angel said, lowering her voice to the point I had to lean forward to hear her. “But you might have to lie low for a few days until Shadow has his friends over for their weekly games night.”
I knew those bastards weren’t having fancy dinners. It was probably beer and poker, or whatever the supernatural god version of that was.
“I can do that,” I said with a nod. “Might lull him into a false sense of success if I don’t react to the level of restriction he’s leveled on this place.”
Angel grinned. “Oh, yes, and even better, I want you to spend those days trying to seduce Shadow himself. That way, he thinks you have turned your attention from the library to him. He’ll enjoy that little game and will miss my manipulations.”
There was something about a scheme that got my blood pumping, as I all but rubbed my hands together in delight. “Yes! I’m so here for this,” I said to her. “Just tell me what you need, and I’m going to be all over it.”
Angel patted my shoulder, her wings spreading out behind her as she got to her feet. “We’ll get you laid, my friend. Don’t even worry about it.” She turned to leave, her eyes landing on Shadow, who had apparently just walked into the room. Then, with one last small smile in my direction, she left.
Shadow walked right over to me, looking smug as fuck. Not to mention hotter than usual, his hair tousled and damp, the remnants of sweat beading his brow. He looked like he’d come straight from a workout, still in sweats, but I doubted he was pumping iron in a gym. Gods didn’t need to do that to get ripped as hell, so it was probably fighting.
I pitied whoever his poor opponent was.
“How’s today going for you?” Shadow asked, sinking into the chair Angel had just vacated. A drink appeared in his hand, a silver concoction, and once again, I was reminded of his abilities and power.
Power he was using against me, but I felt a little more confident with Angel on my side.
She had a plan, and speaking of… I smiled broadly. “It’s been great! I’ve got a ton of work done, the food is off the charts great, and I just had a chat with my friend. It’s been nice to have a chick friend on this side… Makes me miss Simone and Dannie a little less.”
Only partly a lie—I still missed my other friends horrendously.
With hooded eyes, he observed me closely. “And no other issues?”
I shook my head, retaining the same relaxed expression. “Not that I can think of.” My stare was more focused as I locked eyes with him. “How about you? Any issues in your world? Have you found another shadow creature for us to track down?”
Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms, broad shoulders bumping me just like Angel’s wings had. There was no pain, as was usual when he touched me. “You want to know about my issues?” he drawled, sounding like he didn’t quite believe me.
Leaning in closer, I wasn’t surprised by the suspicious eyes he kept laser-focused on me. “Yeah, I do. You’re one of the few not too busy to talk to me today”—acting dumb annoyed me, but it was a means to an end—“and I’m genuinely curious about your life. Especially the day to day of how you run the library and your lair.”
If suspicion had a look, it would be his face, but he called me on my faked interest. “Right, well, since you asked, I’ve spent the morning dealing with the Faerie contingent. The silver clan and those from the realm of emeralds are having a little battle over a plot of land that is allegedly filled with precious stones. Going through the ancient scripts to find landholding rights is more time-consuming than you’d think, and since I’m acting as the intermediary in this, I’m about ready to head to Faerie myself and dig the fucking plot up to see if any of these gems even exist.”
I was more interested than I’d like to admit in Shadow’s life, subconsciously leaning forward. “So that’s your role here, in the library? The one who oversees everything and keeps all the visitors from other worlds from falling into chaos?”
Shadow nodded as Inky rose up to twist around him. “In a manner. I was there at the beginning of this library being formed, and from that, I’ve been the guardian of the vast array of knowledge it contains. I’ve done my best to ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. My protection also extends to any who reside within these walls unless they break one of the rules. I’m called on to mediate more than I’d like, but I wouldn’t give up my power or control for anything.”
“And yet you’re willing to let Earth fall to the shadow creatures?”
He shrugged. “Earth is technically not part of the Solaris System. It’s only bonded because I decided to partake in some of the desert land’s finest beverages with Reece, and then when he challenged me to use my power to leave a lasting legacy… shifters were born.”
I snorted. “Were you in Brolder at the time?”
Shadow nodded, and it all made sense.
“We were the product of a drunken bet,” I said shaking my head. “Nice.”
Shadow dropped his still-full bottle to the table. The clunk distracted me and by the time I looked up, he’d already spun his chair toward me, reaching out to grab the arms of my chair and yank me around too. Now we were face to face, my legs trapped between his.
“What game are you playing, Sunny?”
I gasped. “No, you can’t call me that. ‘Sunshine’ is one thing, but ‘Sunny’…” I choked off, and as much as I refused to cry in front of him, hearing my father’s nickname from my captor hurt deep in my chest. Like a small cut, but each breath lengthened the wound, spilling more blood until I bled out.
“He still calls you that, you know?” he murmured, not moving away from me. If anything, he was dragging my chair closer with each word until I was practically in his lap.
“Wh-Who does?”
My father was dead, so whom was he referring to? Jaxson?
“Did I tell you what all the doors lead to along the hallway to Earth?” he asked, knowing full well he hadn’t.
“No.”
“Some are prisons, as you know,” he said slowly, drawing out this bullshit. “Others are storage facilities for magical objects that are too dangerous to be out in the wild.” Right, right. Get to the point, dude. “There are also some incredibly special doorways that lead to differing versions of an afterlife. I offer a choice to fallen shifters, depending on how I feel about their legacies on Earth.”
My heart skipped a beat, my eyes burning as tears rimmed them. Pride aside, I couldn’t stop myself from reacting to what he was saying. “You’ve seen my father?”
It was a whisper. A short, simple sentence that burned like it had been branded on my skin.
“I escorted him to his afterlife.”
My hands were moving, wrapping around his biceps as I held on to him with every ounce of my strength. “Can I see him? Please?”
The pain registered a second later—I’d been so caught up in the possibility of having another moment with my dad, I’d forgotten what happened when I initiated contact with Shadow.
“Argh, shit!” I screamed, wrenching my hands away and trying to breathe deeply enough to get through the pain.
Ouch, ouch, oucchhhh. Why did that hurt so badly?
And yet, somehow, it still hurt less than knowing my father was behind one of those doors, and Shadow was the one in control of whether or not I saw him.
