Vane and I watch our Darling leave the room like she’s the sun setting below the horizon, taking her warmth with her.
If I get my shadow back, I can return to the daylight, but perhaps Darling has been all the light I’ve needed.
“You really have it tamed?” I ask Vane.
He blinks away from Darling’s retreating figure. “Tamed enough.” Then he frowns. “I need pain and blood to reel it back in, it would seem.”
That makes sense. But I still don’t like it.
“I’ll give it back,” he adds. “I don’t want or need the shadow anymore. I’ll give it back…”
I sense he’s trailed off and left something unsaid.
“You’ll give it back for her.”
He scoffs and looks away but doesn’t deny it.
Darling has us all worshipping her. I still don’t know how she managed it. She is a magician pulling tricks and yet I’ve yet to see the reveal.
Perhaps her wet pussy is the trick and the flourish because fuck if I don’t feel awed by her every single time she’s wrapped around my cock.
“I don’t know how the Life Shadow felt,” he says, “but the Dark Shadow aches. It is a burden I no longer wish to bear. That’s the end of it. It will be good to be without it.”
“And the Neverland Dark Shadow?” I ask. “What shall we do with it?”
“Give it to one of the twins.”
“Kas could probably handle it. He’s practical. Patient. Reliable. I feel like out of the two, he’d handle it better.”
“I would agree.”
“But you’ll keep yours until we overthrow the fae queen, yeah? Do it for me.”
It’s not phrased as a question, but I think he knows it’s not an order either.
“I won’t leave us vulnerable. But my brother coming to the island will complicate things. It’ll drudge up our past.”
“I know.” But I don’t really. I don’t know their story, just the outline of it and even that’s fuzzy.
“One problem at a time,” I repeat.
“Too many fucking problems.” He pushes away from the island. “Speaking of problems—have you seen Cherry? If we show up on Hook’s doorstep without her, we might have an issue.”
“I haven’t seen her. She’ll turn up eventually and then we’ll shoo her home like a feral cat.”
He nods. “Let’s go bust some pirate ass then and get your shadow back. I’m tired of being the most powerful one of the group.”
“Fucking asshole,” I say on a laugh and hook him around the neck. He laughs. “When I have it back, let’s race through the clouds.”
His violet eye lights up with the promise of a challenge. “I will enjoy beating you.”
