Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
No one but this tiny cutie who has to stand on a chair to kiss me.
“This is… real,” I mumble, settling my hands on his hips as my gaze wanders over the massive hearth, the rune-covered walls, and the pointy ear, which doesn’t bear a trace of surgical scars. “The world of the elves, are we in it already? Is that why the cops didn’t follow us?”
He strokes my hair with so much tenderness I want to both cuddle him and fuck him like a maniac. I’ve never felt so wanted.
“I told you it’s real,” Sylvan says and kisses me again, without a hint of resentment for my lack of trust. “The house is protected by a powerful illusion, so the police can’t enter, we are safe. But we’re not in the Nightmare Realm just yet. We will go there soon though. And since the bastard did take off my collar, I can bind your shadow to mine, as I promised.” When he raises his hand in an elegant gesture, I’m not imagining things, a dark thread rises from his shadow and wraps around his finger.
I blink, then pinch myself, but the image doesn’t disappear, defying everything I know about the world and its physics. “Holy hell… you’re a magician.”
Sylvan’s smile is sweet despite the bloodstains on his face. “Of sorts.” He gives me a dreamy look from under pale eyelashes as he pulls another thread, this time from my shadow, into his hand. “It’s called shadowcraft, and I might not have much talent for it, but with your shadow tied to mine, my power will be so much greater. He tried to take you from me. But I’d rather die than let that happen.” He twists the two threads in his fingers into a tidy bow, then squeezes it.
When he opens his hand, they form a single, uniform thread connecting our shadows. I’m flooded by a sense of warm anticipation so very unlike the repulsive shackles of my brief connection with the smith.
I swallow, pulling Sylvan close, until I can sense his heartbeat where our chests touch. My head is spinning a bit as the scenery blurs around his serene features. “But I didn’t agree. How could he just…do that? I thought it needed to be mutual.
Sylvan kisses me again, and his arms cradle my head as we embrace. “Your shadow is so potent. I think it’s because of your near-to-death experiences. But it’s also vulnerable. I don’t know why, but only the shadows of those drowning in the River of Souls are like that⸺desperate to attach themselves. Yet I found you in the human realm, in my path. Any shadow-wielder can bind a shadow like yours to theirs, and your consent would have been irrelevant. The bond can only be made with one human, and it cannot be broken. Other than by death.
“Your precious shadow on the other hand can only be used once you become a Dark Companion, and for that to happen, you will need to make a vow. It cannot be forced, though I have heard stories of lies and coercion. Even stories of a shadow-wielder killing the person they bound to them when the human wouldn’t comply under any circumstances. That will not be our case though, will it?”
Sylvan’s voice is sweet in my ear, as if we were in bed already, whispering filthy promises. “I will take you to the Nightmare Realm, and under the cover of my shadow, you will vow to be mine as the full moon gazes upon us. Body, soul, and shadow. And as promised, my body will be yours.” He backs out enough to look into my eyes with such softness, I can’t believe he’s a killer even though a body is at our feet. “But in truth, Hawk, you already have my heart as well.”
He’s such a temptation. A never-ending sundae with fruit, whipped cream, and copious lashings of sauce. I can barely think when he’s stroking me, peering deep into my eyes, making such sweet promises.
Nobody ever wanted me like this, mutually and without shame. For good.
It’s addictive, and when I slide my hands down his body, taking hold of his ass, he whimpers in excitement.
“Are you saying I can just have this? Escape the law, and then live forever married to a prince?” rolls out of my mouth as I push my nose into his fine dew-scented hair. Now I know why he always smells so gloriously. He is not of my world.
I love the way his breath quickens. “You can have everything. Is it so bad that I don’t want to wait until you’re my Dark Companion?” His whisper is raspy, but it’s his words that throw gasoline over the fire inside me. “Some say that it shouldn’t be done. That it’s coercive…”
He’s so precious.