“Disney. I know you’re still here.” I call out with far more confidence than I feel. Surely I’d feel it if my wards had been broken? Right?
The temperature drops so suddenly I can see my breath mist. The shadows along the edge of the circle deepen, growing darker and more solid, then coalesce into a familiar shape. Blue eyes blink into existence, burning like cold fire.
Dis materialises slowly, pulling himself together from scattered pieces of shadow. He’s still in the circle, exactly where he was before. Still bound. But somehow he managed to hide himself completely.
I’m far more relieved than I’m ever going to admit to anyone. Ever.
“How did you do that?” I ask.
“I am made of shadows,” Dis says. His voice is carefully neutral. “Shadows can hide in darkness.”
“But the circle…”
“The circle prevents me from leaving. Not from controlling my own form within its boundaries.” He tilts his head, studying me. “You may thank me now.”
It takes me a moment to understand. Then it hits me.
He hid himself. Not because he had to. Not because I commanded him to. But because he understood that if Adam saw him, things would get complicated for me.
He protected me.
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“Don’t mistake necessity for kindness, Little Witch,” he says, even though he just told me to thank him. But there’s something in his voice that suggests he’s not being entirely honest. “If your friend had discovered me, it would have been... inconvenient.”
“Right. Inconvenient.”
“For both of us.”
“Yeah.” I sit down on the sofa, my legs suddenly shaky now that the adrenaline is fading. “That was close.”
“Indeed.”
We sit in silence for a moment. The weight of what just happened settling over us.
“You lied to your friend,” Dis observes.
“I had to.”
“Did you?”
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Sorry I haven’t been answering, I’ve been holding a shadow king prisoner in my living room’?”
“That would have been honest.”
“That would have beeninsane.”
“And yet, it’s the truth.” Dis’s eyes gleam. “You chose to protect this situation. To keep me secret.”
“I chose to protect myself. If Adam found out, he’d tell Hex and make me release you.”
“Would he?”
The question hangs in the air. Would Adam tell Hex to make me release Dis? I’m not actually sure. Adam believes in justice. In doing the right thing. But he also believes in letting people make their own choices. As for the shadow prince’s morals, I have no idea.
“I don’t want to find out,” I say finally.
“So you lied.”
