Page 4 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

One became two became three until, over the years, there have been too many to count. There’s usually at least a pair whenever I’m in Sombra. I haven’t seen any in the other realms—demon or not—that I’ve visited with Rafe. Sometimes I wonder why, but when all they do is flap their wings and help keep me calm, it doesn’t matter if they’re there or not.

Unless someone gapes at them—and me.

Unless they give away where I might be hiding at any given moment.

Unless they’re just another reminder that I’m a sorry replacement for the original Queen Alana…

Ugh. I think Stevie was right. I am brooding. It’s my fault, too. I get like this when my shadows start thickening, urging me to go on another journey. It’s my power. I’m made to travel, and except for popping into Brille Rouge, I haven’t gone anywhere in ages. Not even Earth, though Mom’s suggested we visit some place called Lon-done. It’s like I’m trapped, and if that’s me also brooding over how I tried to visit a fire demon realm only to be blocked from it, that’s better than the loneliness I can’t deny.

I shouldn’t be lonely. I have Binx, right? Stevie, too, when she isn’t with Corbin. Rafe is usually my shadow, and when Billie and Glaine come to Nuit with Clara, she joins our trio so that we can make sure our youngest halfling is pampered. When Kennedy births her latest spawn, I’m sure we’ll treat the newest halfling in Nuit the same, and then if Stevie mates with Corbin…

Binx is curled up along the edge of my lava pool, paws digging into the ash as I start to climb out of the pool. I shake off the excess lava, taking my long hair down from the twist I’d put it up in before I waded in.

If I was a full-blooded human, I wouldn’t survive the lava pools. Mom has to disappear in Dad’s shadows to enjoy the sensation of the heat and the thickness swirling around her skin. Being half demon means that the fire doesn’t touch me. It’s closer to the enchanted water that comes from the tap, soothing my skin and helping me relax.

I don’t have the same sort of shadows as my father. Dad has two forms: his solid, red-skinned shape, and his nearly transparent shadows where he’s all black except for his golden eyes. When we’re on Earth, taking a family trip to Mom’s world, we can vanish to mist, all but invisible to the mortal eye. Here? He’s either inky black, or red and strapping.

Not me. I’m solid, like Mom, with flesh as pale as hers. My shadows hover near my feet, always prepared to be summoned. When I want to tap into my gift, I build a portal out of those shadows and walk right through them. That doesn’t mean I can create portals to skip around Sombra. Nope. I can only break through barriers between realms, going from one world to another.

Would be nice if I had the same abilities as the mages do. Rafe’s dad can open a portal in Nuit and take a traveler straight into the duke’s throne room, all thanks to his brand of magic. Me? I have to settle for dressing again, giving Binx a scratch behind his ears, and walking back to the village square.

I still live with my parents. Of course I do. It’s how it’s done in Sombra. Until I leave my village or find a mate, my parents are responsible for me. If I wanted to build a den of my own, it would have to be far from my birth clan where I would be declaring myself a single demoness in search of a mate.

I’m not looking for a male. Not really. I just want to have a purpose, to be more than the child of prophecy who saved Sombra only for me to find myself looking at an eternity of the same days over and over again.

Maybe I should take a walk into Soleil. Or…. or that djinn realm that had Dad frowning when I mentioned I’d visited that world. Something. Anything. I could kill a little time—because gods know I have an endless amount of it—and then retrieve Rafe from Brille Rouge before supper.

That seems like a good plan. I’ll take Binx for company, and if I’m gone, Kennedy won’t be able to blame me for abandoning her precious spawn in the arms of the seamstress seductress who is allowing Rafe to woo her.

Is Katrin Rafe’s mate? Not his one true mate for sure, but if he sees forever with her, who am I to interfere? Kennedy will understand. That’s what Mom says. She admits that Kennedy is a little too overprotective when it comes to Rafe, and considering Shannon is my mom, that’s saying something.

Now, I love my mom. She’s got a good heart, a smart mouth, and she does a great job running the Earth Library with Kennedy. She makes my dad happy, she’s devoted to us both, but, gods, she treats me like I’m still a child.

If Kennedy is trying to hunt down Rafe, Mom must be at the EL. As the clan’s artist, Dad’s been working on a new mural in Kennedy and Loki’s home, preparing for the new spawn. He’s spent the last moon working on it during the days so that he’s home every eve with Mom and me.

That’s why, as I approach our home from the back, I’m stunned to hear his gravely voice trying to soothe Mom’s more frantic, high-pitched tone. The window on the side is open, their voices carrying, and I know instinctively that they’re in the front room, Mom pacing, Dad hovering nearby to lend her his quiet strength as she tells him whatever is bothering her.

Me. It’s always me.

“—Brille Rouge again.”

“Yes, my Shannon,” murmurs Dad. “Alana told you that she was visiting the demonesses with Rafe. Remember? Over breakfast.”

Mom continues as though Dad didn’t speak up at all. “I told Ken that it’s hormones. Rafe knows better than to throw away his essence for a demoness who isn’t his one true mate. She’s so worried about him choosing the wrong mate. And, of course, it’s our baby who’s bringing him there instead of staying in Sombra where she belongs.”

Belonging in both worlds, belonging in none…

“Alana is a good friend. Besides, it’s only Brille Rouge. It’s not Noctavara.”

Noctavara.

A shiver runs down my spine, my heart tripping over itself to hear the name of the one realm that refused to let me enter. Why are they talking about Noctavara now?

I inch closer, ducking my head so that they can’t see me. Normally, Dad can sense when I’m near because I’m made up of his essence and Mom’s—not to mention his demon sense of hearing and smell that poor Mom doesn’t have despite being bonded to him—but when Mom’s in one of these moods, she has all of his attention.

He adores her. When I think of my Dad, I want a mate who loves me unconditionally like my parents love each other. Especially since, when I’m eavesdropping, it’s a whole lost easier when he’s distracted by Mom…

“I know. And I’m being ridiculous, Mal. If it’s blocked to her, it’s not like Alana can go there even if she wants to. But the doppelseers…”