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I used my body weight to shove the guard at my side enough to allow Mia to race through. She grabbed the curtains that separated us from the next room, and I had to squint against the bright light around us.

The sound of her footsteps suddenly stopping made me blink quickly, trying my hardest to get rid of the millions of dots that had formed in my eyes.

I could still hear Mia running and screaming, but when the room beyond came into view, every little bit of hope I had shriveled up and died in my chest.

Just beyond the curtain was a stage.

And beyond that? Demons.

A whole auditorium of them.

Yien

Impatience.

That was what it was called. The feeling that ate at my entire body. The one that was causing my eyes to dart to whoever shifted even just the slightest.

Aris had killed a realm ruler, Demis, so she could get her human. The twins barely had to bargain for theirs… but mine still hadn’t been brought out for viewing. All of theirs had been over in mere minutes.

It was grating on my nerves.

I came because I had heard Madam was bringing out humans with certain powers. I had no idea if those would be right for me, but I was willing to try. I was even willing to ask Aris for help.

But then… I felt her.

I couldn’t see her, but she was calling to my shadows. A human who felt as if she’d been made for me. She was back there. I didn’t know what it meant, nor had my shadows ever been called to a being other than the souls so strongly.

But they wanted her, and I took it as a sign that whoever was back there was meant to be mine.

“Cover us more,” Aris ordered me. The fact that it was her ordering me to do something caused irritation to flare in me.

“My human is next,” I muttered.

“This won’t take long.”

Clenching my jaw, I sent my shadows to cover Aris and her newly acquired human.

I blocked out whatever they were doing as my eyes focused on the stage. She’s coming. I could feel it in the way the shadows on stage gave way.

And then my heart stopped in my chest when I first laid eyes on her.

Her hair, white as bone, her pale cheeks flushed and angry as she glared at the demons in front of her. Brilliant purple eyes behind thick lashes darting across the various demons salivating to purchase her.

Until she paused the moment her eyes stopped on me, widening as she took in not just me but my shadows too.

I was sure that was what she was doing.

Normal demons couldn’t see the tendrils, but her eyes outlined them perfectly, trailing my shadows—the extensions of my consciousness.

Perfection.

Something swelled in my chest.

My companion. A human who could see me.

“Last but not least, we have an empath!” Madam said, her arms gesturing toward the girl.

A silence descended onto the crowd before the yelling started.