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“But why me? And what does a companion do?” I asked, moving my hands forward. I was so close to her now that just one wrong move and my face would be buried into her robes.

All the late nights in my bed, I would dream of moments just like this. Whisked away to a world where I would be wanted, and not just for my father’s money.

Wanted for me. Taken care of and allowed the freedom of any other human.

Being sold at an auction was a pretty twisted way to get it, but beggars couldn’t be choosers and all that.

“Are you not scared?” she asked, her aura coming to tease my fingertips. It was a ghost of a touch. Not as heavy as a hand, but the weight was there. “Your human friends were.”

“I am,” I admitted, my eyes searching her face for any bit of emotion I couldn’t glean. “But I’m more curious than anything.”

She tilted her face forward, long hair brushing across my cheek.

“Curious?” The tilt of her lips was enough to send my heart racing. My own reaction caused the haze in my mind to ease just the slightest bit.

What is happening to me?

I was just about to be handed off to another man for marriage when I was kidnapped and brought to a demon realm to be someone’s… toy?

I had no business being flirty with someone who could eat the flesh off my bones.

But I am.

I gave her a short nod.

“About so many things. You’re some type of demon… right?” I asked. “Where am I? Can a human even survive here?”

She tilted her head slightly.

“Demon, yes. You’re at my home. I live here with a few other demons. I believe a human can survive here. You will be proof.”

Her last sentence had a burst of amusement running through me.

I’m to be her guinea pig. I kept waiting for that thought to scare me, but it didn’t.

“Where is here?” I asked, trying to dig a bit deeper.

“The Shadowlands.”

Given the color of her aura, the name definitely fits her.

“Okay…” I trailed off. “Tell me more about yourself.”

“I am the keeper of this realm,” she said. “The shadows surrounding us are my responsibility and the reason I am tied to this realm. I am them, and they are me.”

I nodded and let out a breath.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” she asked. “Are you not scared?”

I shook my head.

There was something so… freeing about being rid of my father’s pressure. Of not having to be married off to a random man who only wanted my family’s money.

“I can’t read you,” I admitted. “I’ve seen everyone’s aura for as long as I can remember. Everyone but yours.”

She stared at me for a long moment before I felt the heat of her aura racing up my arms. I held my breath as the tendrils teased the straps of my slip and brushed the tops of my breasts. Some teased my calves, slowly working their way up to my thighs.