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But that was months away.

I wasn’t sure what I’d do once I was with him, but I refused to leave him alone in his torment.

MONTHS LATER

I swipedthe ball pen across the square of the calendar hanging on my fridge. I’d waited for Samhain to arrive, literally ticking the days off in preparation. In the times I’d sought answers, I’d gotten my paperwork and such on the house figured out. I’d prepared for every possible outcome.

Samhain had to be the way to get back to him, because if it wasn’t, I had no other recourse. I tucked the pen into the drawer and used my hip to shove it closed, then left the kitchen.

I sat in front of my fireplace, letting the flames warm my skin. I stared into the blaze, studying the sway of the flare devouring the wood.

“Lord of Shadows,” I whispered. “Corvus, please . . .”

I settled in at sunset, waiting. I caught my eyelids growing heavier with each blink.

A chill creptover my arms, raising the hair. It jolted me awake. I gasped, alert and with adrenaline pumping.

How long had I dozed?

The fire I’d been in front of had been completely extinguished, leaving me in the dark with only the moonlight spilling through my wall-to-wall window.

Something moved at the corner of my eye. I gasped, turning so fast it made me dizzy. My smile grew.

“Corvus?” I whispered. A cloud seemed to detach from the wall, and it pulsated. The tendril stretched toward me and touched my wrist, as if in greeting.

“Take me to him.” They curled higher, winding around my arm and against my back. Their cool touch incited a familiar chill through me. It jerked me forward and I flopped onto my stomach with a grunt. It curled under me and began to drag me toward the fog painting the linoleum floor.

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the iciness. Shadows squeezed my arms and pinched my skin, then the familiar burn passed through my nerve endings. I landed on the floor with a hard thump. I groaned, curling on my side, trying to breathe through the agony stinging my flesh. It hurt more than the other times. Liquid dampened under my nose, and I touched the tips of my fingers against the slickness. I lifted it to see blood. I swiped my hand across my T-shirt and scanned my surroundings.

It had spat me out in the throne room.

A thick fog pulsed next to me. Then it curled upward, and it pressed against my lips. . . almost like it was asking for entrance.

I hesitantly opened my mouth, and in a sudden rush, the shadows shoved past my lips. I choked on my breaths, writhing on my back as the sensation settled inside me.

I did not mean to harm you.

The voice echoed in my head, and I gasped, looking around. It sounded similar to Corvus, so, so similar.

“Who’s there?” I gasped, shivering. “Corvus?”

No, I am Corvus Zypher’s soul.

My mind raced to grasp the words as a painful chill slid through my veins.

I cannot stay inside you for long without it harming you. Listen well, you can only wake him by splintering your soul.

“Do it,” I choked out, not exactly sure what I was agreeing to.

You must reunite the soul with the body at his most vulnerable moment.

“What does that even mean?”

Claim him.

“Can you be more descriptive?” I mumbled.

As you humans say—fuck him.