Page 8 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

Q uietly, with our daughter in hand, I followed Remnant and her brother out of our tower and back onto the mirrored silver path that connected the vast network of the city of Voltum.

The predator in me carefully tracked the shifting sands while keeping a close eye on my soulmate’s brother, Kade Stellan Shea Dark.

It came as no fucking surprise to me that Kade held his fathers name as was custom for the fae.

Except, no one ever thought the Dark children could ever be half god’s.

It was always assumed that the shadow fae honored Shea, the god of death because he was more connected to their darkness rather than the bright light of Faerie and so Kade’s name was simply in honor of that.

I waited for the voice of Ethereal to respond. Surely he would have a comment or two, but the fucking cat had been tediously silent since he almost burned our world down and that—goddess damn it, that concerned me.

"Father. Taste this." My cub stretched her slobbery hand up towards me, popping it from her dust smeared mouth.

I wrinkled my nose at the glittery saliva dripping from her fingers and gave her a wide smile, chuckling inwardly.

"I wouldn't dare take away the source of your pleasure, my cub.

You need not share, in fact..." I hoisted my daughter up on my shoulders and found myself falling in love with the way she laughed, just like I did when I first heard her mother’s.

"See if you can gather more from up there to support your little addiction and enjoy your stardust."

Remnant’s shoulders shook with laughter in front of me but I could still see the tension in them. Her worry was practically palpable and it flooded our bond. She was shaken and I had no way of reassuring her that all would be well. Because that would be a lie .

I rubbed my bare chest, to ease the sudden ache I felt the same time her emerald eyes looked back at me. " You finally got rid of your shirt. I’m surprised you had it on for as long as you did. "

My brows rose, “I can’t tell if this pleases you or not.”

Her laughter floated along our bond, and I held tightly onto Riella as she leaned to the side for what I could only assume was for more dust.

“ It did bring up some interesting possibilities…” Her seductive tone purred inside of me and I swallowed hard.

Fuck.

Sighing, I shook my head. " Maybe next time, little umbra. The fabric is much too confining for me to be able to kill your father if need be. "

"Who says you will be the one who gets to kill him?" Flicking her hair back over her shoulder, I could not hold back the hungry stare at my soulmate’s lush blue-black waves as they swayed just above her delicious ass.

Chuckling, I growled. " Shall we make another bet then, little umbra? What shall we play this time? Winner gets the first attempt to kill your father. "

Her soft laughter filled my mind and my heart soared at the sound. " You certainly know how to court your mate shifter…the promise of death instead of a kiss this time?"

I grinned both at her words and my new discovery while still watching the way her powerful ass flexed with every stride.

Her worry had eased along our soulmate bond and just like that, I knew how I could distract her from the anxiety that plagued her every thought since coming here—seduction. "Whatever it takes, soulmate."

Remnant's steps faltered but neither of us had a chance to respond when our daughter shouted from atop my shoulders, practically falling off as she bounced excitedly. "Look father! What is that?"

Gritting my teeth, I gripped her body tighter to prevent her from falling again and followed to where she pointed. "What in the goddess is that?" I said, hissing at the creature in warning. Something just wasn’t right about it.

The nondescript animal paused, morphing into several creatures before it at last settled into a petite black rabbit. Long twitching ears and blood red eyes glared back at me before zooming in on my cub.

I growled, my instincts telling me this thing was way too interested in my innocent daughter.

"It's a pookah," Remnant's brother said with disgust, shadows springing out from his hand to shoo off the creature.

It hissed back at him, head turning while its eyes were still transfixed on Riella.

"Their numbers have increased since we arrived with the shadow court.

They are guardian spirits constantly seeking a soul to champion. "

Riella giggled above me. "He is so cute! Can I pet it? Do you think we can keep him?"

The three of us exchanged baffled looks, knowing that the shifting creature was anything but cute. Reaching up, I patted my daughter's thigh. "It would be for naught, my cub. Their fates are entwined to the soul they are bound to, best leave it be so that it may find its destined partner."

Feeling, rather than seeing her deflate, I quickly added, "But if any fae has the ability to tame a pookah spirit, I would not be surprised if it was you, Riella. Be patient, perhaps what you wish for will come true."

And if she absolutely wanted the hideous thing, I would make damn sure I found a way to obtain it for her. All she needed to do was ask with those big swirling green gold eyes on her sweet little cherubic face and it would be done—as it would be for anything she ever wanted in this world.

Unicorns, done.

Pounds of stardust, done.

Burn this world down, done .

"And if she wanted you to find her a soulmate of her own one day and leave us behind?"

Startled, my head snapped up to meet Remnant's glittering emerald eyes, reading me so easily.

Gritting my teeth, I snarled irritatedly inside her mind. "Done."

Then as quickly as it appeared, the pookah was gone.

“Awe.” Riella pouted, slumping further over my head with disappointment.

I patted her leg again, sympathizing but inwardly I was fucking relieved. I seriously did not like the way that thing looked at her.

Kade cleared his throat, glancing between us all quizzically. "We are here."

Holding Riella, I reached out to pull Remnant into me. Her startled reaction settled when I placed a soft kiss on the top of her head, her hair catching briefly on the scruff of my beard.

Fuck I needed to shave.

Sweeping the strands back and smoothing them into place once more, I fortified our soulmate bond with resolve. "Together." I reminded her.

Leaning briefly more into me, Remnant reached up and touched our daughter's booted foot. "Together."

Riella's soft hands reached down and cupped either side of my face. "Together."

Turning my mouth into her tiny hand I kissed it softly. "Always, little cub."

Remnant sighed and moved away, pulling us along with her as we stepped up to the swirling black building.

There was no door but like the balcony the transparent wall was an illusion and it instantly transported us into darkness.

A tiny light flickered in the distance, then another, and another.

Soon, the tower was awash with lights, trailing and circling upwards, all the way to the seemingly never ending peak of the ominous tower.

Narrowing my eyes, I studied the spaces they illuminated—shelves, hundreds of them, spiraling up the sides of the room, each one holding a large glass case.

Growling, I stepped closer, seeing a glint of gold in the light from the petite silhouette of a fae enclosed in glass placed reverently on the shelf. "Fucking goddess." I whispered, my eyes widening with alarm.

"It's Penina." Riella whimpered.

"It’s okay, little one," I choked. Instinctively, I plucked her from my shoulders, cradling her in my arms as she buried her face into my neck.

"This is a tomb." Remnant inhaled sharply walking past us and stepping up on the ledge to another glass coffin. "Tyr," she breathed, before carefully climbing up the next spiral step, "Riley." She touched the glass grimly with her fingertips.

I watched with a sinking heart as my soulmate continued to climb, naming off our friends while the glowing orbs of light floated delicately over each and every glass coffin like a ghostly guardian.

"Orly," she murmured, and I watched as sadness etched across her face, her hand stretching out on the glass.

"We would play shadows and dragons together.

" Her eyes snapped up and then glared down at her brother, who had been silently watching in the shadows.

"I don't understand. I see their chest rise and fall, I see their hearts beating. "

"The end of your soul lies within Sheol," Kade quoted softly. "You know the rhyme mother always hummed to us. As I said before, Sheol is the land of the dead. It is not meant for the living."

"Yes. You have said that many times," I snarled back at him, holding Riella tightly as she whimpered with sadness. "But what the fuck does that mean?"

Kade sighed. "It means they are soulless, their light is gone. Their bodies are only vessels, preserved by the death god’s powers in these glass tombs and the only way to return them back to their living state is to travel to The Well of Souls."

I frowned, where had I heard that name before?

Riella sniffed, rubbing her face into me more. "They will be okay though, right Uncle Kade? You're going to help us wake them all up. Help us get their souls back."

Kade stiffened at the title she bestowed upon him and so did my soulmate but I would not chastise my daughter now, all those years alone in The Under, she had yearned for a family.

Unknowingly, she was jumping at any chance she could to build just that and there were worse beings than Kade Dark that lurked out there.

Although he was different and clearly haunted, I could still see the fae beneath.

Besides, was I not a collector of lost souls?

My own family was a ragtag bunch of wounded fae, brought together by our wounds of the past and love for each other. A love that only strengthened us.