Page 25

Iris

Just when I thought my heart couldn’t break any further, she dropped those words.

Her face looked pained as she said them, her black aura somehow going even darker. Pitch black.

She didn’t want to let me go. I could feel it.

How dare she?

“The fuck you are,” I growled and stepped away from her, my tears no longer falling. “You think I’m gonna let us go through that and have you just throw me away like trash? What is it? Are you done playing with your toy?”

Surprised and hurt flitted across her face.

“I never thought of you as trash,” she said, offense obvious in her tone. “I have never felt such pain in my existence as when you were taken from me. Never such fear as when I tried to bargain to get you back and was denied. My soul aches for you. You, Iris, will never be trash to me. I will never be done with you.”

Her words caused heat to expand in my chest.

“Then why would you even think about letting me go?” I asked, my voice cracking.

Her shadows stretched out around her, and her face took on a contemplative expression.

“It is not safe for you here,” she explained. “Demons will come for you. They will try to eat you. You think this was the end of it? If you stay here, all you’re signing up for is danger.”

I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face.

“Stupid demon,” I said and reached out, bringing her back to me for a quick kiss. “I’m staying because I love you. Because I never want to be apart from you. Getting taken from you was my worst nightmare, and when I was there, all I could think about was you.”

“Love?” she whispered, a light blush running up her neck and spreading across her face.

How fucking cute.

I slapped my hand across her chest playfully.

“What else do you think this is?” I asked with a laugh. “I may have been purchased to be your companion, but we are the real deal now. And you are not getting rid of me that easily.”

Her face hardened.

“If this is you feeling like you have to love me because?—”

I let out a sigh.

“I know what I feel!” I said. “And it has nothing to do with what you have done for me. Yes, I am grateful you saved me at the auction, but even before, I knew how I felt about you.”

A smile slowly spread across her face.

“Love?” she asked. “My little pet loves me?”

I nodded.

“Have you ever seen it?” I asked. “Felt it? In the memories?”

She shook her head and pursed her lips.

“No, but… I think Aris loves your friend,” she said. “I think I saw it in the way she looks at her. Not like a pet. Not like food. She fears for her safety. She cares about her. Like I do about you.”

My friend. I guess I wasn’t the only one who was falling in love with their demon.

“Then don’t ever say that again,” I said as I grabbed her robe. “Let me show you what love means. Let me stay with you for as long as I live. Let me live in your world with you and come up with more competitions so we can both be distracted and find more uses for your shadows. I don’t ever want to be without you.”

Yien shocked me by picking me up and crushing me to her.

“Whatever my little pet wants,” she said with a laugh, placing quick kisses all over my face.

A giggle spilled from my lips. I never thought something silly as that could bring me such warmth, but it did.

“Take me home,” I told her, grabbing on tighter. And this time, I wasn’t planning on ever letting go.

Not until I was old and gray. And even after my soul drifted from my body, I would stay with her, waiting until the day we could be reunited again, no matter how long it took.

***

Thank you for reading TAKEN TO THE SHADOW REALM!