Page 33 of To Dwell in Shadows (Shadows of Aurelia #2)

S elene estimated they had walked at least a mile past streams and barren fields toward a looming range of black mountains before Vanthee finally came to a halt. Far behind them, the palace stood like a dark specter, its jagged spires slicing into the red sky.

In front of them, the land dropped off sharply, revealing a vast, desolate basin nestled between the mountains.

At its center, three enormous rock domes jutted up from the earth, perfectly arranged in a triangle.

Each dome emitted a different glow. The largest radiated a piercing, otherworldly white light; the second shimmered with a serene blue haze, and the third pulsed ominously with a deep red.

“Follow me,” Vanthee said irritably and began her descent down a treacherous staircase carved into the cliffside. The stone steps were narrow from age, worn smooth by time.

“What is this place?” Selene asked, trailing behind her carefully. She wore a long velvet gown with bell sleeves, and though she was deliberate with her footing, she nearly slipped off more than once. Ruth sweetly reached out to steady her elbow, but her hand passed right through .

“Spirit Veil Valley.”

“What are those domes?”

“Those are the thresholds,” Vanthee replied as though Selene had just asked something painfully obvious. “The white one leads from the living realm into the Underworld, the blue goes to the Afterworld, and the red leads to the Sanctum of Agonizing Rectitude.”

By the time they reached the bottom, Selene was breathing hard, her skin damp with sweat. Then Vanthee startled her by pressing a hand to her sternum and pushing her back against the mountainside.

Vanthee’s red eyes locked onto hers. “It’s nearly time for the souls to arrive. You have to stay right here. Got it? No matter what you see or hear, do not move from this spot.”

Selene nodded. Her pulse quickened in anticipation.

“We don’t have much time.” Vanthee added, then she pointed to the dome glowing with the blue light. “Tell Ruth that’s where I’ll take her.”

Selene looked at the dome then up at the spirit hovering behind her. “Ruth, it’s time for you to go. You need to follow Vanthee to the blue light over there. Then you’ll be home.”

Honest to goodness?

“Yes. You can do it,” Selene urged gently..

Ruth pressed her hands together and bowed.

Thank you, miss.

Vanthee made a beckoning gesture, and Ruth floated behind her.

With each step toward the Afterworld threshold, Selene watched the fear etched into Ruth’s ghostly form melt into relief. Her shoulders relaxed and her haunted eyes softened with a quiet acceptance.

When they reached the entrance, Ruth paused. She turned back toward Selene and lifted a hand in salute. The grateful look on her face brought a lump to Selene’s throat.

Vanthee then raised her tattooed arm and swept it in an arc over Ruth's chest. With a sudden whoosh of unseen power, Ruth was pulled forward. The blue dome’s light embraced her instantly, wrapping around her until her figure dissolved into the brilliance.

Selene squinted through the glow, watching its hue shift from deep sapphire to sky-blue.

And then Ruth was gone.

At peace.

Selene sighed gratefully. The sense of accomplishment that swelled in her chest was unlike anything she had ever known.

To witness something so beautiful—and to have played a small role in making it happen—felt like a profound privilege.

Tears welled in her eyes, the moment forever etching itself into her memory until Vanthee’s voice cut through.

“All right, flesh-bag, I’ll be back soon. Don’t do anything stupid!”

Selene laughed through her tears at Vanthee’s bluntness. She lifted a hand in a small wave, watching as the demoness disappeared into the large white dome, her torch flickered until it was swallowed by darkness.

Wiping away her happy tears, Selene glanced around the valley and shivered.

There was a strange energy to this place.

The air was still, but beneath her feet pulsed a low hum, almost too deep to hear, but impossible to ignore.

Overhead, the sky churned with bruised purple and gray, hinting at a storm that would never come.

It felt like a place not meant for mortal understanding.

She stared at the dome Ruth had vanished into, still struggling to grasp the enormity of what she was seeing.

It was almost too much to comprehend, being privy to the place where souls went after death.

The soft, shimmering light emanating from the blue dome filled her with a sense of calm and made her feel hopeful. Serene.

She looked over at the white dome, waiting for an emotion to stir, but nothing came. Only curiosity about where it led.

But when she turned her focus to the red-lit dome? That hit different.

Staring into the dome that led to the Sanctum consumed her with a thick, creeping dread.

Suddenly, every regret she’d ever had came rushing back.

Every shameful deed, cruel thought, and mistake she wished she could undo resurfaced.

They tumbled through her, growing louder, heavier—like a snowball gathering mass as it rolled downhill—until all she could feel was shame.

Thankfully, the sound of voices and approaching footsteps from the white dome pulled her gaze away. Moments later, Vanthee emerged, trailed by an enormous crowd of spirits drifting silently in her wake.

They moved in unified procession, their translucent forms flickering. Vanthee led them to the center of the triangle formed by the domes, where she held her torch high, casting a warm light that cut through the eerie twilight around them.

One by one, each spirit approached her, as if instinctively understanding that their final journey would soon be determined.

Vanthee placed a hand over each spirit’s heart, then nudged them toward either the gate with the blue light or the gate with the red light.

Her movements were steady and practiced, as though she’d performed this ritual countless times.

As the spirits crossed their designated thresholds, each gate reacted differently: the blue light of the Afterworld embraced its travelers, growing brighter as they dissolved within it, while the red light leading to the Sanctum flickered and flared, swallowing its chosen ones in an angry flash.

It all happened quickly. Selene estimated that Vanthee directed thousands of souls through in just a few minutes.

And they weren’t all human. She saw many Aurelians, three giants, several dwarves, and a handful of faeries.

Most went to the Afterworld, but the ones bound for the Sanctum received an extra hard shove from Vanthee.

A few souls drifted away from the herd, looking lost and unmoored. They drifted around the valley, further and further from Vanthee, until like moths to a flame, they glided toward the palace.

Selene watched the whole process with awe. Knowing she was the only human to witness such a sight left her deeply humbled. Every person she had ever lost had come through the Underworld. Both sets of grandparents. A co-worker with cancer. A friend who died in a car wreck.

All of them had been guided by Vanthee.

After the seemingly endless line of souls crossed over, Selene assumed the ritual was finished.

But then she saw a final figure stumble out of the gateway—a human boy, perhaps no older than six.

He wore a hospital gown that swayed around his ghostly frame.

Unlike the other spirits, whose faces held a serene acceptance, this child’s face was streaked with tears.

Selene watched as Vanthee approached him slowly, moving with an unexpected gentleness.

She knelt down to his level and extended her torch toward him.

With a subtle wave of her hand, the flame shifted, transforming from fiery orange to a soft flicker of pink, blue, and green.

The colors danced like a quiet rainbow in the dim light, and the boy’s tearful expression softened.

His mouth curved into a tentative smile.

Vanthee then extended her forearm, and a snake’s head rose from the tattoo on her skin.

It observed the boy curiously, tilting its head like a puppy.

When the boy reached toward it, Selene held her breath, half-expecting the snake to strike, but instead, it arched with pleasure as the boy stroked its scaly skin. He began to giggle.

Once the snake finally retreated beneath her skin and the boy’s tears had dried, Vanthee pointed toward the gateway to the Afterworld.

The boy nodded. Together, they walked toward the shimmering threshold.

As he stepped closer, his expression shifted—from fear to pure, radiant joy—and the sight made tears stream down Selene’s cheeks.

Vanthee blew him a kiss. He beamed, then stepped forward into the embrace of the blue light.

And he was gone.

After watching a few moments to ensure the boy had fully disappeared, Vanthee returned to the white gateway, presumably to check for any other stragglers.

Finding none, she blew on her torch to extinguish it, looped it back into her belt, then turned toward Selene and frowned. “What are you crying about?”

“What you do… it’s beautiful,” Selene said, wiping her eyes.

Vanthee seemed disarmed by her words. “I take my job very seriously.”

“I can tell. And you do this every day?”

“People die every day.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Selene said, still sniffling. “How do you know which gateway to send them to?”

Vanthee held out her tattoo. “The snakes tell me. They determine who deserves punishment and who can pass.”

“What deserves punishment?”

“Why don’t you ask your Vengeance demon mate?” Vanthee shot back. When Selene didn’t react, she continued. “Punishable acts are murder, cruelty, rape, assault, theft, fraud… anything that violates someone else’s trust or safety.”

Vanthee began climbing the stairs out of the valley, and Selene followed. “The snakes just tell me who deserves punishment. The demons in the Sanctum decide how much to deliver.”

“I can see why some of the souls got past you,” Selene said quietly. “It’s so easy for them to drift away.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” Vanthee snapped.

“Maybe I could help?—”

“Maybe you could shut up,” Vanthee cut in quickly.

Selene stepped carefully over a broken stair. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like criticism. No one could herd that many souls. You’re doing the best anyone could. Probably better.”

“Yeah, right.”

“No, I mean it. Truly, I’m blown away by what you do. You probably have the most important job here.”

Vanthee stopped walking abruptly. “Stop. Just stop what you’re doing.”

Selene blinked in surprise. “What am I doing? ”

“You’re trying to get on my good side with all your flattery and empathy. I don’t need it.”

“I really wasn’t.”

“Sure seemed like it.”

“Don’t worry, I know you can’t stand me,” Selene replied with a chuckle.

“It’s not that I can’t stand you.” Vanthee kicked a loose pebble off the step. “It’s that… ”

When she didn’t continue, Selene gently probed, “What?”

Vanthee’s eyes snapped to hers, hot with accusation. “You took something from me.”

“Me? I’ve never taken anything from you.”

“Yes, you did!” Vanthee stared at her for a beat, then her words came in a torrent of anger.

“You don’t know how many nights I used to dream about the lost prince returning to the Underworld.

After my father promised me to Drath, I could only think of one way to escape.

There was only one path that would free me from the betrothal—if I was the lost prince’s fated mate. ”

She rubbed her palm over her snake tattoo in a soothing gesture. “And then you took that from me.” Her voice cracked with emotion.

“I… ” Selene’s words faltered. “I didn’t know.”

“When you came with him from Aurelia, I tried to convince myself my dream wasn’t dead.

At first, I thought—there’s no way you could be his fated mate.

But when I found out you can wield the shadows, that hope crumbled.

Still, I told myself I might have a chance.

Maybe as his second wife or mistress. Maybe I could win him over, or at least prove I was a worthy match. I even tried to seduce him?—”

“Wait, you did what?” Selene gasped.

“I tried to seduce him but it was a complete disaster, okay?”

A small flicker of satisfaction warmed Selene knowing that Sam’s love for her had withstood even a demoness’s attempt at seduction. But she didn’t dare let it show .

Vanthee was quiet for a moment, then sniffed bitterly. “He really loves you. And he wants nothing to do with me.”

“Do you truly have to marry Drath?”

“I don’t know. Probably. He called it off after I tried to murder him, but lately he’s been asking about me. I don’t know what sort of deal he and my father have now.”

A single tear tracked down her cheek. Then she turned and continued up the stairs.

Selene shuddered. There were few things she could imagine worse than being Drath’s wife. They resumed their slow ascent, the silence broken only by Vanthee’s quiet hiccups as she tried to stifle her tears.

When they reached the top, Selene felt as though she should say something, but didn’t know what. Finally, she settled on, “Vanthee, I’m sorry that Sam couldn’t give you what you wanted. Is there anything he or I could do to help you?”

“Still trying to get on my good side,” Vanthee said bitterly, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

“No—”

“Here’s what you can do. Just let me be miserable in peace.”