Page 71 of To Dwell in Shadows
Then he would repair the infrastructure. Address the poor roads, eliminate the creeping rot, and repair or replace the many crumbling buildings.
He would make sure the imps and other beasts were treated humanely. Selene’s beloved hellhounds would receive new, clean kennels and a spacious area for them to train. In fact, he would build Selene an entirely new library so she no longer had to toil in the decrepit one. As the Underworld’s beloved queen, she could have anything she wished?—
He abruptly stopped in his tracks.
If he were to stay as the Dark Sovereign, Selene would have to become a demon. She would have to abandon her humanity and mold herself into something else entirely. Permanently change herself in response to a decision he made about both of their lives.
The idea made him feel nauseous.
He snapped off a thorny branch from a nearby shrub as he put more distance between himself and the palace. The transformation process his mother described had been harrowing. The changes Selene’s body could face included sprouting horns, growing fangs, and losing the soft curves Sam loved—replaced by sharp, unforgiving angles. Even if Selene was agreeable to becoming a demon, what if she hated the person she became?
During his time in Aurelia with Zaybris’s former colleague,Waldron, the vampire had confided in Sam how much he despised his new form. Turned against his will, Waldron found it utterly torturous to adapt to hungers and urges that violated his deepest morals. Though he longed for an end to his suffering, that release was denied to him. For Waldron could not leave the world in the same form in which he had entered it.
The truth was that Selene would never be happy here. This realm wasn’t meant for someone like her; it was too steeped in darkness and death.
Yet her uncanny ability to speak with the dead gave him pause. It made him wonder if that gift was proof she belonged here more than she knew. As his mate, perhaps she possessed hidden protections that could soften the passage from mortality to demonhood. If the power of their bond could shield her from the worst of the change, she might have a gentler descent into the dark.
It was a notion not easily dismissed.
Chapter 35
The week after sending Ruth home, Selene found herself squeezed between Queen Thema and Empusa on a bench fashioned from scaffolding along the River of Hatred. Only an hour earlier, she and Sam had been rudely awakened by an imp who informed them that the next trial would take place at the river…
Immediately.
A few days ago, Queen Thema had announced that she was ready to return to Aurelia, and apparently King Asmodeus decided that his sister-in-law deserved a proper send-off. So, in true royal fashion, that meant spectacle. Why not knock out one of the trials at the same time?
Selene glanced around uneasily at the swarm of demons clinging to the scaffolding. The entire structure looked as though it had been slapped together hours ago—rickety, swaying, and packed with creatures eager for chaos. Some demons sat shoulder to shoulder on narrow planks; others dangled by their tails or clawed feet.
Although a channel of the River of Hatred ran past the palace, they were gathered in a part of the Underworld where Selene had never ventured into before. Having grown up near the CumberlandRiver—a body of water about a mile wide that wound through Nashville—she had expected the trial would take place near something similar. But this was no ordinary river. The widest part of the River of Hatred was so vast she could only see the far shore if she strained her eyes. The waters were also heavily polluted with discarded metal, torn netting, and other debris.
Empusa, seated to Selene’s right, poked a finger beneath her eye patch to scratch an itch. Selene had come to realize that all demons had their own peculiar scents, but Empusa’s was perhaps the strangest yet—an odd mix of patchouli, rusted metal, and the faintest trace of bourbon. When she let out a thunderous burp, Queen Thema, sitting on Selene’s left, pinched her nose in disgust.
“Oh, do pardon me, Aurelian queen,” Empusa chirped in a high-pitched voice, thick with mockery.
Queen Thema gave her a withering look. “I will certainly not miss the lack ofmannersin this realm.”
“Empusa,” Selene asked, tucking back the strands of hair that kept blowing in her eyes, “do you know what the king wants the competitors to do for this trial?”
“Traverse the river, I imagine.”
“You mean like swim?”
Empusa chuckled darkly. “Only if they want to become a part of it. The waters are poisonous. If anyone falls in… ” Empusa snapped her fingers. “Gone! Dissolved into nothing.”
“They die?”
“Yes. But also no. Their body perishes, but their spirit becomes part of the river. If you look closely at the currents, you can see the faces of those it has claimed.
Selene’s throat tightened. She watched the competitors pacing along the riverbank, noting how carefully they avoided even getting their feet wet. Sam stood apart from the rest, arms crossed, his gaze locked on the river.
“How are they supposed to cross it, then?”
Empusa gave her an exaggerated wink. “That’s the challenge! Seethat demon with the lesions on his skin? That’s who I’m cheering for.”
Selene spotted a short demon below them with tiny holes scattered across his body like coral. “Oh?”
“My nephew. He’s a demon of Mishap. He doesn’t have much chance at outshining your mate, of course, but competition builds character!”
