Page 78 of To Dwell in Shadows
Vanthee.
Sam blinked. “This… how can this be? She wasn’t even born when this book was written.”
Selene shrugged. “They don’t call them prophecies for nothing.”
He leaned in. There was no mistaking her—not with the long blonde hair, the sharp, curved horns, the red eyes. She held her torch in her left hand, its flame frozen mid-flicker. And winding around her right arm was the snake tattoo.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
“And just in case you had any doubt this is Vanthee… ” Selene turned the portrait over. “Read this.”
Long forgotten, cast away,
Her beacon stirs where lost souls stray.
Deep in the realm where spirits roam,
One lights the path to lead them home.
Between the worlds of land and shade,
Where restless echoes drift and fade,
Awakened now, her power reclaimed?—
An enchantress born by Thronefall Flame.
Selene looked at Sam expectantly. “‘Her beacon stirs where lost souls stray.’ That’s her. ‘One lights the path to lead them home,’—that’s one hundred percent Vanthee.”
Sam rubbed his jaw, rereading the passage several times. “But she’s not an enchantress.”
“No, but who knows how long ago this was written? Maybe they called any woman with special powers an enchantress then.”
Sam nodded absently. He watched the strange blue flame of the candles flicker and dance. Vanthee was certainly not who he would have chosen as Dark Sovereign. She had been manipulative, pushy, and disturbingly flirtatious. She had no leadership experience, seemed to have few allies, and lacked the poised grace most that queens carried. But, since the prophecy about his father hadn’t been wrong, he had no reason to suspect this one was false.
“What are you thinking?” Selene asked, watching him.
“Vanthee is… an unexpected choice.” He glanced at Selene then averted his eyes, weighing the merits of a confession. “I have something to share that may change your opinion of her. Recently, she made advances toward me.”
Selene arched a brow. “Oh, I know.”
He startled. “You do?”
“She told me.”
“I didn’t want to upset you, so I never mentioned it.”
“It’s fine, I wasn’t worried. But she also told me her attempts failed miserably,” Selene said with a smile that faded into seriousness. “She has an attitude and can be a pain in the neck, but shedoescare about the Underworld. And the dead. More than any other demon I’ve seen.”
Selene paused to look down at the portrait. “She’s not the worst Dark Sovereign I could think of. Has the Underworld ever been ruled by a queen?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Sam said. “But maybe it’s time it was.”
The more he thought about it, the more the idea took root. Vanthee, for all her flaws, had something many demons lacked—empathy. He remembered the banquet and her fierce defense of the dead. He remembered how she had argued not for her own gain, but for those too weak to speak for themselves. He thought about how fierce she had been during the Infernal Combat Trial, and how she had eventually had left him alone after their confrontation in the Sanctum.
If they could find a way to put Vanthee on the throne, he and Selene could finally go home. His worries would be settled.
“This is an incredible find, my love,” Sam said at last. Knowing he was never meant to be the Dark Sovereign eased a fear he hadn’t realized weighed so heavily on him.
