Page 78 of The Shadow Prince's Ruin
He moans in sympathy, and something tugs at the mystical connection we forged merely days ago, when I took him as myDark Companion. My stomach drops at the realization that even that has changed, almost as if there is a thick door separating us, and I can only hear him scratching at it. So I allow him in.
A gateway opens in my mind, letting in the light. And with it, his voice.
[Sylvan, I’m okay! I’m still me,] Hawk tells me, and his thick, warm tongue laps at me so hard it pulls up my shirt and tickles my stomach.
I stroke him above the teeth, looking deep into eyes like two voids. “You’re not ‘okay’, my darling. This is a big,bigproblem. What if we never find a way to change you back? You’re massive and shiny. You will be hunted.”
Hawk blinks and cocks his head like one of the many dogs I’ve seen in the realm of humans, but before I can say another word, his form erupts in white light and prompts me to close my eyes. I fear it might burn me, but moments later, a big, warm hand squeezes my own, and his sweet, raspy voice strokes my ear.
“Sylvan?”
He’s there. In human form. I go straight in for a hug, but then back away with a hiss when my arm once more throbs with pain. My eyebrows rise at the sight of his face. His eyes are the first thing I notice, as they are like black rock filling in for eyeballs. And then there are the dark gold markings on his face, a symbolic wolf skull etched in skin. At least he’s not glowing.
“How did you do that?”
Hawk is so exasperated by my reaction to his touch that he blinks, watching me with a frown. And while the person in front of him speaks in his voice, has his personality, and his face, I cannot help the fact that I find the dull black of his eyes unsettling. It’s as if he’s charred from the inside.
He doesn’t notice my hesitation and shrugs. “I… justdid. It felt as easy as moving my hand,” he tells me and waves.
I’m about to pull him down for a kiss when I spot the outline of a castle above his shoulder. Far away, perched on a hilltop beyond the trees, the tallest towers of the Nocturne Palace reach into the sky with their jagged rooftops.
I point it out to him. “That’s it! The Nocturne Court. Which means we’re in the royal forest. It might not be a safe place, but I actually know my way around here.”
Hawk offers me a bright grin of sharp teeth and moves as if he were about to squeeze me… only to stop before touching my injured shoulder. Instead, he presses a kiss to my forehead. “Yeah! So we’re almost there? Amazing. Can’t wait to sleep in a bed again. Do they have beds my size, or will I need to use doggie ones now?”
I shake my head. “It’s not funny. And I have no idea how we will be greeted now that you’re wearing the Sunwolf Crown. We will need to sneak in, but I know several secret entryways.”
Hawk frowns and touches his face. “I… don’t have the mask.”
I stroke his cheek, wishing I had a pocket mirror, though I doubt he’d see much in this darkness anyway. Unless the change has also affected his vision. There are still so many unknowns.
“You do. It is now a part of you. Remember how I told you that they cut it off the face of the last Sunwolf? We don’t want that to happen, do we?”
He freezes, then touches his face, attempting to sense the bone and metal the crown was made of before attaching itself to its new host. “What do you mean? It’s just my face.”
“No, my love. You have the markings of the Sunwolf on your face now. And your eyes… How well do you see now in the night?”
Hawk frowns. “What night?”
To be fair,thatdoes have its perks. I clear my throat and pull out the dagger I took with me from Tassarion’s forge. I unsheathe it so he can see at least a vague reflection in the metal.
Hawk leans in, and his long hair cascades down his shoulder as he blinks, staring at the polished blade. I see the exact moment he realizes I’m not joking, because his face falls, and he taps his open eye with one of his fingertips, as if he needs to make sure it really is that black. “Fuck… I look… like a monster.”
I sigh and hug him with my good arm. “It’s not looks that make a monster. You put it on to save me.” I place my hand over his heart, even though I feel like crying at the loss of our greatest asset. Whether we want it or not, Hawk will now end up forever entwined in court politics. “We will handle it. Once I have access to the Nocturne Court library, I will learn everything there is to know about the mask, and maybe one day I will find a way to take it off you. For now, we still have your shadow to show up with.”
I glance to our feet, where even in the darkness of the night—
“It’s gone,” I utter. “You have no shadow.”
Chapter 31
Sylvan
Idip my fingers into my shadow, trying to convince myself that Hawk’s darkness isn’tgone, but that I just can’t see it.
But it’s not there.
I drop to my knees and pat the ground under his feet despite the agony in my shoulder.
