Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(142)

I got out of the car, my shoes crunching on the white shells. I don’t know what made me do it but I was wearing my little black ballet flats again—the ones I’d worn through my entire journey through Hell. They were a little worse for the wear but they still fit just right and felt more comfortable than anything else I owned.

In addition to my flats, I had on a long, white sun dress I’d bought for the beach but never gotten around to wearing it before. It had thin spaghetti straps and a slit that went up to my knees, making it easy to walk though the soft cotton fabric fell to my ankles.

I don’t know what made me dress in white, which I knew was Laish’s favorite color on me. I told myself I’d just thrown on the first thing in the closet but if I was honest with myself, that wasn’t true. I wanted to look good for this meeting. I wasn’t sure what it might mean in the end or how Laish really felt about me but I wanted to know I looked good while I was trying to get some answers. Feeling pretty makes me more confident—silly, I know but I can’t help it.

I was about to go up the broad front steps—there were about fifteen of them, since the huge mansion was built high, probably because it was so close to the sea—when I heard a voice call my name.

“Gwendolyn? Around here.”

It was Laish and he was beckoning me from the side of the house. He was dressed much more casually than I’d ever remembered seeing him before, in a deep blue button down shirt and tan trousers. The shirt’s sleeves were rolled up to show his muscular forearms and the front was unbuttoned and hanging loose, giving me a glimpse of his mouthwatering chest. The trousers were rolled up too and he was barefoot, as though he’s just been walking along the beach.

“Laish?” I came towards him uncertainly, crunching over the shells until I reached a paved path that ran from the side of the house all the way around to the back. “We need to talk,” I said as soon as I reached him.

“In a moment. For now, come—I have someone who’s eager to see you.” He smiled at me and held out a hand. “Oh, and you can leave your shoes here. You’ll just get sand in them otherwise.”


Reluctantly, I slipped out of my black flats and left them lined up neatly on the path. Then, ignoring Laish’s outstretched hand, I started off down the path around the back of the house.

He followed me, noiseless in his bare feet, but I could feel his presence like a huge shadow looming just over my shoulder. I wondered if he was upset that I had refused to hold his hand. But I wanted to get things straightened out between us before I let myself touch him in any way. It was much harder to think, somehow, when he held me in those muscular arms. I needed to keep my distance until I figured out what was what.

When we finally got around the back of the house and I stepped from the paved path into the warm sand, I was blown away by the view. In fact, for a moment I had to just stop and stare.

“Wow,” I breathed, looking out at the beautiful beach with its pristine white sand stretching down to the deep blue ocean.

The sun was sinking into the water, casting long shadows and painting the white sand in gorgeous pinks and purples and oranges. High above, I could hear the seagulls crying and there was a cool, salty wind swirling around me, tugging at my hair and the hem of my dress.

It looked like a scene out of a tourist brochure for Florida—breathtakingly gorgeous and impossibly perfect. And then it got even better.

Off to my left I heard a ringing neigh and then Kurex came galloping towards me, his dinner plate-sized hooves pounding over the sand.

“Oh, Kurex!” I ran to meet him, tears of joy stinging my eyes.

He made a soft nh-huh-huh-huh sound as he dropped his immense head on my shoulder. I put my arms as far around his massive neck as I could and hugged him.

“It’s so good to see you again, boy,” I told him, pressing my face to his neck as his long, silky black mane whipped around me. “I thought you were back with your old master.”

“I liberated him from Yerx. I thought he would be happier living here with me than back in the Infernal Realm,” Laish remarked, coming up behind me.

I turned to face him.

“Wait a minute—you live here now? Or is this just like a, kind of summer home—a place to stay when you visit the Mortal Realm?”

“It used to be,” he said quietly. “But for now it is my home—at least temporarily while I make some important decisions.”

“What decisions? And what’s going to happen to Kurex?” I asked as the big horse nuzzled me once more and then trotted off to investigate some tasty sea grass growing out of the sand.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Is that really what you want to ask me? Why you drove all the way down here to speak to me face-to-face, Gwendolyn?”

“No.” I took a deep breath and decided to just come out with it. “Did you take half my soul?”

He nodded gravely. “I did. And you have every right to be angry with me about it.”

“But…you did it so you could shut the door into the Abyss. So I wouldn’t have to do it myself—right?” I looked up at him hopefully.

He nodded again. “I did.”

“Well if you knew that was possible in the first place, why did we have to go through all that? Why drag me down to Hell and make me go through all seven circles if you could have just asked for a piece of my soul in the first place and gone and closed the door yourself?”