In the shadows of the room, Darling looks at her mother with new awareness.
“We made Merry a promise that if she helped us, she would be fine. But she wasn’t fine.”
Merry hiccups on a sob and Darling clutches her mother’s hand to her chest.
“So tell us,” Kas says as he takes another step. “Was Tilly helping Pan look for the shadow, or was she keeping it from him? Destroying the Darlings’ memories so no one would know where it was?”
I grit my teeth, tighten my hold on my sword waiting for the answer.
“Is that true, Brownie?” I ask.
He sputters, tries to get the twins in front of him again, but as Kas distracts him, Bash gets behind him.
“He killed Tink!”
“Our mother was not a virtuous woman,” Bash says. “None of us are.”
He darts toward the Brownie. The Brownie dances away.
And I lunge with my blade, sinking it deep into his chest. Blood coats his lips.
On a wet, raspy breath he says, “You are no king. You are a coward.”
When the blood has drained from his face and the life from his eyes, I pull the blade out. He drops to the floor with a heavy thunk. We are surrounded by bodies and I am coated in blood.
Barely restrained euphoria pulses through me.
Darling lets go of her mother and steps forward. There’s a box in her hands.
My shadow.
I’ve searched for it for so long that I almost don’t want to believe this is real.
“Is that it?” I ask.
She comes closer. The box is etched with fae runes. I swear I can still smell Tink on it. Like autumn leaves and fairy dust.
She was my best friend once.
Until she wasn’t.
And I’m gutted all over again remembering how it ended.
When I found out what she’d done, that she’d masterminded stealing my shadow as some form of revenge, I’d gone to her and I’d said, I don’t believe in fairies.
Her light winked out, her eyes went white, and within seconds she was dead.
Just like that.
I didn’t even have to get my hands dirty.
The Brownie was right about one thing—I was a coward.
I wish I would have at least given Tink the chance to fight back.
But I think I was afraid of never forgetting what it felt like to have her blood on my hands.
“Should I open it?” Darling asks, forcing me back to the present.
“Not yet. Not until we get back to Neverland. Bash and Kas, start cleaning this mess up.”
Bash sighs dramatically. “We turned down the shot of getting our wings back for you. And you make us clean up Brownie guts?”
“We’ll get you your wings back. But first you need to do as I ask.”
Bash grumbles, then, “Darling, where do you keep your shovels?”
“Ummm…”
Merry is trembling like a leaf, but she answers, nonetheless. “Shovels. Two shovels. In the shed. I’ll take you.”
“Very well, Merry,” Kas says. “Lead the way.”
Vane picks up a Brownie, hoists the dead weight over his shoulder and follows the lot out the back door.
It’s just me and the Darling.
“You’re home now,” I tell her. “Thank you for helping me.” I hold out my hand for the box.
She tucks it beneath her arm.
“Darling,” I say, not bothering to hide the warning from my voice.
“Take me back with you.”
“What?”
“Take me back.”
“Why?”
She looks around the carnage and frowns.
“There’s more than just the shadow,” she says.
“What do you mean?”
“I…I don’t know. It’s nothing more than a gut instinct. But when Tilly got inside my head…”
“Yes?”
“I think she’s plotting something. Against you.”
“It would seem so.” Like mother like daughter, apparently.
“So maybe I can help. I helped you find your shadow.”
My first instinct is to leave her here. Whatever is waiting for me in Neverland, it won’t be good.
“You’ll be safer here.”
Her gaze hardens. “Safer is not what I want.”
I have a sudden flash of bending her over the table. Pretty Darling girl wants dark, vile things done to her.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t want that too.
I want her wet cunt wrapped around my cock.
The moment I met her, I knew she was different. I don’t know what it is about her but it reminds me of something old and forgotten.