The Shadow Realm (The Age of Dawn Book 4) by Everet Martins Page A

from the opening portal. It twisted around counterclockwise, opening and spilling out the light of the sun.
    “The world of man?” the Shadow princess asked.
    “Yes, dear. However, you are not ready.” She caressed the face of Nyset.
    The sky was a bright blue, dotted with spiraling clouds. Walter felt a grin pull at his face and he raised his hand as if he could capture its radiance in his palm. The demons crept further back, murmuring, some anxiously barking. A figure stepped in front of the portal’s entrance, blotting out most of the light. Asebor flashed him a jagged smile as he stepped through.The portal snapped shut as if never there.
    Walter closed his fist then opened it, staring at his palm, hoping he captured some of the light. The light of the world of man. There was only blood though, thick as honey and sticking between his fingers.
    “Mother,” Asebor rasped, stomping through the blood. His tattered cloak hung limp over his shoulders, drifting over the lake. He stopped before the Shadow god and she brushed his face with the back of her bloody hand, smearing red streaks like war paint on his shadowy mask. “She is ready, I presume?”
    “Why else would I have summoned you?”
    Walter felt laughter bubbling from his lips. “A regular family fucking reunion, eh?”
    Asebor whipped his head to Walter. Asebor was in front of him in an eye blink. Lines of blood parted behind his boots and became small waves from his speed. He was faster here, much faster than Walter remembered. “Why does his soul persist?” Asebor hissed into Walter’s face. His breath was like burning sulfur.
    “He is needed,” the Shadow god said pleasantly.
    Asebor growled, letting out a deep rumbling.
    “Do what Mother tells you, dog.” Walter said, lips curling into a sneer. He would not perish begging for his soul.
    “Once it is done, can I end him, Mother?”
    “Yes, dear.”
    The shadow princess backed herself into a wall of skulls, the forearm of the giant palm. She grinned with Nyset’s mouth. Dimples formed in the corners of Nyset’s lips. She lifted her legs and wrapped her arms under her knees. The burnished carapace-like armor split apart at her groin, yawning open like the mouth of a Sand Buckeye.
    Walter turned his head. He couldn’t watch. They couldn’t hurt him anymore, he told himself. More lies. He wanted to feel numb, empty. It wasn’t Nyset. His jaw crashed down onto his tongue, hot blood spilling into his mouth. A hoarse grunt penetrated his ears.
    When he looked back at the Shadow princess, Asebor was on top of her grunting, ramming his hips into her, cloak fluttering through the air. Nyset looked past Asebor and into his eyes, smiling broadly. She was enjoying this.
    They could not hurt him, could not.
    Asebor tore at her chest and the plate came apart, revealing her firm breasts. Her flesh puckered with goosebumps. Those were his. He remembered feeling their softness pressed against him. Asebor wrapped his dark talons around her breasts, squeezing them between his fingers. Asebor grunted harder, his heavy leather armor scraping against hers. Nyset moaned, her eyes rolling back, her pink tongue lapping at the air.
    He was supposed to be her first, not this, not him. Not a fucking demon’s child. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He rose to his feet on legs that weren’t his. He saw a demon snarl at him from the corner of his eye. Felt another inch closer, felt their tendrils, claws and pincers tensing.
    The Shadow god lifted her chin and flashed him a knowing smile. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She sighed contentedly. “How delicious, wonderful. I feel it all over. Your love for her. Hate for us. Her pleasure. Pain. Life and death. All here to enjoy before our eyes, the core nature of man before the eyes of your god.”
    Walter sucked in the warm air, blood rippling down his throat. “I will destroy all of you.” His voice was ragged, eyes deadly slits. Their souls were spoken for,