Shadow pursed his lips, those sinful lips, but for the first time, I was too distraught to get distracted by him.

“From what Inky sensed, Midnight has integrated itself completely into the system, and the odds of easily untangling all of that energy are low. The only one who might have a shot is you. Can you reach Midnight through your bond? Convince it to release its hold on the library?”

Closing my eyes, I mentally followed the path of our bond. A path that had sat mostly dormant, even as my memories had returned. Midnight? Can you hear me?

A sharp vibration of energy shot back at me, not exactly hostile, but definitely not up for a friendly chat. I recoiled, unable to find a way to break through to my mist. At least I did know our connection remained, but it had been changed.

“It’s not up for a friendly exchange at this time,” I said sadly, opening my eyes and releasing my hold on the bond. “I mean, why did it even return here? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to stay in the realm it’s from, especially without memories of me?”

Shadow took a moment to converse with Inky before he passed the information on to me. “Inky believes that it was drawn back through the Solaris System looking for you. Only it didn’t remember you and ended up bonding to the shattered power of the library.”

I had to hold back my tears again, thinking about my poor Midnight just aimlessly searching for its bonded one, only to find the closest thing and settle. “Dannie has a fucking lot to answer for,” I growled huskily. “She managed to screw so much up, and it’s only by the grace of the damn gods we’ve come as far as we have after her manipulations.”

“Grace of no fucking gods,” Shadow shot back. “It was your stubborn ass. Now let’s head into the lair; Midnight will find its way to you. If there’s one thing I know for sure about Mera Callahan, it’s that she’s impossible to resist for long.”

He strode off, Inky wrapped around his shoulders, and I exchanged a look with Angel. “He just keeps using love words,” I whispered to her, “even if he won’t say the actual word itself.”

She smiled, tugging me against her side. For non-hugging beings, they’d certainly come around to the concept fast. “You should have known that he was going to love you from the first moment he didn’t murder you for smarting off at him. The Shadow you know is not the one most of us do. He never suffers fools or any form of disrespect. Not even from his friends, but with you… he almost encourages it.”

“It’s a lot like winning the damn lotto.”

Angel actually let out a chuckle. “Like winning it twice.”