The Shadow King (26 page)

There, they eat and drink, laugh, love, and live – until morning, when they must return to the mortal realm. Should the sun rise before they are once more reunited with their bodies, the connection is severed, and the shadow loses its way, forgetting where it left its mortal.

The relationship between a mortal and its shadow is symbiotic; the mortal sustains the shadow, the shadow gives the mortal its personality. In the absence of its shadow, the mortal body will form a new one, a second shadow grown from the root edges of the one that abandoned it. However, this new shadow lacks substance. It is but a sliver of the darkness that it replaces, and leaves the mortal incomplete. Hence, it is called just that, a
sliver
. It is two-dimensional and harmless, but it offers no sustenance, rather like water to a starving soul.

A
sinumbra
, or mortal without its true shadow, will wither. Night by night, it will slowly deteriorate, often becoming depressed, lethargic, and physically ill. Many die from weakened immune systems, and the worst cases may end in suicide.

The unfortunately severed shadow itself is known as a
sinecorp
, or
Pan Shadow
amongst those in the Shadow Realm. The
Pan
becomes a desperate creature who searches endlessly for the mortal that once gave it life. This desperation relentlessly grows. Some Pan Shadows turn reckless and dangerous in this frantic hunt. The worst of them, those who had once been adjoined to the most powerful souls, will push the boundaries of the Shadow Realm, breaking its most cardinal law in order to take mortal form so they may walk in the mortal realm.

There, they infiltrate civilization to seek out their severed connection. When they cannot find it, they eventually begin hunting for a
new
one. Their sole purpose is then to find their idea of the perfect mortal mind and body, and connect with it in the night, before the mortal’s proper shadow can return from the Shadow Realm.

We have all met the Pan Shadow in mortal form. It is that gaze that makes you uncomfortable, that certain presence that feels abrasive to the spirit. There is no more determined being of malice than this unbounded darkness.

Be wary – and guard your shadow well.

Heather Killough-Walden Reading List

The Lost Angels series:

Always Angel (eBook-only introductory novella)

Avenger's Angel

Messenger's Angel

Death's Angel

Warrior's Angel

Samael

The October Trilogy:

Sam I Am

Secretly Sam

Suddenly Sam

Neverland Trilogy:

Forever Neverland

Beyond Neverland

The Big Bad Wolf series:

The Heat

The Strip

The Spell

The Hunt

The Big Bad Wolf Romance Compilation (all four books together, in proper chronological order)

The Kings - A Big Bad Wolf spinoff series:

The Vampire King

The Phantom King

The Warlock King

The Goblin King

The Seelie King

The Unseelie King

The Shadow King

(future The Kings books TBA; 13 total)

The Chosen Soul Trilogy:

The Chosen Soul

Drake of Tanith

Queen of Abaddon

Redeemer
 (stand-alone)

Hell Bent 
(stand-alone)

Vampire, Vampire
 (stand-alone)

A Sinister Game
 (stand-alone)

The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream
(stand-alone)

Note: The Lost Angels series (not including Always Angel) and the Big Bad Wolf series are available in print and eBook format. All other HKW books are currently eBook-only.

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