Sworn to the Shadow God (Aspect and Anchor #2)

by Ruby Dixon

so full of a certain…spark that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He’d gotten his eye back, his vision whole once more, but…sometimes he wondered if he’d made a poor trade. What would it be like to have a companion? A real companion? Someone that would have actual conversations with

Perhaps that was it. Duty irritated him. Where was the free will, the spirit that he’d seen in Aron’s anchor? He wanted that. He needed that. Rhagos needed a new anchor, he decided.

Rhagos had seen pure and utter joy in one of his brethren. Rhagos hungered for that. Fucking envied that. He wanted that joy. He wanted to care about something so very much that it drove him mad. Right now? He did not care about much of anything.

Had to be the Aspect of Apathy that had won, damn all the luck.

Belara would have picked a male, and Rhagos was far more interested in a female. He thought of Aron and his blonde anchor, the way she’d flung herself at him and twined her legs around his waist. That had hinted at far closer a relationship than mere companions. He definitely wanted a female.

jerk the paper cup of coffee out from under the brewer the moment it’s full and dump cream and sugar in it, one of each, just like how my dickweed boss likes it.

really do have the best intentions, but I’m easily distracted and never learn from my mistakes.

you said if I applied, you’d put in a good word with your boss. That my gender didn’t matter. And then you helped your buddy Sam get hired last month.” I’m trying not to feel betrayed. “That was different,” Jim says. Is it?

And I’m so trusting that I thought my friend would help me get the job I wanted…but he helped his buddy, instead.

notice the moon is coming up over the distant horizon…and it’s enormous. And red. That’s not Earth’s moon.

Oh shit. I’ve read about this in books—and watched enough anime—to know what this is. I’ve fallen through a portal into another dimension. Part of me is a little panicked, but then that fades. This. Is. AWESOME.

I’ve been chosen for something if I’m in a strange land. Isn’t that how it goes in all these fantasy books?

I’ve been tapped by the gods or selected to perform some sort of quest, and then I get to go home to my worl...

“First things first,” I tell absolutely no one in particular. “I find the nearest town and get quests and newbie gear from NPCs.” Right. This isn’t a game—the

the place ahead of me does not look like any sort of town I’ve ever seen before. It looks like a fucking garbage dump.

Ooohhh she ended up in Katharn.

have no skills that translate to any sort of video game class. I’m too clumsy to be a fighter, too clueless of magic to be a cleric or a mage, and too hamhanded to be a thief. I don’t know anything about forests so rangering is out, and I’m definitely not a barbarian type. I can’t sing a note, so I’m not a bard. I don’t know what that leaves other than…dork.

"Humor. I see why, now. It all becomes clear." The spinner nods. "Humor and a positive spirit. It will be a good balance."

"I knew you were coming, but you are yet a surprise. The gods are mysterious."

Every thread is black. Jet black. Both Arla and the spinner gasp. “What?” I cry. “What is it? What’s black thread mean?” The spinner gives me a sober look. “It means death is all around you.”

"The Anticipation is the return of the gods," the spinner says ominously. "They will be cast from their homes in the Aether and forced to do penance in the mortal realm. It will be a time of much chaos. A very dangerous, dangerous time. A time of opportunity, too, for those that pursue

because death is coming," the spinner says, and shakes a gnarled finger in my face. "He will be all around you. Entwined with you. That is why your threads are black. He has plans."

"Death is coming with the gods?" "Death is one of the gods, fool," Arla snaps.

But your destiny is with him." She nods sagely. "Seek the shadows and their embrace."

"Fate has already decided your path through the web.

“Speaking of dudes…how is it that you can understand me?” I look over at her, curious. “How is it that you speak English?” “English?” Arla gives me a dismissive look. “You’re speaking common.”

Clears up that lingering question from the first book. It’s basically what I assumed.

I am? I sound the same to my own ears, but maybe if there’s magic that can pull me from my world, the magic

Somehow I manage to keep going, even though my legs feel chafed from the denim between my thighs and my feet are sprouting blisters despite my comfortable sneakers.

The chaffing! So glad it’s in here and her jeans aren’t magical anti-chaffing jeans.

By the time I get back to my sleeping spot, my heavy pack with the supplies Arla gave me is gone, too.

She needs some street smarts fast or she’ll be TSTL.

I am really, really not doing good at this whole Chosen One thing. Is there an opposite of Chosen One? Am I the last resort? It’s starting to feel like it.

you don’t know if the zone is safe, you don’t camp there. It’s rule number one of any fantasy-world game—play smart or someone’s going to gank you.

My mood brightens as I rationalize this world with a video game. A town is a safe spot, theoretically, but it’s also a place to get quests.

Count to ten and wait. I squeeze my eyes shut so I don't have to see the darkness around me, and count. One…two…three… I crack open an eye, just because I'm an impatient sort.

intelligence. I'm not the type that gets blown away by a pretty face and an expansive pair of shoulders…until today. Unless…he's Hedonism.

Rhagos's answer isn't very enthusiastic, and I get a niggling sort of worry that he might be Apathy instead of Hedonism. It would explain a lot, I think. His reluctance to tell me which Aspect he is, for starters. Poor guy—if he really is Apathy, he must be miserable.

I'd be saddled with an apathetic death god?

Apathetic Death God sounds like the name of a band.

Rhagos is Apathy, I imagine he didn't choose to be so. Poor guy's probably trapped in a constant state of lethargy. It's like depression, and I'm going to have to just treat him with care and understanding.

If he can't be the strong leader…I'm going to have to be the strong leader.

Dude’s been making me wait for days now. I’m not going to jump to his bidding. That sets us both off on the wrong foot. He’s not supposed to be my boss, but my partner, and the people pleaser in me squirms a little as I sit back down

I’ll be damned if I let Maxine Chavez be a freaking doormat here in a new world.

It's something I'm increasingly aware of as I get older. No one wants to be a twenty-four-year-old virgin. It doesn't imply that you're choosy, it just implies there's something wrong with you.

She’s on,y 24? I was thinking/hoping she was older. Really 24 is not old though sets imputing it is, and it’s not a big deal to still be a Virgin at that age.

my hand in his and puts it low on his stomach, just above the dark curls that frame his enormous cock.

I was hoping this would be much more slow burn like the first book.

I let myself be open and vulnerable to him. I offered myself to him. I sucked on his damn dick. And what do I get?

I'm stupidly glad I bit him. I hope it fucking hurt. I hope his precious dick fucking falls right off. I hope he never lets another girl go down on him again. It'd serve him right.

I do love that sh bit him. Normalize biting people hurting you.

I’m so dumb. So, so dumb. The spinner said I was too trusting, didn’t she?

I've been deluding myself, thinking that I'm important in the scheme of things when really, I'm just a target.

My jaw drops. The dead aren't…dying?

can’t figure him out. Just when I think he’s being completely tender, he’s cruel.

But Rhagos is full of apathy. He doesn't want to go anywhere. How do I pry the man out of a palace when he's perfectly content to let the world serve him and do nothing to deserve the adulation?

need to remember to think ahead—my biggest flaw.

It’s a…poop rope. Of all the things I thought I’d encounter on my quest here, a poop rope is at the very, very bottom.