Every word the Shade said weighed down Sparrow's already-diminished spirit even more. The Lord of the Vale. Limbo. At least she knew with absolute certainty that if she couldn't make him happy she was truly fucked.

Some of the fear must have shown on her face, because he stopped to drive in the last point. This time she did meet his eyes, although she flinched when he raised his hand to brush her cheek, bracing for a strike that never came.

"But you already own me," she said when she found her voice. "That has to include my soul, if I have one. I don't understand."