The dark skies thundered. The blasted earth shook. Youki smoldered and seethed, a black, burning haze. “In due time,” Sesshoumaru said through gritted fangs, “I’d have secured a proper match for Rin—a mate, not a ‘husband.’ She might have lived on, my immortal daughter forever after. But now, thanks to your meddling, the chance has

Kagome felt like the ground had been torn out from underneath her. In the void of Sesshoumaru’s absence, her heart floundered, bereft. She might have stayed weeping in that state of desolation indefinitely. But her concern for her baby outweighed her distress. She dredged herself up from the frozen mud with Shin in arms. Wrapping

Inuyasha looked like he was about to say something else. But Shin gnawing on his wrist drew his attention back. “Hey, knock it off. You’d draw blood if you bit a human like that.” Shin desisted, though Kagome suspected it was more from the rumble underscoring Inuyasha’s voice than from the words themselves. Planting his