Chapters (41)
- TITLE PAGE
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART TWO
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- PART THREE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- ALSO BY ELLA FIELDS
I avoided touching the scar, but I couldn’t keep from touching the corner of the sealed eye nor from marveling at what must have been agony. Traumatizing.
The longer and closer I looked, the more evident it became that someone had pried his eye from his face. “Who did this to you?” For they hadn’t merely gouged it from his head—this warrior had been marked by such brutality that it could have killed him.
“Do I detect a little wrath there, wildflower?”
“You won’t say. I already know you won’t.”
“The details are murky, and even if I wanted to, there’s no point in sharing them.” He sighed, threading his fingers through mine and holding our hands between us. “I like the look of murder in your eyes.” He dragged his teeth over his lip. “A rare, stormy sunrise blue, but don’t waste it on me.”
I melted into him, and his lone eye heated. “You’re far sweeter than you look, wolf.”
He barked out a laugh. “Furthest thing from sweet,” he said, his grin positively wolfish. He kissed my knuckles, then released my hand to move some strands of hair from my face. “It was a long time ago. I was young, so I managed.”
“You simply managed?” I asked, a touch incredulous and unable to hide it.
“Don’t fret, wildflower.” Stroking the curve of my cheek, he admitted, “I’ve never missed it, not in the way I should. There are other things I would’ve chosen in a heartbeat over having it healed. All were impossible, so I learned to live without everything I once had with an aggression that enables me to better guard what I do have.”
I pressed against him, wanting more but knowing better than to force him. “You lost loved ones.”
He nodded but said nothing more on that. His finger and eye traced my lower lip, his voice a quiet rumble. “My other senses became stronger—so much clearer than that of those I grew and trained alongside. My instincts have never led me wrong, and I can’t help but feel as though I wouldn’t have risen to the highest rank possible if I hadn’t been forced to fight twice as hard as my brethren.”
A warrior indeed.
“Now,” he said, his hand sweeping over my curves to caress and grip my rear. “Tell me what brought you to that tavern.”
I couldn’t. But I could lie while wondering if maybe it was not a lie at all.
I kissed him with a whispered, “I was looking for you.”
THREE
Aster
Wide awake and alone for hours the following morning, I paced Scythe’s apartment as though I’d been imprisoned in a cell of my own making.