by Cate Corvin
I’d hoped to never lay eyes on this bloody fucking nightmare of a kingdom again, a land ripped apart by the eternal feud of three monstrous queens.
But Aislin was here. I wouldn’t allow another slayer to become the victim of this world. Especially not her.
There, beneath the billowing canopy of a massive glowing mushroom, was a twisted form. My heart leapt into my throat, pounding against my ribs as I crept closer.
The relief hit me in a tidal wave. It wasn’t her. The sylph that had been imprisoned a hundred years ago in the antechamber of Libra Academy was sprawled across the violet grass, her empty eyes reflecting the pale green sky from several yards away from the rest of her body. The slice that had separated her head from the rest of her body was as neat as a cut of meat.
The hole in her chest was not. It was vicious, rabid, as though long-nailed fingers had cut right through her to rip her slippery, still-beating heart out.
I knew this handiwork. I’d seen it before.
I knelt over the sylph’s corpse, and every fiber of my muscles froze. Something glinted in her hand. I pried her stiff fingers apart and pulled a silver chain from her grasp.
A charm dangled from it. It was coated in dried brown blood, but there was no mistaking who it belonged to; I’d seen the little cursive A hanging between Aislin’s breasts, nestled against pearly skin, too many times to count.
I shouldn’t have been looking there, but I had. The only regret I had now was not touching while I’d had the chance- no. There was no place in the Sunderlands for doubts. I would have the chance. I’d take it from the hands of the enemy before they broke her.
A sound interrupted my frozen agony. A white rabbit watched from the edge of the mushroom forest, black nose twitching, eyes like pools of iridescent oil.
It jumped into the air and vanished into a puff of ephemeral white mist that streaked through the mushrooms.
Clutching Aislin’s necklace, I stood up, everything aching.
Brush off the pain.
Fear is nothing.
I tracked the creature to the edge of the psychedelic forest, where the spires of a glistening Fae castle rose in the distance. Each one of those spikes was topped with a small object. I’d seen them before up close, seen the mouths gaping with horror, eyes crawling with flies.
Aislin was in there.
I knew the enemy who had her. I’d seen her mantle of hearts, eternally beating in restless agony, dripping their lifeblood behind her. I wasn’t too late. I couldn’t be.
I wouldn’t allow myself to entertain the possibility. The only possibility was that Aislin was alive. Possibility was a weapon here, one that could rip through the ruler of that castle of hearts and blood.
Still, her brutal battle-cry echoed in my ears:
Off with her head.
The End
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Bonds of Blood will continue in 2020 with Claire’s Trilogy!
The Cimmerian Cage Trilogy
Kissed by Wildfire
Kissed by Moonlight
Kissed by Midnight
The House of Mirrors, set in the Cimmerian Cage world
Roses and Revenants
Standalone Reverse Harem Romance
Pet
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But the three professors who control my future don't see a student, or an assistant librarian. They see prey.
The Dean of Students, gentleman on the outside, beast on the inside.
The Scholarship Committee Chairman who bends me to his will.
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They've got me wrapped around their fingers, and how the rest of my year will go depends entirely on how much I'm willing to obey them.
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Stoneheart
A heart of gold for a heart of stone.
As a cop, my motives are clear: uphold the law, preserve justice, and protect innocent lives, but when you throw gargoyles into the mix, all bets are off. Add in grieving your past mistakes, and it’s nearly impossible.
I should’ve known better than to find solace in the arms of Damien Viridios, an Emerald gargoyle known for philanthropy and his huge… helicopter.
Sure, he showed me a good time. Then he cut out my heart and replaced it with a chunk of living stone, making me a gargoyle, too. Worst. Hook-up. Ever.
Now my skin is almost bullet-proof and I can lift a car overhead, but there’s a huge target painted on my back. That’s the last Ruby stoneheart of House Kyrillian beating in my chest, and one of the gargoyle Orders wants to crush out its magic. Permanently.
Gio Onyarai, an Onyx bodyguard assigned to me by Damien, is sworn to defend my life, but it’s impossible to get anything done while he’s taking over my apartment in his birthday suit; my partner on the force, Sawyer Hawkins, blames himself for my new inhuman heart, refusing to let go of the mortal I once was.
I never asked to be made a gargoyle, but now that I have a stoneheart of my own, I’ll do anything to defend it from those who want to destroy it… I’m just not sure if I can stop these three from stealing it.