A Crown of Blood and Bone: Paranormal Romance (The Shadow Walkers Saga Book 1)

by Sloane Murphy

  Creek carries me from the warehouse, and back to the trucks, where we left Marie and Fallon. Fallon rushes to me, as Creek explains what happened. I stay silent, unable to say a word, because I know that everything is going to change.

  “Oh, Remy,” she gushes, as Creek places me on the ground. He removes the bandage while she goes to work healing the hole in my chest. They talk above me, but I don’t hear their words, lost inside my own mind. Memories flash in my head, this life merging with past ones. My mom’s face front and center, soft, as if she stands before me, knowing and understanding. But knowing what I know.

  My brother, the others, they will never forgive me. Even Colt, with his obvious love for Fallon, will not forgive this, because they don’t know. They wouldn’t believe me if I had the truth to give them. I know it, and I realize that’s why I haven’t tried before. Because I know that even when faced with the truth, my family wouldn’t believe it. They’d cast me out before they believed their way of life to be wrong.

  Fallon’s hands lift from my chest, having barely felt the searing heat of the healing I sit up, and rest my back against the truck.

  Waiting.

  Waiting for them to come back, and for my world to implode.

  The smallest thread of hope stays, that maybe Bauer won’t say anything. Maybe he’ll cool down and speak to me first.

  But when I see my dad walking towards me, covered in blood, Bauer at his side, Colt on the other helping Nate to walk. I know that it’s too late.

  I stand to face them, Creek rushing to his dad. I watch as he pleads with his dad, but Nate’s face falls before hardening, and he shakes his head at him.

  My dad reaches me and slaps me around the face so hard I fall to the ground.

  “You are not a daughter of mine. You betrayed your family, your faction, with your actions. You are a disgrace to the Hunter name.” He spits at my feet and I wince.

  “Denny,” Marie starts but he silences her with a look. “Place the traitor under arrest. She will face the elders for her actions.” He turns and walks away from me without a backward glance. I look to Bauer who looks as sad as he is angry, but he turns and follows my dad.

  “Colt,” I start, but he shakes his head.

  “How could you, Remy?” he says, his voice thick.

  “If I could just explain,” I cry, but he too, turns away from me and joins the others. Marie reaches down to me and wipes the tears from me face.

  “Don’t let them see your pain. You own your choices, whatever they are.” She looks at me, straight in the eyes, and I realize that she knows. Fallon looks guilty behind her, but I do not care. Not anymore.

  “They will kill me,” I tell her but take her hand and stand.

  “There is more at play here than you know,” she says and Fallon’s eyes go wide.

  “What did you see?” she asks quietly but Marie shakes her head. Creek approaches me, shackles in hand, and it breaks me.

  “I am sorry, Remy. I tried to reason with them,” he says, and I can hear the devastation.

  “Don’t. Keep it to yourself. All of it. There is no reason for you to be locked away alongside me,” I beg him and he shakes his head.

  “No, Remy. I can’t let them do this to you. Not when I knew, and I supported you. I can’t let you carry this alone.”

  “You can and you will,” Marie says in a hushed whisper. “This is her journey; you must support her in other ways. You cannot help her if you are locked away.” Creek looks to her and she nods. I put my hands out in front of me and let him shackle my wrists and then my ankles.

  “I love you,” he whispers, with shining eyes. “I love you too. Always.”

  Thirty

  I walk into the room I’ve only been in once before. The chamber of the elders. The same place my ritual took place, except this time I am not looked at with honor and respect. This time I am looked at with distrust and fury. I have been kept here for two weeks, locked in a small room with no light, fed once a day, just enough to keep me going until today. I am covered in dirt and grime from the room, which contained no more than a bucket in the corner to demean me further. I have not pled with them anymore though, I refused to speak until today. But I fear that still they will not listen.

  I can feel my father’s disgust more than any of the other gazes on me. He doesn’t understand, and I don’t expect him to. He doesn’t know. He couldn’t.

  But the other factions are more than these people think of them. They are more than just beasts that don’t understand anything but the joy of the hunt, the kill, the taste of blood. They are more like us than these people could ever know, have ever cared to know.

  I feel it inside of me each time Kain looks at me, with each kiss. I feel how much more there is to him. He is more than the head of the Dracul, more than the power that radiates from him. I know it with the way the Roman loves me, the way his need to protect me overrides all other instincts. They are not the beasts my faction make them out to be.

  I feel Creek step beside me and brush his hand with mine. I don’t know how I got to be so lucky, to be loved by these men so faithfully, that they give me the space to love them all, even if it has been for a short time. I do not regret the decisions I made, in this life or the ones before to love them. To be blessed with such love, is a feeling like no others.

  The candles illuminating the room flicker as the door opposite us opens, and the elders enter the room, their faces hidden by the hoods of their cloaks as they step up on the raised platform before us. A Hunter I do not recognize comes forward and drags me to the middle of the room, my family stood to my left, and only Creek behind me in a show of support. The anger and confusion rolls off each of them and it’s like I can feel it, suffocating me.

  “Remington Bennett. You stand before us here, with the witnesses of your kin, standing accused of betrayal of the faction of Hunters. With aiding the escape of one of our deadliest enemies. Kain Michaels, the head of the Dracul. The most dangerous and bloodthirsty of them all. How do you plead?” The elders voice echoes around the stone room, and I shudder.

  “Not guilty. He is not who you think he is. If you would just listen…” I try to reason, but I know there is no use when I see their faces beneath their hoods. The do not even lower them, not deeming me worthy of seeing them.

  The people in here have been fixed in their ways for centuries. I just wish I knew why. The stories from Kain of how life once was haunt me, but he did not know of the reason for the change, and without all of my memories, I am clueless at how to make a difference. If Ben had survived, things might be different.

  “Your words betray you, as you betrayed your faction. Your pleading will do you no good here, girl. To sympathize with our enemies, is to be our enemy, and so you will be placed with the same fate we place upon them. The True Death.”

  “No,” I hear Creek’s shout, but it feels so far away, and I sink to my knees. I knew the consequences of my actions when I made them, but I would do the same thing, time and again. My family, as much as I love them, are wrong. They are blinded by a hate that I have never felt. That I could never feel.

  “Your mother would be ashamed of you,” my father spits at me, as Maddie and Nate hold him back. Bauer just stares at me like he doesn’t know me. My big brother, who I had hoped against all odds would have my back when the time came. Bauer, who turned his back on me, and told my father what I had done. My heart breaks when I look at my family, all looking at me as if they don’t know who I am. Colt is the only one who looks conflicted. Like he wants to speak out, to help me, but he’s still feeling the betrayal of my actions, and stands with those who are against me.

  “You can’t do this!” Creek shouts, and I turn to see him struggling again three Hunters who have him pinned to the back wall. A Hunter steps up beside me, Easton, my grandfather’s right hand man, and draws his bastard sword from the scabbard at this waist. I kneel on the ground and send up a prayer to any gods who might listen, for the ones I love. To keep
them safe when I no longer can.

  “You choose not to fight?” The elder asks and I look up at him from where I kneel on the sandy floor.

  “I am shackled, and weaponless. It would be no real fight. I will accept the fate I have been dealt, but know that in every life, my feelings have remained true. I know your secrets; they will not stay secret for long. The world will know the truth, and when that happens, you’ll wish you had made a different decision.” I hold my head high as I say the words.

  “Very well.” The elder says, waving his hand at the Hunter beside me who raises his sword, not looking even remotely fazed by my words. Thinking himself, all of them, to be untouchable. I look to my family and a tear rolls down my face.

  “I love you,” I whisper to Creek and take a deep breath before bowing my head. I hear the sound of metal through the air as I close my eyes, when the ceiling explodes and chunks of rubble and dust rain down around me.

  The Hunter beside me turns his sword to the man kneeling in front of me. His black wings stretched out so far, that they almost touch either side of the room. His head raises and shakes, the dust flying from his dark hair. Whispers ring around the room between the elders and the Hunters. A real-life fucking Angel just exploded into the room and I can’t think of one thing to say.

  “You will not harm her!” His voice echoes across the space. “She is bound to me, and I to her. Any harm against her is harm against me.

  I gasp at his words, because I have no fucking idea who this is, or what the hell his words mean.

  He stands and turns to me, his grey eyes capturing mine, and my breath catches. I recognize him from a dream. I blush as I remember, and he steps closer, lifting my chin with a soft finger.

  “Remy.” He sighs. “Always causing so much chaos.

  Stand, please.”

  I stand up and it’s as if the room is holding its breath. “Will someone fucking unchain her?” he growls.

  “What is the meaning of this?” the elder who sentenced me to death asks when he finds his voice. The Hunter who was going to kill me sheathes his sword and unlocks my shackles. My wrists raw from the rub of the metal.

  “You dare question me?” the Angels voice booms, and the room shakes, more dust falling around us. I look to my family who are all kneeling, as are the other Hunters around the room. Only Creek remains standing, looking unsure as to if he can approach me.

  “I am Leviathan, General of the Death Dealers. ArchAngel of War, and the creator of your faction. My word is your law and you will do my bidding unless you wish to meet the fate you so casually dealt to her.” The elder shrinks back at the Angel’s words.

  “This girl is the balance, the Nisi Vita, and should be treated with the utmost respect, not chained like some animal.”

  “She betrayed us!” another elder speaks up.

  “She did nothing more than she was meant to do,” Leviathan answers and confusion clouds me.

  He turns to me and tucks a fallen piece of my hair behind my ear.

  “Hello again, sweetheart.” He hugs me tightly. “Don’t worry, you will remember.” He winks and lifts me into his arms, before shooting into the sky, leaving the shouts below us.

  To be continued…

  Translations

  Mon Amour - My Love

  Ma Cherié - My Darling

  Mon Coeur - My Heart

  Fata vocant, ad hanc adducere nos ut in venator nobis. Fate, we bring to you your hunter.

  Rogamus autem vos, Angelus scientiam, ut restituat in aedis dedicandae se unum ex memoria vobis

  We ask of you to return the memories of the one upon this alter who is angel born.

  Angelus autem ducibus nobis dona puer hic noster de quo in suis bonis quasi unus accipit vera semita.

  May this child be guided by the Angel, down the path of the past.

  Ut rogatus est, et illud fieri.

  As it is asked, so shall it be.

  About the Author

  Sloane Murphy is the author of the international bestselling series, The Immortal Chronicles, as well as a range of other paranormal and contemporary romance. Sloane lives in Peterborough, England, with her husband & fur baby and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for cheesy YA Films, cupcakes and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales, ballet and all things supernatural, drinks far too much coffee, and watches an ungodly amount of Netflix. When she's not busy writing, she can be found exploring the world with her husband and chocolate Labrador.

  If you would like to send Sloane an email, you can reach her at sloane@authorsloanemurphy.com

  Want to sign up for her mailing list? You can sign up HERE

  Or come join her reader group on Facebook, Sloanes Little Monsters

  Acknowledgments

  I have a lot of people to thank for this one, so strap in. First, to my husband, for leaving me to my brain babies for hours and days on end. For making me coffee and bringing me chocolate when those days when the words were streaming from me hard and I forgot to look after myself. Thank you for well, everything.

  Jenna, without you this book would still just be a WIP in a word file from Nov 2018. You helped me believe that these guys were ready for the world, and it turns out, they really were! So thank you for the sprinting sessions, the pep talks and introducing me to the DreamTeam. Laura, Katy, you guys rock so thank you!

  Eva, the peen whisperer. Thank you for all your help juggling these men and their wild, brutish behaviour. For the many hours in VOA and sprint rooms keeping me going! And to all the amazing authors in VOA for keeping me accountable during office hours! Danielle, Liane, all of you thank you!

  To Sarah, my beautiful and creative assistant, for all your helps with edits, late night randomness, and really just everything you do to help me, when you really, really don’t have to! Also, for drawing up all of the amazingness I dreamt up in this book.

  My OG beta team - you guys are awesome as ever. Rose, Danni, Ani, thank you for loving my book baby as much as I did, and giving me the swift kick up the ass that I need. Like always.

  To Steph, Blake & Claire. For believing in me. For letting me be your guinea pig. For all of the things!

  To Mibl Art & Dez at Pretty Ink Creations for the fabulous cover and art work for the book and promotions.

  To Wendy & Claire at Bare Naked Words, and all of their bloggers for helping me spread the word.

  Finally, to you, my readers, for sticking with me, because god knows it’s been a bumpy ride, but without you guys, I wouldn’t be here. So thank you for reading, for (I hope) loving these guys as much as I do. Here’s to the future, and way more words to come!

  Also by Sloane Murphy

  The Immortal Chronicles

  (YA Paranormal Romance. Complete Series)

  Descent

  Crash

  Soar

  Rapture

  Black Water Academy

  (Upper YA/NA Paranormal Romance. Reverse Harem)

  Marked

  Chosen

  Hunted - Coming 2020

  Dark Fae

  (Paranormal Romance. Dark Fantasy)

  Summer Princess

  Winter King - Coming 2021

  The Shadow Walkers Saga

  (Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance)

  A Crown of Blood and Bone

  A Crown of Smoke and Ash - Pre-order

  A Crown of Shadows and Secrets - Coming 2020

  A Crown of Thorns and Lies - Coming 2020

  A Crown of Fire and Wrath - Coming 2021

  A Crown of Pride and Ruin - Coming 2021

  Standalones

  When We Fall (New Adult Contemporary Romance)

  Other Works from Hudson Indie Ink

  Stephanie Hudson

  Afterlife Saga

  A Brooding King, A Girl running from her past. What happens when the two collide?

  Book 1 - Afterlife

  Book 2 - The Two Kings

  Book 3 - The Triple Goddess

  Book 4 - The Qua
rter Moon

  Book 5 - The Pentagram Child /Part 1

  Book 6 - The Pentagram Child /Part 2

  Book 7 - The Cult of the Hexad

  Book 8 - Sacrifice of the Septimus /Part 1

  Book 9 - Sacrifice of the Septimus /Part 2

  Book 10 -Blood of the Infinity War

  Book 11 -Happy Ever Afterlife /Part 1

  Book 12 -Happy Ever Afterlife / Part 2

  Transfusion Saga

  What happens when an ordinary human girl comes face to face with the cruel Vampire King who dismissed her seven years ago?

  Transfusion - Book 1

  Venom of God - Book 2

  Blood of Kings - Book 3

  Rise of Ashes - Book 4

  Map of Sorrows - Book 5

  Tree of Souls - Book 6

  Kingdoms of Hell – Book 7

  Afterlife Chronicles: (Young Adult Series)

  The Glass Dagger – Book 1

  The Hells Ring – Book 2

  Stephanie Hudson and Blake Hudson

  The Devil in Me