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November 12 - November 12, 2024
For those who enjoy walking the line between the Shadows
Novas are the elite Shadows—gods of the gods. Should you be near one during a moment of uncontrolled hysteria or intentional malice to mark you, you will be blighted. Cursed.”
“Blighted individuals don’t live long. Their powers are enhanced briefly, leeched from their Nova counterpart, but blighting is a death sentence no one has survived.”
I’m consumed with an odd sense of emptiness. The longer I protect myself from my emotions, the more I dislike the lack of them.
My eyes lift to the foggy mirror. The girl I see, no longer stained by blood, is one I don’t recognize.
I know a broken toy when I see one; he is a shattered mess.
Destiny has always been confused and melancholic, only ever able to focus on the ending of each story rather than the middle.
“Of course you couldn’t have known, but I was ready to take a chance with you, Finn. The two of us against the unknown world, remember? Instead, you broke my heart.” My hand rests over my chest. “You didn’t even look back.”
His brow rises just a bit. There’s warmth in his gaze. Why do I cherish that so much? The way he looks only at me with that vulnerability ignites flames inside my heart.
I’m a traitor to my nation for feeling this way for Elias. For wanting all the sin and darkness inside him.
“You are the sole source of my weariness. I can’t stop thinking about you. The way you bite your lower lip and suck in breaths when I’m too near. It drives me absolutely crazy.”
His lip kicks up in a savage smirk. “Are you going to be a good girl this time?” I give him an innocent smile and nod slowly beneath lust-drunk eyes.
“I told you the bad guys get the girl.” He grins and withdraws from me, lying down next to me and pulling my body in tightly against his chest.
“Will you forget me?” he asks between hot kisses against my stomach, trailing up to my sternum. I writhe beneath him and bite my lower lip to keep from moaning as he cups my tits and squeezes them. “Will you forget me when I’m dead?” I look down at him. His blue eyes pierce through mine. “I’ll never forget you, Raine. Never. How could you even think that I would?” He lets out a few low chuckles and murmurs over my breast, “Let’s put it to the test then. I’ll leave a note in one of your books, and if you forget me, maybe you’ll remember me when you find it. Even if it’s just for a moment.”
“No wonder Elias is so possessive of you. Your Shadow has quite the appetite,” he whispers in a deep, tempting voice. I bury my teeth into my bottom lip—his erection is pressed against my lower abdomen. “Elias might know how to please you, but I doubt those boys do. Tell me, are you satisfied?”
time and memory are old friends. Never together, never apart. Always lonely,”
“Does your Shadow burn where we touch? Like the second we connect, we’ll ignite and never part again completely?” His voice is raspy and hushed.
Raine pulls out of me and helps me slide my pants back up before he fixes his own. Then he looks over to the couch across from us and levels a calm look at the person sitting there. I’d almost forgotten. Passion like ours makes everything around us insignificant.
“You think this is a game or just some silly training, but your survival depends on this. Every decision you make is life or death.”
Terra pushes her hand into my vest pocket and wraps her warm hand around mine. A soft smile spreads over my lips. She’s still so human. “I am in no need of comfort. The darkness holds me.” She doesn’t retreat and only walks closer to my side. “Shut up. If I’m offering comfort, just accept it,” she says with that cute attitude of hers. I want to shut my eyes and be in her presence for a while. Perhaps once the war has ended I’ll have that little amount of peace. Should we be so lucky.
Only we can see the hearts. Emerai cannot hide anything from time. We see all the moments of a Shadow's past, what they’ve taken and tried to discard.
I wouldn't care what happened to him if he were the same hollow assassin I met in Navasik. But he’s shown me that he’s so much more than a shell of a man. He’s still in there. He’s still human, and I have his heart now. I can fix him.
“I’m only a man, little shadow. What are you doing to me?” he whispers and his sullen gaze consumes my soul with thousands of emotions I could never articulate. I want him to hold me—to touch me and ravish me.
“I want you to remember me this way. As a nice guy, the one who wanted you to be safe and warm. Not the cold, cruel man you met in Barkovah. When you think of me I can only hope you’ll imagine the sky, the rush that I sent through your soul. That will be enough for me.”
“You’re more than the sky, Raine. You are the wind, the earth, the blood in my veins. I will never forget you.”
For some reason, even though our lives are filled with nothing but bleak and morbid things, I feel hope when I look at him.
I don’t want to care about someone like him, vile and sinister. But how do you carve out a cancer that has already grown? I should’ve stopped his roots before they spread.
He takes a few labored breaths, staring into my soul as his shoulders heave and his breath mists into the air around us. Then he whispers, “I don’t want to do these things, Terra, but I have to.” He pauses, unblinking, as he takes another few deep breaths, regaining his composure. “I never wanted to be the villain, especially not yours, but what am I supposed to do? Do you know what happens if he gets out of control? I’ll tell you. I get sent to kill him. Even if I take back my heart and disobey Cein and the headmaster, what do you think happens to me? I’m the Assassin of Fernestia. I’m the
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“I hate the things you draw from me. The things you steal away,” he says into our feverish kisses. “You drive me into utter madness.”
This is how I imagine his true self is: feral and fucking hungry for humanity. I wonder if he sees the same creature staring back at him.
all the lights fade from my vision and the only thing left in the dark ocean of my mind is me, left out for the world to devour.
“This is goodbye, baby. I should have told you I loved you at least once—”
