Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)

by Kaylie Smith

Ophelia couldn’t help but wonder if she was wildly unprepared to assimilate into normal society without their mother as her guide. Death she was familiar with. Living would be the real challenge.

The men carried on a conversation about cars for the next ten minutes, possibly the dullest conversation Ophelia had ever heard in her life,

I love her

“Go home,” the stranger advised. “A house of Devils is no place for an angel like you.”

He smelled faintly of vanilla and tobacco, and it irked her greatly that she found it to be a delicious combination.

Yummy wtf

Ophelia didn’t bother looking back at the Phantom as she snapped, “I thought I told you not to follow me?” “I apologize if I gave you the impression that I do what I’m told.” His tone was anything but apologetic.

“Are you at least going to help me get back to my room first?” she quipped. “The cat was being more helpful, honestly.”

I love how funny she is

“I could make you utter things you never thought you’d possess the will to say just to get a taste of what I have to offer…”

Oh he a sexy man

“Call her a name one more time,” he threatened, his tone bored but his eyes alight with mischief. “I dare you.” Cade gawked at the sight of Blackwell’s tall frame, but his expression quickly soured as he spat, “Incredible, even Demons have whores⁠—” Blackwell grabbed Cade’s wrist and twisted his arm until he screeched in agony. “Incredible,” Blackwell echoed. “The audacity of men worth less than dirt.”

Oh my god i need him

“No. There is no before in my mind. I remember every contestant I’ve worked with, and every city we’ve traveled to, but nothing outside of Phantasma’s competitions. A shame, too. I feel robbed of my first time laying eyes on you.”

Hes such a flirt ughhhhh i love

“I’m real. I’m sorry the illusion used my likeness to trick you. I need you to know if you were to ever let me touch you, in any way, the moment you wanted to stop—I would. No hesitation.”

“If you thought that was your threshold of pleasure—imagine being worshipped by the real thing.”

She buried her face into the crook of his throat. “You came.” “You called,” he answered.

“Clever little Necromancer.”

“You know, I’m still waiting to know exactly what happened with that imposter during the trial earlier, angel,” he drawled. “I’ve been wrought with curiosity to know exactly what experiences I need to replace in your mind.”

Go back to finding him annoying, she told herself. But the problem wasn’t that she had stopped finding him annoying—the problem was that she had started finding him enticing.

This writing is so fun to read

LEVEL THREE GREED

Dude this is so cool im loving the games vibes

“All of you. There is nothing I have seen yet that has made me look away. No atrocity you could commit to make me not want you like this. No matter how forbidden.”

“I want to know everything. I want to see all the darkest corners of your mind.” He tilted his face up to whisper his next words right into her ear. “I want to taste your sins.”

HESS SOOO FINE

He’d seen some of the worst parts of her already, and by the end of this, she was sure he’d see it all. The woman. The Necromancer. The monster.

He was her new sustenance.

Her mother’s grave was probably nearing seven feet deep with how many times she’d made the woman roll over in the past week.

She trailed her finger down his cheek. “You have pretty eyes.” He reached out and cupped her face, brushing his thumb across the apple of her own cheek. “So do you.”

“Men are always useless,”

“You’re only doing this because of what happened in that trial. You only ever want me after near-death experiences.” “So?” He leaned down until their eyes were level. “So, maybe I don’t want to just be a distraction to you.”

Blackwell was the one to speak first. “I feel less alone with you, too.”

“I say this sincerely,” Ophelia spoke, curling a lip in disgust at Cade. “You need an exorcism.”

“If there were ever a divine entity I’d worship,” he murmured, “it’d be you.” “My body, your altar,” she offered. He whispered her name—no, he didn’t whisper it, he invoked it.

Wow just wow

Death brings so much clarity.

“You want to be business partners? Fine. But we are going to keep this strictly professional. You can call me Miss Grimm from here on out.” “And you, Miss Grimm,” he said, “can call me only when it’s absolutely necessary to do so.”

“In a different life, in a fair one, I would’ve kept you until my eternal soul withered away to dust,” he vowed to her.

Spspdjxjx are you kidding me

“I should’ve killed him after he hit you,” Blackwell seethed, tone dripping with regret. “Watching the light drain from his eyes would have been worth the risk of you hating me for doing such a thing.”

“He will always come to me,” she whispered. “We find each other every time. And you cannot stand that, because it means I’m no longer alone with you.”

I told you before that nothing would ever stop me from getting to you if you needed me, and that will remain true forevermore. I would tear the universe apart at its seams if I must.”

He tilted her chin up to look her in the eyes. “Let me stay with you tonight. Please.” She sniffed. “I always knew you’d be the one to beg first.” “I would stay on my knees all night if you wanted,” he vowed, heat sparking in his eyes. “Just let me stay. Let me hold you.”

“Yes, Miss Grimm,” he drawled. “Your every wish is my command.”

Heheeh

“In all the darkness, in all the loneliness, you have been my one source of light,” he lamented as she began to come undone. “My soul will go to its grave with your name echoing in my mind.”

EXCUSE ME??????????????????????????????