Never Keep (Sins of the Zodiac, #1)

by Caroline Peckham

I loved him. I didn’t know exactly what kind of love it was, but it was the only pure, good thing I had left. I couldn’t abandon him when he needed me most.

“It’s too late for him. He’s already one of them.”

A true kind of terror took hold of me as my enemy’s hand slid around mine and crushed my fingers tight in his, because at his touch, I sensed the darkest pieces of his soul rising to meet with mine.

the silhouette of a Fae with pale pink hair passing through them, a sob rattling her chest.

Ever since I had emerged as a Dragon and been presented to the Reapers as a miracle by my father. His tremendous claim to much of the green lands of Avanis, alongside his countless victories in battle had made him believe the stars favoured him above all other warlords.

Bastian Carderrin. Some Heir to the Crown of Bones I’d turned out to be – more like Heir to Decay and Ruin.

Magic clawed through my veins with every step she took, the treasure awakening a power inside me which I had almost forgotten in my years festering in this cavern at the mercy of the Reapers.

I met her storm grey eyes and in them I found a river of agony so like the pain I had come to call home. A bolt of energy surged between us in that look, like a spear of light driving into my chest and cracking it open.

“The Veil beckons, Vesper,” Cayde spat, his words lashing against the open wounds of my grief. “No doubt I’ll meet you again beyond it one day.” And then he was gone, heaving himself up out of that gap between the rocks and disappearing into the star-lit world beyond.

My heart stilled as I stared into his eyes, something within me calling out to this broken creature as if I could feel the agony he had suffered just as he could taste mine.

The Sky Witch was dead and I was simply the shell who lingered in her wake, with nothing but the promise of retribution to keep me breathing.