In the Wake of the Wicked (The Veridian Empire, #1)

by V.B. Lacey

“I’ll be your distraction, if that’s what you need. But I also want to be your peace. I want to be the thing that tethers you when you feel your world crumbling.” I rested my hand on his heart, feeling its wild beats. “Take what you need tonight, but I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

“I’ve already chosen to love you, Rose Wolff. Beyond sense, beyond reason. There is no part of you I do not choose.”

Love was an emotion, one I had reserved for as little number of people as possible. But it was also a choice, one I had actively avoided making for as long as I could remember. Perhaps it looked different to everyone. Sweet nothings whispered in an ear, gifts and laughter and promises and secrets. Grand declarations under the stars. Stolen touches and heated looks, the feel of skin beneath your fingertips and passion that burned the world down. And those were all true, I imagined. But to me…love was a dagger pressed to a throat in the middle of a hidden hallway. Sharp tongues and writhing glares that made you come alive and come undone. An offer of friendship, an olive branch in a tempestuous sea of dread, a second chance when you didn’t deserve it.