Hollow (Crown of Hearts and Chaos, #1)

by Caroline Peckham

I supposed I seemed entirely unthreatening to him, the girl who read too many books and had too few friends. But if he truly thought that was all there was to me then he was a fool, and he’d soon come to realise the truth of it.

Had a spirit come to investigate the human’s screams? Well, well. That could be useful…

“I’ve decided to let you live,” I announced, tugging her close and drowning in the stormy nature of those violet eyes of hers. They were like the ocean, a calm and rolling ride one moment, then a violent cyclone the next.

Her eyes met mine, two bright violet fires blazing with the intensity of the stars. That unique tone to her irises seeming brighter here beneath the canopy of the trees, something sparking in her gaze which appeared so much older than she possibly could have been.

There was one other thing that Ferris had no idea about in this game. Before we made it to the Great Elm, we had to pass through the labyrinth, and as far as I knew, I was the only person who had discovered what was required to gain entry to it. The Hag I had bargained with for information had not just told me of the boon’s capabilities but of a secret none besides I was privy to. The labyrinth was locked. And the key? Well, that was in my possession.

spotted them at the base of the hill, their grey pallor and worn clothes blending them into the landscape. But I should have noticed them first. My mind was sharper than most Fae’s, let alone a human’s, especially when it came to damn Hollows. But she and her maddening eyes had drawn my focus once again.

I wanted to know, despite my better judgement. I was curious about this human, more so than I had been about anything in countless years. She confounded me, made me question things which I had long ago decided were fact, and I had to know what experiences had moulded the soul of this intriguing creature.

“The point is, life and loss go hand in hand. But between it all, there’s hope. Hope for better days. Hope for things that were lost to be found again.”

“Then you reared up with a cry like a dying goat and called me a ‘ravishing silver unicorn’ before you passed out again. When you fell, I shoved you into the wheelbarrow.

the very heartbeats in my chest. I could feel hers in kind, thrumming so powerfully, it wasn’t like any heart I had heard before. Certainly no human’s should beat like that, as if it was dictating life instead of the other way around.

I drew my little human into the cage of my arms and devoured the warmth she offered, not daring to let myself wonder why I didn’t ever want to let go.

She no longer recoiled from me like she once had, and I couldn’t deny how familiar I was becoming with her company. Or how much I enjoyed it. But how quickly this familiarity would shatter once she discovered the truth. So I had a mind to keep it for as long as possible, for her ignorance was my gift.

How did this mortal creature wield so much power in this forest? It bent to her will in ways I could not begin to fathom.

I was an outcast prince for a reason, a Fae who had struck fear in the hearts of my own people. But this girl, this human, walked through this forest with the air of a being far more powerful than she could ever hope to be alone.

I shook my head at her. “I don’t want your pity.” “Then what do you want? Because your sob story isn’t flying with me. You allude to their terrible crimes, but what of yours? We all choose our path. You’re an outcast because you’re no better than them. It sounds like you might be worse.”

“The brothel in my town only ever smelled of sweetness and sin.” Hendrix narrowed his eyes at me. “And how might you know that?” “Same way as you do, I suppose.”

“Do I look like a pack mule?” I tilted my head, considering him. “Your nose is a little too long to be a mule’s but you do have that vacant kind of look in your eyes that they get at the end of a hard day’s work, so I’d say you’ll pass for one.”

“Tell me, pretty human, are you afraid of the dark?”

“I can’t stop staring at your mouth,” he said in a low growl which had every thought in my mind scattering. “All the damn time. When you curse me, when you spit at me, even when you drive me utterly insane with your constant cleverness. It’s infuriating.”

“Do that again and this sleepover will take a very different turn. It isn’t only your mouth which has my mind wandering, lightwing,”

“The Fae is a brute with no finesse or true understanding of what we are,”

WE???

Her soul was born from the forest itself. She was no human, not in any natural way at least. Not fully. She may have worn the flesh of a mortal but her soul was built of magic itself. It was why the forest moved for her, why she didn’t struggle to walk its treacherous paths. And it must have been the reason for so many other things.

I couldn’t let anything turn me from my path. Not even the human girl who had her claws in my heart.

Black veins crawled along my skin, marking me as him. The bane on this land. The Necromancer

Because allowing myself to see it meant admitting to myself that the male I’d been captivated by since the moment we first met, the one I’d desired and dreamed of, had ached for and pined for against my better judgement, had been a monster all along.

“You’re Bane Crownthief,” I exhaled, terror holding me captive as thoroughly as his hold on me did. “The prince who was cursed for stealing a crown he wasn’t worthy of. The Fae whose twisted magic allowed him to raise the dead. You’re the Necromancer.”

“Then I am glad to have waited six-hundred years to come seeking you, lightwing, for no other creature has ever captivated me the way you have and I am wholly convinced that you were worth the wait.”

“I want you in all of your darkness and corruption, I want you in the depths of your strength. I have lived thirteen times over and have been waiting for you in every one of those lifetimes. I don’t have to remember them to know that’s true because I can feel it. Can’t you?”

“Ferris Creed, you’re my last everything. My last desire, my last want in all the world. So spare me one more moment of intoxication in your presence beneath these trees. Remember what we were here, not what we are beyond all of this.”

“I ask of you one thing, lightwing… one more kiss. My last. If you have spent this day remembering all the worst things that I am then hate me while you offer it but give it willingly if there is still a part of me that you believe is worth more than the dirt we stand upon. Kiss me if you believe I hold any value at all in your eyes because I have come to realise that you are the only living creature I have met during a thousand lifetimes who I care to be worth something to.”