Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

“Galaxy Stern,” Darlington said, his eyes flashing gold, “I have been crying out to you from the start.”

Darlington’s smile was small. “You found me once, Stern. You’ll find me again. Now go.”

You rescue me. I rescue you. That’s how this works. To pay your debts, you had to know who you owed. You had to decide who you were willing to go to war for and who you trusted to jump into the fray for you. That was all there was in this world. No heroes or villains, just the people you’d brave the waves for, and the ones you’d let drown.

“I’m bound to you, Stern. To the woman who brought me out of hell. I will serve you ’til the end of days.”

But you can’t go back to the way things were. No matter how much you might want that. You can’t walk through hell unchanged.”