Prince of Air and Darkness (The Darkest Court, #1)

by M.A. Grant

It all goes according to plan until I jump the fence. Some idiot fuckstain put a pile of trash on the other side. It’d be fine, except the trash isn’t wrapped up in neat little bags. Nope, nothing but flimsy cardboard boxes. I stagger out of the alley with a foul, rotten milk slush clinging to my jeans. A patch of coffee grounds and partially dried spaghetti sticks to my shin. But it’s the used condom stuck to the bottom of my shoe that really adds class to the whole thing.

This is what love does to us. What fools we are.

In order to win someone to your side, you must know what they’re unwilling to lose and promise they can keep it.

Do ancient creatures attack him because he lights up the magickal atmosphere like a fireworks show, or because he’s easy prey? Between his luck and his almost total lack of control, he should be dead a hundred times by now.

Phineas Smith is beautiful and I want him so much it feels like an open wound.

whisper, “I’m going to go out like a Roman candle and not even leave ashes behind for my parents to bury.” Everything recoils—body, glamour, mind—and his broken “Beat that” shatters me. Oh, Goddess. He’s going to die. He’s going to die and there won’t be anything left and I won’t even have a place to visit his remains over the millennia. “Fuck,” I choke out.

He came back for me, protected me instead of running away. Love burns sharper than his magick did.

He ignores me. “Smith isn’t under the Winter Court’s protection,” he repeats. “He’s under mine.”

“What are you doing?” he murmurs when my fingers dip lower toward the collar of his shirt. I hesitate. “Touching you.” He doesn’t pull away as I expect. Instead, he swallows hard and lets his jaw relax. He tilts his chin in chary invitation to continue my exploration, so I keep going. After a moment, he asks, “Why?” “Geez, Roark, I’m not going to throat-punch you. I just like doing this, okay?”

“In the future, when someone does something nice for you, running is not the socially acceptable response.” “Noted.”