From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash, #1)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

As if my virginity determined my goodness, my innocence, and its presence or lack thereof was somehow more important than the hundred choices I made every day.

“Tell me what you enjoy, so I can make you love it.”

Ahhhhhhh

My parents were flesh and blood.

There were two ways to kill a Craven or someone cursed as long as you had a bloodstone blade or wood from a Blood Forest tree. Penetrate the heart or destroy the brain. The former wasn’t immediate. It could take minutes to bleed out, and it was painful…and messy. Placing my left hand against his too-cold cheek, I leaned over him— “I wasn’t…I wasn’t the only one,” he whispered. My heart stopped. “What?” “Ridley…he was…he was bitten, too.” A wheezing breath left him. “He wanted to say goodbye to his father. I don’t…know if he took care of himself or not.”

Atlantians looked like mortals. Even the extinct wolven, who had once lived alongside the Atlantians in Atlantia, could easily be mistaken for mortals, even though they had never been. The Atlantians’ ability to blend in with the populace they were known to subjugate and hunt made them deadly, expert predators. One could walk right past me, and I wouldn’t know. Neither would the Ascended. For some reason, the gods hadn’t taken any of that into consideration when they initiated the Blessing. Scanning the paragraphs, one word stood out, causing my stomach to dip. Fangs. Although I knew what it would say, I read the sentences anyway.

Between year 19 and 21, those of blooded Atlantian descent leave the vulnerable state of immaturity, wherein the ill-spirits in their blood become active. Noted during this period is a disturbing increase in strength, and the ability to recover from most mortal wounds as they continue to mature. It is also to be noted that before the War of Two Kings and the extinction of the wolven, a bonding ritual was performed between an Atlantian of a certain class and a wolven. Not much is known about this bond, but it is believed that the wolven in question was duty-bound to protect the Atlantian.

Ommmmm