A Shadow in the Reaping (The Shadow Realm, #1)

by Brynne Weaver

I try not to let my thoughts run further, to my sisters, or Vlad, or any others I've known and lost over the millennia to the rules of the Reapers. I try not to wonder what became of Aglaope. But I can still feel the press of her hands on my chest as she pushed me from the cliff, into the safety of the crystalline sea. The urgency in her eyes still claws at my mind, her final words at odds with the sweet timbre of her voice. Find Barbossa Sarno, from the ship. Get a spell. Take the weapon and get revenge. And then the feeling of falling, weightless, watching the blade of fire strike through her chest as I plunged into the abyss. She was already dead by the time she fell into the water after me. Knowing now that it wasn’t the end, it’s hard not to wonder where her soul might have gone or what they have her doing here.

I am a reckless, silly creature, thinking of embraces and endearments and emotions. I’ve been afraid of what I feel about him. Now I can’t seem to stop it, and I fear that too. And worse still, I’m even more afraid of what he doesn’t feel for me. It’s a fear that bends and knots around me, holding my feet to the floor.

How wild of you, burning bras, I write. “I am a progressive Reaper,” he replies, and his deadpan tone makes my smile grow even wider. Yes, I really gathered that when you asked if Andy Cartwright wanted to mate with me.

“Ready, vampire?” I give a single nod. Ashen leans down, folding his free hand across the back of my neck and pressing his lips to mine in a searing kiss. He pulls away and looks into my eyes. I expect he'll say something like be careful, or stay behind me. “Have fun. Don't hiss too loud,” he says. He gives me a wicked smile as he turns away. And fuck me if I don't realize that very instant that I've fallen head over heels in love.

I swallow a sudden sting of tears before they can pool in my eyes. A coy grin pulls at my lips. “Ashen of House Urbigu... do you think I belong to you?” Ashen gives a breath of a laugh. His smile fades. His eyes soften and the flame within dies to embers. He reaches up and lays his hand on the side of my face, letting his fingers trace the line of my cheekbone and the angle of my jaw. His gaze follows every movement of his slow and gentle caress. “No. You belong to you, vampire. But I will cherish any part you're willing to share with me.” I can see past every layer when I look in Ashen's eyes. Past decades of time burned to cinders in his wake. Past the souls stripped from bodies by his blade. I am witness to every moment of loneliness and rage and despair. I see the man within the empty fortress, the soul within the demon. Things that shouldn't be, but they are. “I'll share every part that you're willing to take, and I'll take any part that you're willing to give,” I say, taking a step closer and placing a hand on Ashen's heart, the other across the back of his neck to draw his lips down to mine. His kiss sets fire to my veins, lighting them like fuses. My heart detonates in my chest, an explosion of love and desire.