The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, #1)

by Carissa Broadbent

The king did not know then that his greatest love would also be his ruination—nor that either would come in the form of a tiny, helpless human child.

Hundreds of years later, historians and scholars would look back upon this moment. This decision that, one day, would topple an empire. What a strange choice, they would whisper. Why would he do this? Why, indeed. After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts. And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.

I couldn’t be stronger than them, so I had to be more precise. No time for mistakes.

I loved it—really, truly loved it—when they underestimated me.

Yet as I grew older, I learned that being ruthless was not the same thing as being fearless.

And then I realized. I realized that fear, when embraced, hardens and sharpens. That it becomes rage. That it becomes power. I would not die here. I let my fury explode.

He was on his knees, staring up at me. And that—the way he looked at me—was the first thing that felt real. Real, and raw, and… and confusing. Because he looked at me in sheer awe—like I was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. Like I was a fucking goddess.

“You are the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen, Oraya.”

There are moments in one’s life that remain permanently distilled in memory. Some wither within minutes, and others are carved forever into our souls.

I whirled around. “Why are you here?” My tone was downright vitriolic. It was undeserved. He had done nothing but be kind to me. But I only knew how to fight.

“Give me one honest thing,” he murmured. One honest thing. The most terrible honest thing of all was that with Raihn, it was all honest—it always had been. He saw too much of me. Understood every complexity and senseless duality. I was honest even when I didn’t mean to be. He did not fear my darkness, nor pity my compassion.

I wanted to wind myself around him the way ivy claims stone.

“I would beg,” he murmured. “For you, I would. You have fucking destroyed me, Oraya. Do you know that?”