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

by Carissa Broadbent

“You,” he breathed. “Raihn fucking Ashraj.

“You don’t give an inch, do you?” My eyes flicked coldly up his body. “Do you? Or is an inch all you have to offer?”

“That wasn’t him today.” “Oh?” I said dryly. “Then who was it?” “The past.” She gave me a sad smile. “Maybe our skin doesn’t scar the same as yours, but our hearts do. Sometimes they never heal.”

“She was a goddess.” “Barely, in the beginning. A nobody. And so young.”

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.

Foreshadowing??

One, that he looked at me like my well-being was actually important to him. That he must actually care, because I’d felt the way he cared. I’d felt his panic when I was in danger, and that meant he’d felt mine when I thought Angelika would kill him.

Cuz they're in looovvveeee.

“You don’t think I see how hard you’ve worked to hold onto your humanity? You’re more human than I am, Raihn. You’ve kept every part of it that makes you value the things in this shitty world that no one else here does.

😩

“That wasn’t how I’d imagined making you come for the first time,” he remarked.

Omg, this man. 🤦🏽‍♀️😜🥵

“Careful, princess,” he said at last, his voice rough. “Someone might think you’re actually nice.” But his words mattered so much less than the persistent tug of the smile across his lips.

“If I get off of you,” I said, “will you go run after a squirrel?” I was grateful to see that familiar, long-suffering annoyance. “Oh, fuck you, princess.” It was a bit of a relief to hear him curse at me again.

And I’m not going to just sit next to you while you die, Raihn. I’m just—I’m just not.”

And yet… I trusted him absolutely. I didn’t know how to say any of that. So I settled on, “I’m not afraid of you, Raihn.” And I saw in his eyes how much those words meant to him. Like he had been given something he had been waiting his entire life for.

“You don’t even know, Oraya.” The corner of his mouth, where a little smudge of my blood remained, curled as he shook his head. “The things I’ve thought about. ‘Want’ doesn’t even fucking cover it. I have a list.”

🥴 He's got a list. Hot af.

And the last thing I heard as sleep took me was Raihn’s voice, so quiet it seemed like he might be speaking to himself. “You are the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen, Oraya.”

💞

And the difference between nothing mattering and one thing mattering is a big one.”

♥❤