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

by Carissa Broadbent

After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts. And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.

Death isn’t frightening when weighed against an insignificant existence.”

And then I realized. I realized that fear, when embraced, hardens and sharpens. That it becomes rage. That it becomes power.

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.

“I’ve lived through some injustices in the last couple of centuries. Seen some fucking travesties. But one of the biggest, Oraya, is that anyone taught you that you should become anything other than exactly what you are.”

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

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