Linked (Gilded Blood #3)

by Rachel Rener

“Be careful when you cast out your demons that you don’t throw away the best of yourself.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“At that point, I knew it wasn’t just about vengeance anymore. It was about protecting the one person I had come to care so deeply about. The one person who’d given me a reason to live, who made me believe, for the first time in my life, that I might not be the monster I’d always considered myself to be.”

So that’s why he’d asked me to be his queen. Not because he wanted to spend his life with me or whatever, but because— “And also because I love you,” he added. “I—” My jaw dangled open. “How did you—” “Because I know you,” he said softly, lifting my hands to kiss my knuckles. “And I certainly know how your neurotic brain works by now.”

“But you, Talia… You took my breath away the moment you first set foot in my shop.”

“Because when you find your soulmate, something deep within you stirs to life.” He

“You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen,” he

“I am yours, Talia Kestenbaum, until the end of time.”

“Our fears are the same,” he whispered in my ear. “Even the thought of losing you…I can’t bear it.”

Shaking my head, I followed him down the winding stone path that began at the portal, sloped downward, then wound back up and around the mountain, leading directly to the castle. As we walked hand-in-hand, I hopped from stone to stone, marveling at the colors. Jade-green, sunset-orange, ultramarine-blue, copper-red…I’d never seen so many different shades of moss before.

I’d been deluding myself… Because the fact of the matter was, the more Zayn touched me, the more the tattoo hurt – a deep throbbing pain that made the surrounding tissue feel as though I’d been on the receiving end of a game of Slug-Bug gone wrong.

Dude, stop freaking out, one of the many voices in my head shouted at me, momentarily drowning out the others. You haven’t even tried to Extract the ink yet! First comes Extraction. If that doesn’t work, then you can panic.

He wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug, lifting me straight off the ground. “You brilliant little minx,” he laughed, kissing me deeply. “You may have just saved this kingdom.”

The banshee lifted a bone-white hand, her gnarled finger pointing directly at Zayn…and then opened her mouth to scream.

“Shut up and let me take care of you,” he growled, making my mouth snap shut.

“I really do love you, you know,” I whispered against his neck, where my salty tears were safely masked by the sheen of his sweat. “Even if you lost your limbs in an unfortunate kelpie incident and then fell into a vat of acid, I’d still be madly in love with you.”

“I didn’t fall in love with your body, Zayn,” I said softly. “I fell in love with your heart. With your mind. And I’ll wait as long as I have to, until we find a cure. Because it has to exist. It has to.”

“We’re here because we’re both stubborn mules who believe in doing what’s right. There’s still time to try to convince the elves to save themselves rather than die in a fruitless battle – and I do believe they’ll see reason once they see what’s coming.

for those with pure hearts will be reborn again.” “We believe that the Great Phoenix Tree welcomes home all elven souls,” Korinne explained, “granting them new life as saplings beneath the shade of her branches.”