The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia, #2)

by Carissa Broadbent

Eventually, I decided to go find Oraya. I wondered if she was still trapped in conversations with nobles, or if she’d finally managed to extract herself, too. Just as this thought crossed my mind, I turned a corner to see her standing at one of the garden walls, looking out over the festivities below. I stopped short. I couldn’t help it. I needed to just take a minute to look at her. Her wings were out now, the red shockingly vibrant even under the moonlight. Her gown glittered like the night sky itself. And her posture—she held herself like such a queen. Sometimes, I found it impossible to imagine how Oraya had ever thought of herself as helpless. She was the most powerful person I’d ever met. I approached her. She turned before I made it to her side, and the little smile she gave me eased the remaining lingering tension in my

Even with Raihn, my husband, my bonded, whose heart was literally linked to mine.

He scoffed. “You think I’m not terrified every time I look at you?” He touched my face—tracing the curve of my cheek, down to the point of my chin, his smile softening. “Fuck, of course I am. You have my heart.”

Then his face lit up. “Look.” I turned to see the sun scorching the horizon. The sky became a blazing fire of reds and pinks and purples as the orb of brilliant light rose above the sands of the dunes. My heart caught in my throat. I rose and stepped from beneath the awning, into the red-orange light of the infant sun. The warmth suffused my skin, bathing me in it. I’d never much enjoyed the sunlight. For most of my life, I’d avoided it. Just another reminder of how I was different—inferior—to the beings that surrounded me. Now, that seemed outrageous. I spread my arms out and closed my eyes, soaking it into my skin. “It’s something,” I said. “Isn’t it?” “Yes,” Raihn said softly. “It’s really something.” But when I glanced over my shoulder back at him, he wasn’t looking at the sun at all. My chest tightened, overflowing. “So?” I said. “Do you feel it?” “I’m not sure.” He held out a hand. “Come here.” I obeyed, crawling back under the awning. And as soon as I was in arm’s reach, his hands were all over me, his lips on my shoulder, my arms, my throat, my chest.

skin. My husband. My ally. My lover.