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

by Carissa Broadbent

Maybe the king always knew that his greatest love would be his ruination. Maybe he knew it the moment he met her. He’d know it the second time he died, too.

And then I would open my eyes, and the inevitable cruel clarity of consciousness would roll over me, and my father would die all over again.

My husband smiled at me, lowering his raised fist, which had indeed been ready to knock one more fucking time. “There she is.”

But I felt anything but powerful when I was forced to recognize that Raihn—the man who had lied to me, imprisoned me, overthrown my kingdom, and murdered my father—genuinely cared for me.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t smell you, princess?”

“Just want you to know, Oraya,” he murmured, “that you were the best part of it. The best part of all of it.”

You have teeth too, little serpent, he whispered in my ear, and Goddess, he sounded closer than ever. Show them that bite.