A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows (Stars and Shadows, #1)

by Holly Renee

“You will never be his, princess. I don’t give a damn if your hand holds his ring or if your head holds his crown. You still won’t belong to him.”

“I haven’t asked for your loyalty, Evren.”

“You’ve simply demanded it of me with every breath you take. You may not have asked, princess, but gods, you have it regardless.”

Gods, I wanted it. I wanted anything he was willing to give me.

“That’s a good girl, princess.” He pressed the spine against my lower stomach, and I gasped for breath. “Open for me.”

“That no one else can touch you.”

“Technically, I’m not laying a single finger on you, princess.”

He moved the corner of the spine in small circles against my sex as if he was trying to prove his point. A moan slipped past my lips, despe...

My body would know him without a single word or sight. There was a feel of him that was vastly different from everyone else.

“Good girl. Come apart for me right here in the library where anyone could catch us.”

“You can do anything you want with me, princess. I’m yours.”

“Gods please, princess.” He buried his fingers against my scalp. “I’ve been dreaming about what that mouth of yours can do.”

“There is nothing you can do that would be wrong, princess. However you want to touch me is more than I could ever beg of the gods.”

“Like I said. A wicked little thing.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine, and I never wanted to leave the cloak of him or his magic.

I tried not to let him see how much his words affected me, but it was impossible. I was completely and irrevocably altered by his words. “Thank you, Evren.”

No matter what happened in my life, I would never experience a lover as possessive as Evren.

“Has anyone tasted you before, or does that honor belong to me?”

“That’s it, princess. Scream my name while they eagerly await you. You are their savior but my demise. You are to ruin every part of me.”

I had almost forgotten about it when I was with Evren. It was almost as if my mark didn’t matter when I was with him. But that was absurd. My mark mattered more than my own life.

I wanted Evren desperately, but he was still my enemy. The blood that ran through his veins was the very blood that was trapping me here, but he was also something more. He would destroy anyone who hurt me, but would he do the same when it came to his brother?

“I have no idea what’s going to become of us.”

He meant us as in his kingdom, his family, but the word hit my gut as if he was speaking about the two of us alone.

But despite how badly I didn’t want to run from Evren, everything inside me knew I should run from his brother.

“You are destined for far more than they realize.”

“What am I destined for?”

“Your soul.” She spoke slowly as she studied me. “It is irrevocably attached to another.”

“I can feel your magic from here, but I can feel his as well.”

“And what they say about me saving the kingdom?”

“Which kingdom is it that you’d like to save?”

“Blood and magic have been woven together throughout our land for centuries, but you are the blade with which they will sever it.”

“Your stars burn brighter in the shadows, witch. But it is you who must decide which darkness you cling to.”

“You choose your darkness.”

“Choose wisely.”

I had been told a hundred times over that Gavril was my destiny, but what if they all had it wrong? What if I was Evren’s destiny instead?

Something had snapped inside of me. Something I couldn’t hold on to, but I knew that I would never be the same again after today. When Gavril had fed from me, he had made me feel like a shell of who I was before. But Evren? Evren made me feel more like myself than I ever

“Please don’t treat me like I’m fragile. I’m not the Starblessed. I’m yours.”

“You may be blessed by the stars, princess, but you were fucking made for me. Fate be damned.”

“Let the whole fucking kingdom know who you belong to.”

“I would cut the world down to keep it from getting between us.”

“If I knew how to do this, I would. If I knew how to love you without getting you hurt, I would never allow them to touch you again.”

“I would rather leave this world than to watch my brother take from you again. I will give up everything for you, princess.”

“I will fight through hell to keep you from him, Adara.”

“Look, Adara.” Evren rubbed his fingers over my thigh, and I tracked his movement. My star mark danced along my skin, and the slightest glow unlike anything I had ever seen radiated from it.

“Your fate is wrong.”

“You are the firstborn son of King Riven,” I whimpered as he slammed into me once more.

“I was fated for you, Evren.” My spine burned like a million fires along my skin, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle much more.

I wasn’t sure of anything in this life, but one thing I knew for certain was that Evren was my destiny.

“The Starblessed belongs to me.”

But the prince who belonged to two kingdoms was wrong. I belonged to no one.