The Book of Azrael (Gods & Monsters, #1)

by Amber V. Nicole

Ethan was right, though; Liam was everything we were taught to fear. Yet I looked at him, and I saw the man who trembled at night over the world, family, and friends he had lost. I saw the man who asked questions over the most basic things and thought he was saving me when we first started this trip. Liam was my friend.

“Dianna is different. I have seen evil. I’ve seen it born, what it craves, and how it acts. She may be stubborn and erratic. At times, she is rude or crass, even violent or dangerous, but not evil—not even a little bit.”

was just feeling unnerved by what Ethan had said about the lengths Kaden was taking to get me back. I knew he wasn’t acting out of love; love didn’t exist in our world. Kaden had made that painfully clear through the centuries. I was nothing more than a possession to him, and he wanted his toy back.

“There is a saying in my language, on my world. It doesn’t truly translate, but it means ‘to calcify.’ Gods are at risk of reaching a certain point in their lives where emotions dissipate. It often happens after what you would consider a traumatic event. They lose a part of themselves and cease to care about anyone or anything. It is as if the very light inside of us goes out, and we turn to stone.”

“Don’t you know? Love is the purest form of destruction there is.”