Broken Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #4)

by Caroline Peckham

"Mi manchi come al sole mancano tutte le stelle e la luna quando affonda oltre l'orizzonte,"

My memory hadn't done her any justice. She shone like the most beautiful star in the zodiac; if I had been her mate, I'd never need to look up at the sky again.

You can crack and shatter and break and I’ll hold you through it all until you're ready to build yourself back up again. You can lean on me, rely on me, ask anything of me that you need and I'll be there to offer it up."

Sometimes when I remembered our time together, I felt like the edges of my memories were blurred, some details lost in translation, already forgotten. Time was stealing him from me piece by piece.

"I'll always be a monster, baby. I'll be the reason Fae lock their doors at night in Alestria, I am branded on the inside of my enemies' skulls and my name will always strike fear into their hearts. But I will also be your monster, if you'll have me. If you deem me worthy. I don't have much to give but a blackened heart and a tarnished soul, but they're yours because...” I took a breath and expelled my deepest truth, “I love you."

"Marry her?" he called mockingly. "Can't see you in a tux, Ryder." "I'd wear a clown suit and a fucking cowboy hat to make that girl mine, Big Bird."

Ryder knew the darkest, most broken pieces of my soul in ways that I wasn't sure anyone else ever could, because he had that kind of ache and darkness in him too. It wasn't just about grief, it was about survival, learning to adapt to the person you were after the worst had already happened and accepting that the person you used to be was gone now.

Some loves leave a scar on your heart which you never want to heal.

If this time was waning then I would greedily take as much as I could of her now and brand her onto the inside of my skin. Because losing her was better than never having her. And I was too weak to fight my need for her now.

"The stars put us together for a reason, little monster. You and me are as unstoppable as the rising sun.

"Tell me everyone who hurt you is already dead or I'm going to need you to point them out, baby,"

The stars whispered words in my ears which I didn’t understand. But I was sure he heard them too. And whatever they meant, I was certain it meant everything had changed.