Extraits

He was trapped, here, in his darkest place. Trapped by the witch to live forever in the role of the Nightkind King. Never connecting with his princess, never winning the love of his life. There would be no transformative magic, no new day.

There was a concerted rush toward her. The bartender leaped over the bar, joining the rest as they jostled and shoved each other. Disoriented and overwhelmed, Melly backed up.

When all the movement finally stopped, Melly found herself pressing back against a wall, and every biker in the place extended a gun toward her, handgrip forward. Two were sawed-off shotguns. As she stared at them, a bearded fellow extended his other hand, offering a switchblade as well.

One of them said, “I realize this might not be a good time, but sometime when you’re having a better day, can I get your autograph?”

Another man snapped, “Seriously, George. Not appropriate right now.”

He had long since forgotten what warm sunlight felt like on his face, yet the warmth in Melly’s blood reminded him. Like her smile, it was infectious. It stole into him and pushed back the icy darkness that had begun to take him over.

Her blood was unbelievably rich with the magic that came with her heritage, along with an ability she had never bothered to cultivate. She had never cared about any inherent magical talent and preferred to explore her other talents and attributes, but he could taste all of it on his tongue.

She tasted like home and hot sex, like laughter and intimacy.

She tasted like realization.

He was the darkest of voices inside her head, the Nightkind King, and when he turned his gift of persuasion onto her, she wanted to take her soul out of her body and hand it to him.

The white that had begun to frost the dark hair on his head had not yet reached the sprinkle of hair on his chest that arrowed down his abdomen. He was caught forever between masculine strength and mortality, at the height of his power with just a hint of the death that would never take him.

"I swear to all the gods," she said between her teeth. "If you say 'don't be stupid' to me one more time, I'm going to start using you as a punching bag. If you think I'm going to feel bad that you're chained up and can't do anything to stop me, you'd better think again, soldier. So you'd better rein in your asshole tendencies, because I'm in the mood to say hello, opportunity. You've been a long time coming."