Page 1 of Gua rdian of Blood and Shadow

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Myheartsplitintwo as I stood in Javier's quarters—joy for my Prime Consort's return warring with the crushing guilt of leaving Gavin behind in that dark cell. I hadn’t spent much time in Javier’s personal quarters when I was a little girl. I had stepped foot in the suite maybe twice, always with Amaya, who Javier had been chosen to serve. The next High Queen of the House of the Moon had always been slated to be his queen.

But that queen wasn’t supposed to be me.

My gaze swept over the sitting room, taking in everything from the furniture to the man standing stoically in loose loungewear in the doorway to the bedroom. Dark, classic pieces befitting a Gothic mansion filled the space, enhanced by silver sigils pulsing gently in the shadows.

Every heartbeat of mine felt like a betrayal. Gavin was trapped in a dungeon cell. I’d abandoned him, yet here I stood, safe and alone with another man. Guilt coiled inside me like a snake within the cage of my ribs. Yet beneath it lurked something unexpected—anticipation. My body hummed with awareness of Javier’s presence even as I mourned Gavin’s sacrifice. What kind of person did that make me?

A pretty damn terrible one, that’s what.

Javier had nearly as many bookcases as Ash, but only half held books. The rest displayed objects straight out of an occult museum. I passed a silver athame and felt it hum through my bones, vibrating against something deep inside me.

I crossed to the fireplace. Behind me, Javier shut the door. I fidgeted with my flowy T-shirt hem while staring into the flames that did nothing for the chill in my core. Gavin’s face haunted me—that resigned determination, quiet acceptance, and something else I couldn’t name without shattering into a million pieces right here on the floor.

“You look well,” Javier said, his voice like gravel covered in silk. He stayed by the door.

For a heartbeat, the reality of him standing there—alive, whole, after believing him lost for so long—hit me with physical force. My vision blurred with unexpected tears, my body swaying slightly before I caught myself. Twenty years of grief collapsed in an instant, leaving me disoriented in its absence.

I choked on a laugh.Well? I was anything but.

Twenty years gone. Twenty years that had turned me from a frightened child to this woman I barely recognized. I’d mourned him while he suffered in captivity. I had lived while he had spent two decades dying. I had lost every single thing that mattered… But then, so had he.

So, in a sense, I supposed we were both well.

“Gavin figured out what you did with the tincture,” I said. “He reversed it so I could go longer between, uh,communions.” My cheeks burned. “But it was hard before that. I was starving…for a long time. And when Gavin found me and awakened my magic, I needed a lot.” Not just immortal blood. I had needed everything Gavin could give me. More, considering I’d bound three consorts in barely two days.

Gavin’s name stuck in my throat like a fishbone. He had sacrificed nearly everything—for me, for our people—and I couldn’t even properly grieve because he wasn’t dead, just suffering somewhere beyond my reach. Our bond was stretched thin but unbroken, vibrating with pain I couldn’t soothe.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Javier said from right behind me.

I spun around, my hands clutching my chest, my heart pounding. I didn’t correct him on my name. Didn’t tell him I was Sophie now. To him, I would always be Luna.

“Sorry,” he repeated, that familiar smile flashing briefly. His eyes traced my features. “You look so much like your mother.”

I stared at the floor, at his bare feet inches from mine. My mother’s ghost seemed to stand between us. Would she judge me for wanting Javier while mourning Gavin? For binding multiple consorts in a matter of days? For standing here ready tocommunewith the man who practically raised me?

“Did you evercommunewith—” I swallowed hard, my hands twisting my shirt hem. “With her? With my mom?” I met his eyes for a split second before dropping my gaze, my cheeks burning.

“No,” he said. “Never.” He gripped my hands, stilling them. “It is rare, but there are cases where a queen and one of her consorts have a platonic relationship.”

My eyes snapped to his. “Is that what you want?” My heart turned leaden and sank. Based on the hollow feeling spreading through me, a platonic relationship wasn’t what I wanted with Javier. Not even close.

Fresh guilt followed. Gavin had saved my life, awakened my powers, made me feel things I never knew possible… And now he suffered alone because of me. Because I had needed Javier, my Prime Consort. Yet here I stood, before the same man whose freedom had cost Gavin’s, desperate for him not to reject me. Yearning for his hands on me. His teeth in me.

“You didn’t choose me to be your Prime Consort,” Javier said. “That was meant to be Gavin’s role, but I stole it from him. Stole you from him. Not once, but twice.”

His words cut through me. Javier was my past; Gavin was supposed to be my future. Yet fate had twisted everything inside out.

“You saved me,” I countered softly. “I would have died here, with my mom and Amaya and…everyone.”

“Even so,” Javier said. “I took something never meant for me. I forced you into a bond you didn’t understand and couldn’t have chosen.” He paused. “I don’t expect you to treat me the same as those you did choose.”

“But…I love you,” I whispered, tears gathering on my lashes.

The truth felt both simple and impossibly complex. I’d always loved him, but that love had transformed. He’d been everything: father, teacher, guardian, friend. Now he was something else I couldn’t define but felt unwinding inside me with each breath.

“Love me like a father?” he asked. “Like a brother? Like a friend?”

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