Page 112 of Shattered & Returned

Tears cut tracks through the blood on my cheeks, salt burning in fresh wounds. I didn’t wipe them away.

“I’m sorry I was late.”His breath was ragged against my skin.“Fighting bigger monsters for days. But I’m here now. You’re safe.”

Safe. For this moment, at least. Tomorrow’s threats could wait. I’d celebrate today’s win, as I was still breathing but they weren’t, their broken bodies twitching out their last agonized breaths.

Nero leaned forward, pressing his forehead to mine likehewas the one who needed anchoring. His arms trembled around me. I let him take what he needed, my warmth, my breath, the proof that I was alive.

“You look terrible,”I murmured. “You have dark circles under your eyeslike a punched-out panda. And you need a bath badly.”

A rough chuckle vibrated through him.“You sure know how to flatter a man.”

I blinked at him. “It’s not a compliment.”

His mouth crashed into mine, desperate and not caring who was watching. I couldn’t savor it, even though I wanted to. The last of my strength abandoned me, my body going limp just as his arms locked around me like a vise.

The world faded. Somewhere beyond the gathering dark, Nero’s roar shook the earth:

“Heal her, Morrigan! Now!”

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

Ravencrux

Sleeping Beauty

She was frail in my arms, small enough to break, and the thought alone pained me. I cradled her against my chest as Belladonna carried us toward my lake house in the Obsidian Wilds.

The bleeding had stopped. Morrigan had healed her on the spot. My assistant offered to carry Bloom, to spare her the scrutiny of being seen with me, but I refused. I couldn’t stand to be parted from my mate, not even for a moment. Today, I had almost lost her.

When I’d arrived from battle, I’d found her swaying on her feet, barely able to stand yet holding her ground, her eyes burning like an avenging angel’s. She’d been ready to take her enemies down with her. I’d never been more turned on.

This mortal version of my queen was unlike any before her.

Belladonna descended as the forest came into view. My house of dark timber and ebony stone waited deep in the warded woods.

The lake house rose from the mist and stretched skyward like a gothic dream, its reflection wavering on the lake’s black surface, a perfect double: one house clawing toward the heavens, the other sinking into the abyss. Copper-and-rust trees framed the structure, their leaves drifting aimlessly. Gargoyles crouched on every corner, their stone gazes tracking every movement, ready to wake at my command.

Fog curled along the shore, thick and restless. Silence ruled here. No birds, no insects, not even a sigh of wind.

No one entered the Obsidian Wilds, except Orren. The forest itself expelled intruders, the trees closing ranks, paths shifting, until trespassers wandered in circles or stumbled into the clutches of the creatures that called this dark wood home.

While I was on academy grounds, I slept most nights here.

Gently, I laid Bloom across my bed, her pale skin stark against the black silk. Piece by piece, I stripped off my battered armor, the plates hitting the floor with hollow thuds. Then I slumped into the chair beside her, head in my hands. My fingers trembled. She’d almost died. I’d almost been too late. Fear and fury collided in my skull, a storm of dread and grim certainty bombarding my chaotic mind.

I’d lied when I told her that she was safe. My enemies had reached her. And this was only the beginning. I’d never been so fearful, realizing the stakes were higher than ever.

She didn’t stir, her breath slow and even. Beautiful. Pure. Sensual. The sight carved through my black heart like a double-edged blade.

I’d fallen for her the moment I saw her in our first lifetime. Yes, her beauty struck me like lightning, but it was her kindnessthat seared deeper, that quiet absence of malice so rare among gods. It bound me to her irrevocably.

I was a bad man then. I still am. But unlike others, I didn’t want to corrupt her purity; I craved to possess it, to devour her light and cradle it in my darkness. So I vowed to claim her, whatever the cost.

The gods sneered, dismissing what I felt for Persephone as nothing but a passing fancy. Immortality had hollowed them; they’d forgotten what true passion felt like. But not a single day dimmed my need for her. It only grew hotter, heavier, enough to shatter any lesser being. It didn’t break me, but it stripped away reason, leaving only madness where she was concerned.

Primal instinct roared louder than sense, demanding I take her, mark her, drown in her over and over. Just the sight of her spiked my pulse, lust clouding my thoughts and heating my blood. I fought back this insane urge by sheer will, so I wouldn’t take her without her permission.

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