Page 58 of Shattered & Returned

Chapter

Twenty-One

Bloom

Forbidden Fruit

Fire seared my flesh.

My own screams filled my ears as I watched flames engulf my body at the stake. The scent of my burning hair, the crackle of my blistering skin—every detail horrifically vivid. Agony liquefied my bones.

A thunderous roar split the sky. Rain fell like divine mercy, dousing the flames.

Too late.

Nero Ravencrux’s face swam above me, those fathomless eyes wide with…horror? Hunger? The world dimmed before I could decide.

I woke choking on a gasp. Phantom fire still licked at my nerves. My heart battered my ribs like a caged beast. Mynightdress clung to my sweat-slicked body, the fabric pasted to every curve.

Across the room, Sindy’s silhouette rose and fell with even breaths, her soft snores a counterpoint to my ragged panting.

Moonlight bled through the tinted window when I finally crept to it. Outside, the Obsidian Wilds sprawled beneath the silvered night, beautiful and brutal as the dream that still lingered in my veins.

The murdered women’s stares pressed against the window glass, a silent jury of red-haired ghosts. Their unspoken demand clawed at my bones:Speak for us. Don’t join us.

A conspiracy of ravens swept past the tower, cawing in warning. The Obsidian Wilds was calling me. No—not the forest.He.Ravencrux’s summons thrummed in my blood, transcending logic, awakening my primal need.

My body heated in longing. Before I knew it, I was throwing a cloak over my sleeping gown. My bare feet flew down stairwells of their own volition. I was out of the tower in no time, night air cooling my fevered skin.

Earth and iron and crushed pine filled my nostrils as I followed the familiar path.

Then I saw him, his silhouette cutting through the darkness. Moonlight silvered his raven hair and the broad planes of his back. Power lived in that body, not fleeting mortal strength but the kind that predated civilizations. The kind that shaped worlds when stars were born.

He turned. Shadows curled around him. That devastatingly beautiful face stole my breath away, and I took a ragged breath into my lungs.

Just an immortal, I reminded myself. But when his unwavering gaze locked onto mine, reason abandoned me. My heart once again became a wild creature throwing itself against its cage.

If this man was a killer, I was already doomed. Because standing there, bathed in silver moonlight and madness, I realized a terrible truth:

I’d walk willingly into his arms even if they led to my grave.

“Come to me at last?” His voice poured over me like molten honey, eyes holding the heat of a dying star.

I didn’t stand a chance.

This unnatural need, its intensity, its singularity, terrified me. I’d never burned for anyone before.

The night wind hissed through my thin gown, finally bringing sense with its chill.

“This is a mistake,” I breathed, stepping back. “I shouldn’t be here.”

He lunged before I could take a step. One moment apart, the next, his arm banded around my waist, pulling me flush against him. A spark traveled straight to my core, drawing a gasp to my lips.

“Never a mistake,” he growled, pulling me against his sculpted chest. His heat burned through my cloak, branding my skin. Every touch brought delight that bordered on pain. My body arched against him instinctively, craving more contact, more pressure, more of him.

The faces of those dead women flickered behind my eyelids.

“Did you…” The words clogged my throat.

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