Page 1 of The Book Reader
Chapter 1
GAELAN - 1975
One thing being alive for as long as I have has taught me is that life is a bitch and destiny is an even bigger cunt. It’s been one hundred and fifty years since I’ve lost her this time, and it never gets any easier.
I am the lord of the Dream Realm, one of the most powerful regions in the Underworld.
The devil had his army of lords to fight beside him, to make sure that the balance between good and evil remained.
He gave each lord the gift of a beast from hell, a pure daemon that lives within them, a soul carved from pure evil. They are our constant companions.
When they are not in control of our bodies, we can feel them and hear them in our minds. Our daemons are born with us, and we learn as we grow to control them, to make them a part of our lives.
When we need darkness, our bodies shift into a new form—their form. Larger, powerful, and more deadly.
Being a lord of the Underworld is a gift from the devil himself. The title was handed down to me after my father was killed.
Only lords have daemons, Hell monsters.
Millions of years ago, Tate—another daemon lord—overthrew the devil, murdered him, and took over his realm.
Since then, there has been nothing but death and destruction in the Underworld.
Tate, with the help of his top assassin, the Blood Bringer, has slowly been killing his way through each region of the Underworld. Destroying their lord protectors and anyone else who opposed him.
My soulmate was meant to stop him.
She never got the chance. I lost her in that life and every single one after that.
A heartbreak that makes each breath I take burns my lungs because the air is darker without her.
Each beat of my heart feels like it’s going to rip my whole soul in two because she was the one who kept me together.
Grounding me.
Every day, I wake up wondering if today is the day she returns me.
When daemons fall in love, it’s for eternity. And when you’re immortal, the time spent apart transcends everything making it a sentence worse than a mortal death itself. We mate and bond together, not only as lovers, but as soul companions.
Our mates become the very fiber of our being, the reason for us to wake up every day and live our dark lives as best we can.
For her, I was alive.
Without her, I am nothing. I might as well be lying in a dirt grave beside her.
Her destiny is to be the Book Reader. Still, fate and their asshole gods never gave her a chance. Every time, she is ripped from this world before she can learn to use the powers she was promised.
We never found out why she is reincarnated. Half the time, it felt like some sick fucked up joke.
Gracing the universe with a soul so beautiful and as pure as hers, to then rip it away from us.
From me. Over and over again.
A reminder that our darkness can never touch the light.
In her first life—I fell so hard. Her amber eyes filled with defiance and stunning smile drew me in. I never stood a chance against her strong personality. Her ability to defy my every wish and her strong will capture me and never let me go.
I’ve never loved anything like I’ve loved her.
