n and storm winds. Her skin was a mess, bruised up with Kael's kisses, but there were other mar

abit of disappearing before sunrise, leav

y that left her grinning into the pillow, her breasts tender from where he'd bitten her, and her soul-oh, her soul felt like i

ar. That's what good girls did after a night like that, right? But Aria just lay t

ga

e deep beneath the keep, in the places people didn't talk about, something ancient heard

-

l like a lie. No gowns, no lace. She strapped on her boots, tied her hair back, and left the room without lo

ybody knew better than to cross Aria Valebryn. She'd been a wild thing since she was a kid, reading strategy manuals instead of fairy t

blood. It was the place under the place, the part of the castle people pretended didn't exist. She could hear things-sounds t

mething that looked suspiciously like bone. Not human either-this

ed in bloodsto

ATH THE MOON SHALL

n her-flared hot, and she step

-

he place was a shrine, old as dirt, dust thick enough to choke. Runes flickered across the floor,

horns back, fangs bared. And kneeling before him-Aria. Not just a generic woman. No, the carver had got

altar and the

-

ild, desperate bliss. Kael took her while flames licked at the walls and the old gods looked on. Th

Don't stop-go

snarl, half-cur

h. No goddess, no war, no curse

wer. The sense that something huge an

-

from the altar, heart s

this isn

n't

d old it made her bones vibrate. Not Kael's, but som

ac

and shoved through, black as

a

m. He looked like a demon and a god all rolled to

wers. You came all this way. You touched

't want

"You can't sleep unless you feel me. You ache for me

hoed off the stone. He barely flinc

I want your rage as

ng her breathless, draggi

-

make love. N

r back. She swore at him as she came on his mouth, bit his shoulder as he growled and spilled inside he

asn't sleep

ting, and s

-

lse still skittering. Her whole body buzzed, not just fro

oked softer now, almost gentle. Still wild, but not the kind of wild that would eat

ing?" she whispe

and pressed a kiss there, slow and sure. "

ned. "Wh

anger. "The Queen of Beasts. My queen, Ari

ilt on its axis. Maybe the curse wasn't a cur