Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 44666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 179(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Oliver Whitney.
A man of control.
A master of persuasion.
A shadow in my doorway every night.
He saved me from the dungeon.
Then named his price.
He wants to take me on another trip to the states—only this time, I don’t have a choice.
Because Oliver plans to offer me to a secret society, and my virginity is the main attraction that buys him entry.
I’ve been gutted by grief.
Twisted by self-denial.
Unraveled by men who all want a piece of me.
But I’m not the same.
Not after the cliff.
Not after the dungeon.
Not after Oliver.
I mourned the love of my life with my whole soul.
And just when I surrender to my fate…
He steps out of the shadows.
Part 10 of The Zodiac Queen. Intended for mature readers who enjoy dark and explicit themes. Reader discretion is advised.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
December 17th
Winter air nips at my bare arms, sending a shiver racing down my limbs. In the distance, waves collide with jagged cliffs, and I focus on the rhythm until it storms through me. The darkness steals my vision of the sea, but that sound is a potent elixir, an inducer of the mental fog I crave.
God, it’s all I want right now.
Being near the ocean does that to me. Soothes the turmoil. Calms my breathing. Distorts all the things I can’t bring myself to face. It’s a small mercy, this gift of oblivion.
Beautiful oblivion.
Despite the frigid air, I’m content to stand on the edge of nothing, because I feel nothing here. It would be so easy to let go and fly, to claim the type of nothingness that’s permanent.
Eternal.
Does peace exist in such a place? I can’t help but think it does.
“Novalee!”
A sharp voice tears through my solitude, and I pivot to find Liam standing behind me on the balcony. In the moonless dark, his coppery hair masquerades as black—a striking contrast to the snowflakes drifting between us. One by one, they land in silent defeat on the floor.
I don’t remember how I got here, but I resent him for interrupting the only bit of peace I’ve had since…
My stomach revolts at where that thought tries to stray.
“How long have you been out here?” Liam’s gaze lifts over my shoulder, chasing a view the night won’t give him.
The sun must have set hours ago, though that doesn’t seem right. Wasn’t I just swirling a spoon through thick, tasteless oatmeal at the breakfast table? It should bother me that I can’t recall the time between then and now, but it doesn’t.
“Novalee.” His insistent tone is on the gruff side as he takes my hand. “Did you hear me?”
“What?” Blinking, I fixate on his thumb as it glides back and forth across the back of my hand. That gesture is hypnotic, trance-like…
Going back and forth and back and forth and back—
“Let’s get you inside.”
I jump at his voice, which only makes his forehead wrinkle in concern. Gently, he guides me through the door and into my private quarters in the House of Aries. The next thing I know, I’m settled in a chair, cocooned in a warm blanket, while Liam rubs life back into my arms through the soft material.
“How long were you out there?” His brows knit together. “You’re frozen to the bone.”
His jacket and tie are absent, and my gaze stalls on his collarbone. He’s dressed casually for the evening, with the top three buttons of his shirt undone. Something about his skin beckons. Without conscious thought, I work my arms out of the blanket and trail my fingers over his throat.
He’s smooth and warm and—
“Novalee.” His thick murmur halts my hand. “You’re worrying me.”
“Why?”
“Because I found you freezing in the snow,” he says, brows arching in disbelief, “without a jacket or a pair of shoes. What were you doing out there?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
I’m sure if I think long and hard, I can come up with an explanation, but I don’t have the energy. Besides, the sad truth is…
“I don’t remember.”
Liam’s mouth tightens into a thin line, yet his touch remains gentle as he cups my cheek. “Tell me what to do, please.”
“There’s nothing,” I whisper, the emptiness inside me growing deeper.
A soft knock interrupts the grave moment, and my bedroom door opens to reveal Vance. The sudden appearance of the doctor sends a jolt of adrenaline through me, and I sit up straight as hope crashes into my chest, tangling with a complex blend of anger and fear.
Because I don’t trust hope—not when it’s done nothing but yank me around in unabashed violence since the day I was born.
And yet…
I can’t help but ask the only question worth asking. “Did they find him?”
Vance gives his blond head a solemn shake. He normally wears his hair in a ponytail, but now it falls past his shoulders, wild and messy, like he’s been running his fingers through it all day.
“No sign of survivors,” he says quietly. “Axel’s body was recovered a few days ago, but…”
Dread bands around my chest. “But they’re still looking, right?”
Liam rises to join Vance, and my gaze darts between them, desperation cresting. No one speaks at first, and that’s when I ache for the numbness of winter air, the crash of waves, the endless dark.
The fog.
God, bring the fog back, because I can’t face the answer written in Vance’s expression—as if he’s trying to swallow the words so he won’t have to say them out loud.
“It’s been a week, Novalee.”
A week.
Seven days.
168 hours.
10,000 and some odd minutes since Sebastian’s plane went down, and my world imploded.
It feels longer.
It feels like it happened five minutes ago.
That day is a blur, just distorted images I don’t want to remember, and yet I still recall Liam and the Brotherhood ambushing me in my studio with the news. Can still smell Liam’s spicy cologne as he engulfed me in his arms. Still hear the wailing and screaming.