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I whimpered, writhing in pleasure, yanking and pulling at feathers on his shoulders. My sex clasped him with just as much desperation as he ground against me. His head dipped and shadows whirled around with a flurry, covering both of us as he lowered his mouth.

I could see my death in his bottomless eyes.

“Corvus.” My whisper cut off with the next twist of his hips.

“No,” Corvus bellowed and doubled over, his claws flexing into my injured arms.

His shadows whipped around him with such violence that it made my hair swirl around my jaw.

Why was he hesitating?

His knees hit the ground with a resounding thud, his cock slipping out of me, and his wings flinching closer to his body. Why had he stopped devouring my soul? I hadn’t had any misunderstandings about where this would lead, but now he was extending the inevitable.

Corvus curled his top lip, and his features crumpled to the point that the bridge of his nose wrinkled.

His hand wound around my throat and squeezed once. I closed my eyes.

“My end is worth you living.” The grip slid to my shoulder and turned painful. Suddenly, I was thrown backward, and my body twisted midair.

A chill crested through my veins, turning me into an icicle.

I screamed, landing on a hard floor. Shadows whipped along the wall of my bedroom. They writhed and pulsated. I got to my feet so quickly that it made the bedroom spin and the tattered bits of the linen dress fluttered around me.

There was no sign of him, and I turned in a circle, taking in the walls of my bedroom.

He was gone, and I was back home. “Corvus!” I ran at the surface I’d come through and pounded my fist into it.

“Lord of Shadows,” I whispered, flattening my palm against the familiar wall.

Nothing answered, and I feared nothing ever would again.

I thumpedmy head on the surface of the book I’d been rifling through. I’d been combing through the archives in the National Library for the last few days, and I was worried it was another bust. They had tons of scriptures and documents, but nothing concrete.

It’d only been a few months, and I was getting desperate. And losing hope. I’d come close to having drained my inheritance by flying from country to country. I’d researched every culture and religion for any inkling of what he was, but I didn’t find anything.

I didn’t realize how comforting the voices—no,voice—had been. Now that I was without it, their absence was glaring. I often found myself turning so suddenly, as if Corvus would appear out of thin air, but it never happened.

I’d never felt so alone.

I also never thought I’d miss him this much, either. As cruel as he was, he’d worked those claws deep into my heart. I’d had time to wrap my head around his nature and everything he’d done to help me escape. He’d given himself over, and I was a weak bitch because it had worked. All of his past evils didn’t hold a candle to what he’d given up for me.

Many women have said they could change a man, and they never could, but he wasn’t a man. He was a monster, and he did grow to care for me.

A girl sat in the seat across from me, and her eyebrows furrowed as she watched me.

I probably looked odd, sitting here smiling like a crazy person as I caressed the scars on my arms.

I’d wallowed for days, and then it occurred to me, if magic was real, and it very much had proven itself to exist, then there had to be a way to get back to him. After he’d mentioned the Blood Moon, I’d had hopes that I’d see an inkling of the shadows on the last one, but there was nothing.

I lifted my head and leaned back with a sigh. The rickety wooden chair squeaked with my lean. I gripped my cross.

Please, God, let me get back to him.

I rubbed my thumb against the smooth surface.

My new discoveries about different faiths and the realization that magic existed didn’t take away from my belief. I chose to hope and have faith that I would find a way back to him. Even if the whispers were completely gone, as if they’d never existed.

My only hope was Samhain. From everything I’d read, there was a certain energy to that time of year—a thinning between worlds.