Page 35 of A Blade of Blood and Shadow (The Ravaged Kingdom #1)

My fingers had a mind of their own as they traced the smoky lines of his tattoos. His muscles quivered as my hands traveled lower, along the ridges of his abs. And when I finally dragged my eyes up to meet his gaze, his expression stole the air from my lungs.

His eyes shone with such intense desire that it shattered my trepidation.

I wanted him. Now .

Fisting his hair, I tugged him down for another kiss as he pinned me to the mattress with his hard, warm heat.

My body trembled as I drank in the crisp mountain scent of him — the wildness and danger of leather and night.

I realized then just how much bigger he was — how utterly powerless I was against him despite my hunter strength. And yet, I wasn’t afraid of Kaden. My body welcomed his power and intensity — craved his every touch.

He unleashed every bit of that intensity as we fought for each other with teeth and tongues, devouring one another until we were both panting with need.

Kaden’s expression was feral as he spread my thighs apart, and I wiggled back on the bed to make room for him. As I did, I felt something hard digging into my side.

His leather jacket.

I reached beneath me to dislodge it, intending to push it off the bed. But something heavy and solid in the pocket distracted me from Kaden’s grip on my thighs.

Reaching inside, I frowned as my hand closed over a smooth, round object. Kaden went absolutely still as I fumbled to pull it out.

It was a polished stone nearly as large as my palm. It was the color of the sea just before a storm, and just beneath the glassy surface swirled what looked like smoke.

The instant I closed my fingers around it, a surge of dark power seemed to seep into my skin —heavy and toxic. Kaden made an odd noise as if to stop me, but I was too focused on the stone.

An unfamiliar power wrapped itself around me, entwining with my own magic and caressing it lightly. It stroked and seduced, and I felt my magic being lifted away.

An unwelcome tug sent a jolt through my body, and I dropped the stone as if it had burned me.

When I looked up at Kaden, his expression was an odd mix of defensiveness and heartbreak that immediately put me on edge.

“What is that?” I whispered, unable to keep the suspicion out of my voice.

Kaden’s golden skin was flushed, his eyes still blazing with lust. He kept his gaze locked on the stone as he said, “You wouldn’t be asking unless you already knew.”

A surge of dread washed over me, followed quickly by anger. I’d known the instant I’d felt that tug on my magic. I just hadn’t wanted it to be true.

“The apokropos stone.” It wasn’t a question.

Kaden didn’t answer me, but a muscle flexed in his jaw.

“Why do you have it?” I asked, my voice coming out low and harsh.

He sighed and dragged a hand through his hair, still not meeting my gaze. “The same reason you wanted it.”

A thousand questions fired off in my mind, swirling around each other and compounding my confusion. I shook my head as the realization hit me, not wanting it to be true.

“You’ve had it all this time,” I whispered. “From the moment we met.” My voice quivered as I thought back to the night I’d gone to Julian’s shop. “It wasn’t some coincidence that you showed up to save me from those demons. You knew I’d be at the shop.”

“Yes.”

“Julian approached you about selling the stone, and you . . . what?”

“Julian didn’t approach me,” said Kaden softly. “He didn’t know I had it.”

“But you knew I was looking for it,” I accused. “ That’s why you were there that night.”

Kaden heaved a heavy sigh.

But the stone had only reached for my magic after it had released what was already stored inside. It had been a magic not of this world — something I’d only felt once before.

A bolt of terror shot through me when I realized what that dark power meant.

Scrambling away from Kaden, I hurriedly covered myself with his jacket. My eyes darted to my weapons holster hanging over the back of the chair.

The dark fae I’d come to trust wasn’t the real Kaden — not all of him, anyway. The stone had concealed at least part of his true power. And if he was a faerie queen’s bastard, that meant the other half might not be fae at all.

I thought back to what the Ringmaster had said when I’d mentioned Kaden.

I’d think very carefully about invoking that name.

Like he was a god or . . . something much worse.

And the Watchman . . . What had he called him? Destroyer of realms?

At the time, I’d been unsure if the Watchman had been referring to his mother or Kaden himself, and I’d been too terrified to question it.

“What are you?” I growled, my voice shaking despite my best efforts.

“I think you know that, too,” said Kaden. “Or else you wouldn’t be looking at me like that.” His voice was softer than I’d ever heard it — broken and resigned.

When he finally raised his head to look at me, his irises were no longer that stormy gray, but black ringed with silver.

“You’re a demon,” I whispered, horror clanging through me. “ That’s why you were there that night. You were” — I nearly choked on the words — “ hunting me.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Why should I believe you?” I cried, clutching his jacket tighter to cover my nakedness. “You’ve been lying to me this whole time!”

“I never lied to you,” he murmured. “I’m still half fae.”

I let out an incredulous laugh. Technically, faeries couldn’t lie, but did the same rules apply to half-faeries?

“Lyra —” Kaden reached for me, but I jerked back, sliding off the other side of the bed and edging around with his jacket still covering me.

“Stay — away from me,” I hissed. Hot, angry tears burned in my throat, but I didn’t let them fall. I would not let Kaden break me — at least not let him see that he had.

My hands shook as I gathered up my discarded clothing, yanking on my filthy pants and shoving Mankara’s manuscript into the pocket of my jacket.

As I donned my weapons holster, Kaden slid in front of the door.

I unsheathed the witchwood blade with an easy backhanded grip — easy, because I was a huntress. Created by the gods for violence and bloodshed.

My very bones called for it. I could end Kaden as easily as I’d dispatched that other demon. At least, that was what I told myself.

“Now give me the cipher and get the fuck out of my way.”

Hurt creased Kaden’s perfect brow, and his gaze was pleading as he held mine. I knew he wasn’t begging me to spare his life. He was begging me not to leave.

“ Move .”

“Lyra, let me explain.”

“I am done being manipulated and deceived.”

A defeated look swept across his face. Then he loosed a heavy sigh and held out his palm.

The cipher materialized in his hand, and I snatched it up.

“Now move , before I drive this blade through the festering pit where your heart should be.”

At those words, something in him seemed to shatter, and he stepped aside.

I stormed from the room without a backward look — mostly because I didn’t trust myself to leave if I gave him a chance to explain.

I didn’t stop running until I reached his entryway, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I let the door slam behind me, taking huge strides down the street to put more distance between us while trying to focus on something besides the gaping hole in my chest.

I had the cipher, whatever it had cost me. And I had the book. I could unweave the wards that protected Silas’s house and rescue Imogen as I’d planned .

I could still fix this.

And yet even as I thought those words, I knew that something had broken inside of me that could not be fixed.

I’d let my guard down with Kaden, and he’d played me. He’d let me see what I’d wanted to see, and what was worse, I’d fallen for it. Fallen for him .

I still didn’t know why he and the other demons had tracked me to Julian’s shop, but it hardly mattered. He’d used the stone to conceal his demon half — to hide what he was so that he could use me to get the cipher.

I had no doubt he had other plans for my so-called powers. He’d told me as much after Caladwyn’s party. He was no better than Silas, but I’d been so blinded by my feelings that I’d ignored what was right in front of me.

A harsh sob burst out of me, but I kept on walking, heedless of the monsters that lurked in the shadows of the Quarter.

Let them come for me, I thought as tears trailed down my cheeks. I’d already faced a real monster tonight.

Worse, I’d crawled into his bed and let him into my heart.