Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Escape Cinderkeep.
Ignore his feelings for Rook.
And drown in a sea of his enemies’ blood.
Rook only has one goal.
Stay alive.
But if she gives him what he wants…one of them will die.
And if one dies…the other follows.
Dark. Obsessive. Fated.
Perfect for readers who love morally grey villains, forced proximity, touch-her-and-die energy, and romance that becomes elemental
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Playlist
Jared Benjamin – Poison
Jared Benjamin – Believe it
Kygo & Imagine Dragons - Born to be Yours
Coldplay - A Sky Full Of Stars
Ruelle - War Of Hearts
Ruelle - Monsters
Pink - What About Us
Zac Efron, Zendaya - Rewrite The Stars
Avril Lavigne - Head Above Water
James Arthur - Impossible
Neoni - Darkside
Prologue
I’VE HEARD THAT WHEN DESTINY COMES for you, there’s no escape.
You can fight, fake, and force yourself to believe whatever you want to believe, but fate always finds a way.
No matter if you’re enemies or strangers. No matter if you met in tragedy or sweet romance, once destiny binds you together, that’s it.
You’re no longer your own person; you’re part of a whole.
It doesn’t matter if the person you chose is crazy or angry or suicidal.
Once you’re bound, two hearts beat as one.
Their revenge becomes your revenge.
Their love binds with your love.
And their death...is your death.
Always.
Chapter One
TO GO FROM THE BEST KISS of my life to being asked to commit murder...
He had to be kidding, right?
I gawked at him.
His voice echoed over and over in my head.
“Kill me, kill me, kill me.”
My palm turned slippery around the knife, my lips still stinging from his, my heart a manic monster in my chest.
Raw panic rushed up my throat. “There’s no way I’m—”
“Do it.” His eyes held mine, narrowed and black. “Stab me. Right now.”
I backed up, wrenching my hand from his where he forced me to hold the knife. “You’re crazy.” Tears pricked my eyes. “I can’t. I physically can’t hurt you.”
“Once again, your lack of obedience is infuriating.”
“My obedience?!” My temper got the better of me. “I don’t remember promising to obey you—”
“I told you not to fuck this up for me.” His eyes locked on the drones above. The drones watching everything. “And keep your voice down.”
“Let’s just go back inside—”
“It’s too late for that.” He reached for me. “Come here.”
“Get away from me.” I went to throw the knife into the bushes, but he rushed me, grabbed my shoulders where my rucksack hung, and hissed into my ear. “You will do this for me because I can’t do it on my own. I need you.”
Need you.
Need you.
Up until now, I’d hoarded those words.
I’d relished that someone like Lucien Ashfall—who prided himself on hating everyone and everything—needed me.
Useless stress-phobic me.
To ease his pain.
To give him pleasure.
To share my company and just talk to him...
But this?
Murdering him?
Not possible.
Utterly impossible.
I fought him. “Let me go.”
“I’m not asking, Rook.”
“And I’m not doing it, Lucien.”
“Don’t you get it? I only have one shot. Just one!” His snarl vibrated through my bones, making me ache from head to toe. “And I’m not going to fail.”
“I’ll do whatever you need, but I can’t—”
“Stab me. Before they come.” His fingers dug into my shoulders like pincers. “Stab me, Rook. Do it.”
My name. He hardly ever said my name.
Now he’d said it twice in succession.
It made my heart skip a million beats and feelings to surge that had absolutely no business surging.
The drones suddenly abandoned us, shooting back over the wall as the rain became heavier, drenching us with wet splashes.
Without the drones recording us, I shouted, “You can command me all you want. I will literally do anything else you ask, but I won’t hurt you. I refuse.”
“Don’t you want revenge on me keeping you here?” He gripped me agonisingly hard, his face going black. “Aren’t you furious?”
“What?” My eyes widened. “Why would I—?”
“Don’t you hate me for taking you away from your life?”
“Yes. I mean no.” I scowled. “I mean...it’s not you who did this to me.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m the reason you’re here. I’m the reason you can’t leave.”
“You’re the reason I’m still alive. You’ve saved me from the others. You’ve given me your blood—”
“Purely to keep you alive for this. I needed you well enough—obedient enough—to kill me.”
My heart quit beating. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do. You’re the key. My one chance. I’ve been using you this entire time—”
“No, you haven’t.” I shook my head, clinging to all those moments where our lives had woven together. All those seconds where we’d fallen into something against our wishes but something that was real and true and—
“You mean nothing to me.” He bared his teeth like a beast. “You’re just a tool. A knife I’ve honed to be used at this very moment.”
“No.” I swallowed hard, fighting his words, my reaction, begging stress not to black me out. “I know what you’re doing, and I don’t blame you—”
“I blame me,” he cut me off with a roar. “I fucking despise everything about myself and this place. You’re here because of me. You’re trapped because of me. And if you don’t do what I say, I’ll kill you.”
“You can’t keep threatening me with something we both know isn’t true!” I stomped my foot like a child, splashing droplets from a gathering puddle. “You can’t kill me. We both know that. If you could, you would’ve done it already!”