Oh, lord.
I clutched his shirt in my hands, grasping at it desperately. Our mouths moved in perfect contradiction to each other. I had never tasted something so sweet. So sinful. He tasted like everything familiar, everything I loved and something completely foreign to me at the same time. He was wrong. But absolutely right. He was a body full of hate and loathing. And everything in him was love and adoration.
I whimpered into his mouth, never wanting this to end. Our circumstances, the night, the reason he was here… all melted away until there was only us in a void of nothing. We were our own constellation. Our own universe. He was my sun and I was his night sky.
He was the reason I breathed. And I was the reason his heart beat.
He broke away suddenly, gasping for breath. “I love you,” he confessed, as if the words couldn’t be contained any longer. “I love you. Don’t forget that.”
I shook my head. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. “I love you, too.”
He backed away quickly just as his skin began to sizzle again. I could smell the sulfur that drifted from him. It was time for him to leave.
“Thank you,” he mouthed. He crouched down and spoke to Seven in a soft tone that I couldn’t make out. He talked to her for a long time, while she barely nodded her comprehension.
After a couple minutes, he stood up again and met my stunned eyes. I had yet to move from my place on the stairs. I couldn’t bring myself to get up and break the spell he’d captured me in.
“Thank you, Stella.” Then he was gone. He disappeared into the sky as quickly as he dropped from it.
I watched with an open mouth until I was certain he was gone. I let my gaze fall to the problem at my feet.
Seven was rigid and stiff. She hovered over her hands as if it took every ounce of her strength to stay upright. She lifted her head in a decision to stare me down.
I assumed that she would be crying. Her shaking looked like sobs and so I expected to see a messy face, wet with tears and snot.
She wasn’t crying. Just shaking. Her clear, emotionless eyes stared me down with a viciousness that made me seriously reach for my katanas this time. They lay behind me on the porch and I did not hesitate to clamber to my feet and grab them. A jolting nervousness flooded my body and I felt fear deep in my spirit.
This girl could not be saved. There was no freaking way.
Looking down at her from my position she didn’t even seem to be a girl. She was a rabid dog just seconds away from pouncing on me and tearing my face off.
What had I done?
Except that her skin didn’t burn or pop from the effects of the blessing. If she meant me harm she would be physically showing signs of it. Instead, she just stared at me, with venomous eyes and her lips curled back over her teeth in a predatory snarl.
I didn’t even know what to say to her. “Would you like to come in?” seemed a little bit ridiculous at this point.
I shifted my swords to my left hand and dug my cell phone out of the pocket of my baggy sweatpants. I scrolled through the numbers blindly until I came upon the only name that could help me right now. I pushed send and listened as it rang until the very last second possible.
“What?” he growled. I heard a whiny girl complain in the background.
This was love? I couldn’t believe anything this guy said.
“I need you,” I told him despite all of my instincts screaming that I couldn’t trust him.
“Didn’t we just go over this? I’m not interested in you, Starling. Find another schmuck to take out your sexual frustration on.”
I bit back every acidic reply I wanted to spit at him. “Get over yourself. I wouldn’t be calling you unless I desperately needed you.” I cleared my throat. “And not for anything sexual.”
He quieted down. I could almost feel him focusing through the phone. “I’m listening.”
“Someone dropped your lady love on my front steps. I need someone to help me tame the beast.”
“Seven?” he growled in such a low voice that even I was a little bit scared of him.
He was technically an Archangel after all. His people destroyed entire cities in the past with just looks. The last thing I needed was to be turned into a pillar of salt.
“Apparently we’re going to be having lots of slumber parties. Do you think she’ll be up for painting my toenails?”
He hung up. I took that to assume he was on his way over, which was a good thing. It had to be. There was no way I could do this on my own.
I didn’t even know where to start!
Okay, that was a lie. I should probably get her in the house first.
“Seven,” I called weakly, hoping to establish some kind of medium with her. “Ready to go in the house?”
She tried to push herself up but her elbows gave out and she just missed smashing her face on the ground. I rushed to her and put my arms underneath hers. I pulled her to her feet and kept as much distance between us as possible.
This was the same girl that tried to rip out my jugular with her fingernails not that long ago.
Some distance was definitely good for both of us.
“If he comes back, he’ll kill us both,” she rasped as I helped her into the house.
Her words sounded full of conviction, so I wasn’t going to argue with her on that one. “Aliah?”
“Seth,” she answered.
Okay. Well, there was that.
His declaration of love was a fluke apparently.
“But Aliah will kill us no matter what,” she finished on an optimistic note. “Our secrets aren’t safe anymore.”
No kidding.
Once we managed to get in the house, I helped her to the kitchen and into a seat around the kitchen table. I met her frightened eyes as I took my own seat.
Before Jude got here, I had something I needed to say. I took my seat slowly, attempting not to scare her in anyway. She had that lost look in her eyes, the one that tugged at my heart strings. She was broken. Shattered. Completely destroyed. Putting this girl back together again was going to take a miracle.
But Seth was right. If I could fix her, someone that still had their Light, someone that had been set apart from the truly heinous evils in order to protect the Light side, maybe I had a chance with Seth. Maybe he could be saved after all.
“If you try to kill me, or anyone I love, I will end you,” I told her as gently as I could with those kinds of serious words.
She met my gaze and understanding flickered to life in those swirling pools of insanity. “Secrets, secrets, secrets,” she sung in that little girl voice. “So many secrets. Who is good? Who is bad? Who will try to kill you in the end? I only want to hurt you just a little bit. It’s your friends that want to kill you. Be alert, Starling. Save me so I can save you.”
And just as her eyes had sharpened to focus, they dulled back into confusion. She put her head down on her arms and started her shaking all over again.
I let out a long breath of something. It wasn’t relief, not even close to it.
What the heck had she meant by that?
I didn’t even want to try to make a trip back into the tangled vines of her mind. I would let it rest for now. Jude would be here soon and the first thing I needed to tackle was simply surviving the night.
What was I supposed to do with Seven in my house? How in the hell would I ever begin to untangle the mess that lived inside her?
Plus there was the rest of the Darkness and Fallen to consider. Aliah’s inevitable revenge. He would come after her. I had no doubt. And he would bring the full force of his evil power to get to her.
And Seth.
How long would Seth believe she was in good hands? How long until my sanctuary for his sister became another reason for him to want me dead?
Oh, good grief. This year just got intensely more impossible.
My eighteenth birthday seemed forever away.
And any reconciliation with Seth seemed impossible.
But I had to h
ave hope. I had to or I would crumble.
I got up to get Seven some water. Her eyes had closed, but I knew she wasn’t asleep. Her mind was a terrifying place and I could only imagine the horrors that plagued her every thought. Her lips moved quickly but they didn’t form words, or at least not words I could understand.
Save me so I can save you, she’d said.
Seth asked me to save her so I could save him.
I didn’t know if I could. I didn’t know if it was possible to rescue her from the dark place she’d gone. But I was going to try.
I would try for her sake, for my sake and for Seth.
And for the planet I had sworn to protect.
Thank you for reading Heir of Secrets! I hope you enjoyed more of Stella and Seth’s journey!
Look for more from them in the fourth book of the Starbright Series,
Heir of Empyrial Fire coming February, 2015.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my God first. I would not be here without His grace and mercy.
To my Stella, this book is for you. You are a Star, little girl. And I love you to pieces.
To Zach, thank you for your endless support and constant encouragement. And by encouragement, I mean all those times you reminded me to get my ass in gear. I love you more than anything. You are the greatest man I know and I could not do this without you. Also, thank you for making dinner, putting up with a messy, chaotic household and my showering schedule.
To Helen, my mother and nana to my children. Thank you for the days you spend with my kids and the overnights they love so much. Thank you for encouraging me and supporting me and for always being my biggest fan. I appreciate everything you do!
To Scarlett, Stryker and Solo. I love you guys too. And don’t worry, you’ll all get your own books.
To Carolyn, thank you so much for your hard work and expert eye! You make me sound much smarter than I am. Thank you for your time and for all those red words!
To Caedus Design Co. You make fantastic covers, that’s all there is to it. Thank you so much for putting my stories into gorgeous pieces of art. And thank you for understanding that I don’t have this talent at all and without you, I would have to draw my covers with crayon.
To Candice, Jen, and Diana, thank you girls for reading my rough drafts and for loving my characters as much as I do. Your opinions and support mean the world to me. Nothing would ever go to print if I didn’t have you girls!
To my Hellcats, Georgia Cates, Amy Bartol, Lila Felix, Shelly Crane, Angeline Kace, Quinn Loftis, and Samantha Young. You girls are not just the greatest support system to have, but the greatest talent I know. I am so lucky to consider you all friends. I don’t know what I would do without your advice, encouragement and listening ears. Hellcats for life.
To my Rebels, you girls. I tell you what!! I love you all. And I thank you so much for everything you do for me! You keep me sane. And you tell it like it is and I appreciate that more than anything. Thank you for your patience too! And most of all, for remembering everything that I can’t!
And to the readers, THANK YOU. I can’t thank you enough for downloading this book and bringing Seth, Stella and the entire Starbright universe into your world. I could not do what I do without you. You give me my dreams and I will forever be grateful to you for that.
About the Author
Rachel Higginson was born and raised in Nebraska, but spent her college years traveling the world. She married her high school sweetheart and spends her days raising their growing family. She is obsessed with bad reality TV and any and all Young Adult Fiction.
Heir of Empyrial Fire, the fourth book in the Starbright Series, coming February, 2015.
Look for more from Rachel in 2014.
Other books by Rachel to be released in 2014 are The Redeemable Prince, the seventh book in The Star-Crossed Series, The Heart, the third book in the Siren Series and The Five Stages of Falling in Love, and adult contemporary romance.
Other Books Now Available by Rachel Higginson
Love and Decay, Season One, Episodes One-Twelve
Love and Decay, Season Two, Episodes One-Twelve
Love and Decay, Volume One (Episodes One-Six, Season One)
Love and Decay, Volume Two (Episodes Seven-Twelve, Season One)
Love and Decay, Volume Three (Episodes One-Four, Season Two)
Love and Decay, Volume Four (Episodes Five-Eight, Season Two)
Love and Decay, Volume Five (Episodes Nine-Twelve, Season Two)
Reckless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 1)
Hopeless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 2)
Fearless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 3)
Endless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 4)
The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 5)
The Relentless Warrior (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6)
Breathless Magic (the Star-Crossed Series, Book 6.5)
Heir of Skies (The Starbright Series, Book 1)
Heir of Darkness (The Starbright Series, Book 2)
Heir of Secrets (The Starbright Series, Book 3)
The Rush (The Siren Series, Book 1)
The Fall (The Siren Series, Book 2)
Bet in the Dark (An NA Contemporary Romance)
Striking (The Forged in Fire Series) a co-authored Contemporary NA
Follow Rachel on her blog at:
www.rachelhigginson.com
Or on Twitter:
@mywritesdntbite
Or on her Facebook pages:
Rachel Higginson
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Love and Decay, a new adult zombie dystopian romance by Rachel Higginson, a look at Into the Fae by Quinn Loftis, and the first chapter of debut author, Stormy Smith’s Bound by Duty.
Chapter One
647 days after initial infection
Oh, god.
The smell was the worst. The absolute worst.
It wasn’t enough that I had to pick my way through dismembered and half-eaten bodies, or that at any moment one of them could spring up from the ground and make an afternoon snack out of me.
It wasn’t enough that I hadn’t had a shower in over a year and a half, hadn’t worn eye liner in even longer than that and my hair was somehow simultaneously disgustingly greasy while frizzing into a perpetual fluff ball.
Oh no, that would never be enough. My ugly tan work boots were a size and a half too small, I ripped my too big Grateful Dead t-shirt off a very, very dead man, and my jeans…. or what was left of my jeans was the last of my stash from my once excessive closet.
After all of that- and I mean, the shower alone should have been enough suffering for any living being to suffer through- it was the smell that got to me.
Putrid, rotting flesh from both the dead that littered the ground around me and the remnants of stench that lingered in the air when the Feeders were finished was what triggered my gag reflex and watered my eyes. There weren’t enough words in the English dictionary to describe my revulsion, or the way my empty stomach flipped with every breath.
I probably would have puked if I had eaten anything in the last two days.
The best thing about the Zombie Apocalypse? I was no longer addicted to sugar and caffeinated beverages.
I wiped my forearm across my sweaty forehead and then re-aimed my handgun in the general area in front of me. This is the point of the story where I’m supposed to tell you what kind of gun I’m carrying, but let’s be real…. Before the end of the world I was a cheerleader at a small town school, where I was the debate team captain and student council secretary. I lived for throwing parties when my parents went out of town, making out with my football captain boyfriend and doing the occasional trip to the homeless shelter where I would put in my monthly two hours of good deeds.
I’d never even held a gun, scratch that, I’d never even been in the same room as a gun until the world went to shit. Who knew the cure for herpes would turn all those sexual deviants into people-eating, bra
in-dead, infection-giving assholes?
Not me.
The whole phenomenon gave a girl a serious complex about safe sex.
Not that I was having sex. Or would be any time soon.
I hadn’t even seen an eligible bachelor in a good six months and it wasn’t like I had exactly been interested when we passed each other with guns raised and a suspicious glint in our eyes. Although there was a sort of mutual give and take between us that could have been considered an instant connection, possibly love at first sight. I let him loot the dead gentleman that had his head literally severed from his body by Feeders, and he let me raid the vending machine offering one bag of Funions that had been smashed into pathetic crumbs.
But then we both went our separate ways and I will never know if he got eaten, turned or found the promised land of Zombie-free showers and espresso machines.
Plus, I was still pining over poor, deceased, Quarterback-Chris.
Just kidding! Quarterback-Chris had apparently been less than faithful to me during our two year relationship and after things with the government, army and general world went to hell, Quarterback-Chris tried to eat me!
So I did what any loving, devoted girlfriend that just found out she had been serially cheated on by her now zombie boyfriend would do. I plunged a butcher knife into his eye socket and when that didn’t effectively do the job, I drove over him with my mom’s Escalade until his head detached from his body.
God, I was glad I held onto my v-card.
Could you imagine me as a zombie?
Ugh, it made me shudder just thinking about it.
A rustling to my left had my gun up, pointed and steady at whatever was stupid enough to make noise in a regular Feeder playground. I only had three bullets left, so this kill would have to be spot on.