Jeaniene Frost - The Beautiful Ashes

He released my hands but gripped my shoulders, his sapphire gaze blazing into mine. “I’ll leave, but not for long. I’ll make you believe again, Ivy, if it’s the last thing I do.”

Then he was gone, using his blinding speed to disappear into the trees. I waited until I was sure he wasn’t coming back before I finally allowed myself to sink to my knees, tears leaking past my clenched eyelids. Everyone had warned me, but not only had I trusted Adrian, I’d fallen in love with him. Worse, even after all this, I still loved him. Was that because I had the world’s worst case of stupidity? Or was it another example of the curse of my fate?

“What’s this second weapon and what’s it supposed to do?” I asked, not really wanting to know but needing something to distract me from my urge to call out for Adrian.

Zach knelt until he was eye level with me. “The staff of Moses. It parted the Red Sea, sent ten plagues upon Egypt and caused water to pour from rocks in the desert. In short, it controls nature, so it can repair the walls between the realms.”

My head dropped into my hands while a gasping laugh escaped me. “No wonder the thing’s supposed to kill me if I use it.”

“It might,” Zach said steadily. “But the slingshot didn’t, and it could have, too. You’re strong, Ivy. Now you need to be stronger, so you can stave off the destruction of your world.”

Another gasping laugh. “Oh, is that all?” We were all doomed. Doomed .

“If you succeed, you will save Adrian, too,” the blond Archon said almost casually.

My head snapped up. “How? He’s destined to betray me, remember?”

“And so he has,” Zach said in a mild tone. “Yet now there is a chance that he won’t do it again. Adrian’s hatred of demons was the first thing that made him struggle against his fate, but hate was never going to be enough for him to overcome it. Only light can defeat darkness. Loving you is his light, Ivy. Without it, he was doomed to fail, but with it, his fate is truly in his own hands.”

I stared at him, thunderstruck, as different details started falling into place.

If Zach hadn’t abandoned him all those years ago, Adrian wouldn’t have learned how to be the insanely strong fighter that he was. He also wouldn’t have hated demons for their countless deceptions, giving him a reason to fight them in the first place. Then later, his hate ensured that he went with me when I was looking for the only weapon that could kill them. As I’d accused Adrian before, he wouldn’t have gone with me otherwise, no matter how Zach tried to persuade him...

Hope began to spiral through my wildly swinging emotions. That’s right, Zach had wanted Adrian to go with me, so maybe the Archon was using the supernatural tie between us to help Adrian, not to doom him. After all, if Adrian hadn’t gone with me to search for the slingshot, we wouldn’t have fallen in love. Yes, Adrian had horribly betrayed my trust, but I’d betrayed his, too, and he’d forgiven me. Could I really refuse to forgive him, if there might be a future for us after all?

I drew in a deep breath. I wasn’t ready to throw myself back in his arms, but what if the Archons were right? What if love was the wild card that gave us a chance to beat the demons, save the walls between the realms from crumbling and save ourselves from our fates? It was a long shot, true, but I now had a three-thousand-year-old weapon tattooed into my arm, so anything was possible.

I rose, giving the two Archons a nervous yet determined look.

“All right, when do we start?”

* * * * *

Before anyone else, I have to thank God for continuing to give me the ability and the opportunity to live out my dreams. Ten years ago, I first started trying to get published. Twelve novels, five novellas and two short stories later, part of me still can’t believe that my dream has become my reality.

Sincerest thanks also go to my husband, Matthew, whose love and support is the stuff romance novels are made of. Further gratitude goes to my agent, Nancy Yost, who’s been riding this roller coaster with me almost from the beginning. This book also wouldn’t be possible without the wonderful people at Harlequin, who’ve championed The Beautiful Ashes as though they wrote it themselves. There are too many of you to list, so in the interest of space, I’m only highlighting my editor, Margo Lipschultz, Shara Alexander from Publicity and Reka Rubin from Subrights. “Thanks” doesn’t even begin to cover everything you and the rest of the Harlequin HQN team have done.

Finally, a huge thank-you to readers, book sellers, librarians, reviewers and bloggers. Without your enthusiasm for reading and spreading the word about books, authors like me would have no one to share our stories with, and that would be very sad indeed.