The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)

Adrian forced the single, damning word out between his gritted teeth. “Yes.”

A slow smile spread across Demetrius’s face, and it was filled with so much triumph that Adrian almost smashed the mirror right then. You’re wrong, he thought savagely. I’m not doing this to betray her. I’m doing this to save her!

“Well, then, my son,” Demetrius drawled. “It seems that we have a lot to talk about.”

*

Keep reading for an excerpt from THE BEAUTIFUL ASHES by Jeaniene Frost.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A BOOK STARTS out as one person’s idea, but with help, that idea turns into a written adventure that can be shared with thousands. That’s why I’m so grateful to pen another acknowledgments page, because it means this particular adventure is now ready to be shared. As always, my first thanks go to God. Among many other things, He blessed me with a sufficiently strange mind, and let’s face it: if I were normal, I probably wouldn’t be able to think up this stuff wink. Endless gratitude also goes to my husband, who is my daily reminder that love is real and worth fighting for. Thanks also to my editor, Allison Carroll, for her careful attention to detail and her many helpful comments. Deepest thanks once again to my agent, Nancy Yost, for her fabulous business savvy as well as her support these past several years.

Since this is getting long, I’ll try to be briefer, but I couldn’t possibly wrap this up without thanking Melissa and Ilona for their encouragement and insight; to my family for their unconditional love; to the wonderful folks at Harlequin for their enthusiasm and support; to Blackstone Audio for making this story also available in audio format; to bloggers, reviewers and librarians for talking about my books and thus spreading the word; and last but certainly not least, to readers for taking the leap and trying them. Thank you forever for that. As I’ve said before—without readers, I’d still be telling these stories to myself.





“Frost’s fast-paced paranormal romantic thriller is a pure stunner... Frost skillfully balances passion and peril in an attention-grabbing story that’s exciting from the first page.”

—Publishers Weekly on The Beautiful Ashes (starred review)

Follow Ivy and Adrian’s story from the start in

The Beautiful Ashes

The first installment in the stunning Broken Destiny series by New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost.

Sometimes falling in love really is the end of the world...

Get your copy now!

“I was addicted from page one.”

—Jennifer L. Armentrout, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on The Beautiful Ashes

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The Beautiful Ashes

by Jeaniene Frost





chapter one


I’m twenty, and already, I’ve got nothing left to lose. That’s why I didn’t care that Bennington, Vermont, looked like a postcard for autumn in the country. The two-story bed-and-breakfast I pulled up to was no different. It even had a white picket fence and a steady swirl of sunset-colored leaves drifting down from the many trees in the yard.

My picturesque surroundings were in stark contrast to how I looked. If I hadn’t been exhausted from grief and stress, I might’ve cared that my brown hair now resembled greasy mud. Or that my breath was in desperate need of a Mentos, and don’t get me started on the coffee stains decorating my WMU shirt. Since I had more important things to worry about, I didn’t even bother to cover my head against the downpour as I left my car and ran into the bed-and-breakfast.

“One moment!” a cheery voice called out from farther inside. Then a heavyset older woman with graying red hair came down the hallway.

“Hello, dear. I’m Mrs. Paulson. Are you—oh, my, you’re soaked!”

“It’s nothing,” I said, but she bustled out of sight, returning moments later with a towel.

“You sit down and dry yourself off,” she ordered in the same tsking tone my mother had used a million times before. A surge of grief had me dropping into the chair she waved at. The things you didn’t realize you’d miss until they were gone...

“Thanks,” I said, determined not to cry in front of a total stranger. Then I pulled out the Ziploc bag I’d carried around most of the day. “I’m looking for two people who might’ve stayed here the weekend before last.”

As I spoke, I pulled out a picture of my sister, Jasmine, and her boyfriend, Tommy.

Mrs. Paulson got a pair of glasses from her apron pocket. Then she sat behind a large antique desk and accepted the picture.

“Oh, what a pretty girl,” she said, adding kindly, “just like you. But I’ve never seen either of them before, sorry.”

“Thanks,” I said, although I wanted to scream.

I’d spent the day showing Jasmine’s picture to every hotel, motel and inn in Bennington, yet no one had recognized my sister. She’d been here, though. The last texts she’d sent came from Bennington, but the police already hinted that they thought she’d sent them while driving through. To them, Jasmine was an impulsive eighteen-year-old who’d gone on a road trip with her boyfriend. My sister might be impulsive, but she wouldn’t have disappeared for over a week unless she was in real trouble.

I stuffed her picture back into the plastic bag and rose, so upset that I barely registered what Mrs. Paulson was saying.

“...can’t let you go back out in that, dear. Wait here until the rain stops.”

I blinked in surprise at her unexpected kindness. Every other proprietor had been anxious for me to leave once they knew why I was there, as if losing a family member could somehow be contagious. My eyes stung with a sudden rush of tears. Maybe it was. My parents’ funeral was the day after tomorrow.

“Thank you, but I can’t,” I said, voice husky from emotions I couldn’t let myself feel yet. The shock helped with that. Ten days ago, my biggest concern had been making a bad impression on my Comparative Revolutions professor after my text message alerts kept going off in his class. Then I read Jasmine’s texts, and everything had changed.

Mrs. Paulson gave me another sympathetic smile. “At least let me make you a hot cup of tea—”

A dark, hazy double image suddenly appeared over the reception lounge, making it look as though it had aged over a hundred years in an instant. I stifled a groan. Not this again.

The pricey antiques vanished, replaced by broken-down furniture or nothing at all. The temperature also plummeted, making me shiver before movement in the hallway caught my eye.

A blonde girl walked past the decrepit-looking reception lounge. Her face was smudged with dirt and she was bundled up in a tattered blanket, but I didn’t need a second glance to recognize her.