Novels by Blacktides

Xander's POVMaps of the northern border were spread across the oak. My generals were arguing about supply lines, snowfall and sun wolf movements. I wasn’t listening because the air had changed. Cedarwood that wasn't Ashton’s. It hit me like a blade. My hand slammed down on the table, causing the maps to jump."Your Grace?" Commander Hale asked. I was already moving. "Out." "Your Grace, we were in the middle of..." "I said out." Chairs scraped and the twenty men filed out without another word. They knew that tone. The moment the doors shut, I moved. I followed the scent. It was faint in the halls, stronger near the east doors. The private corridor. The one that led to the gardens. My guards fell in behind me. I didn’t tell them to, they just knew. The scent grew worse the closer I got to the garden gate.Ashton. My chest caved in. I threw the gate open and there he was on the ground, pinned to the stone bench by the fountain by a stranger.He had one arm across Ashto

Ashton’s POVThe maids brought me tea, that’s when I knew something was wrong. The dining hall was silent when I walked in this morning. Not the tense, waiting kind of quiet from yesterday. This was different. This was fear. Twelve high-born ladies stood the second I crossed the threshold. Even the ones who had pretended not to see me yesterday. "Consort Ashton," the steward announced. Chairs scraped and heads bowed. I stopped at the seat to Xander’s right. A maid was already there. She pulled the chair out for me, her eyes on the floor. Another poured my wine first. A third laid the napkin across my lap. No one looked at me. "Thank you," I murmured. There was no response, just more bowing. Yesterday Xander broke Lady Mirelle’s hand in front of everyone. Yesterday he rewrote the law. `Any insult to Ashton is an insult to me.` Today, the entire palace was terrified of me, and I hated it. Xander wasn’t at breakfast. He was in the war room with his commanders. He’d kissed

Xander’s POVThe dining hall was too loud. Forks hit hard on porcelain, low laughter filled the place, and the rustle of silk. But underneath it all, the sound I’d been listening for since dawn.Silence.It started the second Ashton walked in.I didn’t look up from my plate. I didn’t have to. I could feel him, his scent filled the room. And I could feel the way the room shifted around him."Your Grace," the steward announced. "Consort Ashton."The twelve high-born ladies at the long table didn't stand.Good. Let them show me who they were.Ashton’s footsteps were quiet. He’d worn the black tunic I sent to his room. It fit him. He stopped at the empty seat to my right. The seat that had been Brenda’s for six years.No one offered to pull it out for him. I took a slow sip of wine and waited patiently. This was the test. A girl with braided gold hair and a jeweled collar shifted in her seat. Lady Mirelle. Third daughter of House Coren. She stood, walked around the table, and stopped

Ashton POVLady Brenda didn’t flinch. If anything, her cruel smile got wider. Her eyes dragged over me where I was still half in Xander’s arms, my face burning, my shirt wrinkled."Three seconds?" she purred. "My, my. The Moon King is dramatic tonight." She stepped fully into the moonlight. Silver dress. Diamond pins in her hair. The kind of woman the court spent years polishing to be queen.Her gaze flicked to my bare feet, to the servant’s tunic I hadn’t changed out of.Xander’s arm tightened around my waist. "Two," he said. Low. Brenda laughed. "The high houses will hear about this by dawn, Xander. You can threaten me all you want. But you can’t threaten all of them.""One." His voice didn’t rise. It got quieter. Brenda looked at me with cold eyes. "We’ll see how long he wants you when the court is done with you, servant."She turned and walked away. The clack of her heels on stone was the only sound left.The second she was gone, Xander let out a breath. His hand came up to

Ashton’s POVI knew someone was following me.I stopped and looked over my shoulder. The corridor was dark and empty. Damn it. My skin was crawling. I needed air... The second Xander got up and left the bedroom, my chest went tight. So I decided to take a walk. Toward the blue light at the end of the hall.When I stepped through the archway, my breath caught.There was a garden hidden behind the palace walls. A little stream cut through the grass and fed into a small fountain. Soft blue light glowed from under the water. Fireflies drifted around like fallen stars. For one second, the fear in my stomach vanished.Then I heard it again. Step. Step. Step.My head snapped around. "Who’s there?" Only the splash of water answered. The silence pressed against my skin. This was the Alpha King’s palace. There were guards everywhere. I was fine.I told myself that as I sat on the cold stone edge of the fountain. The blue water looked unreal. I thought about El, about the secret burning u

Xander’s POVHis words broke something in me.For a second the whole bathhouse went still, like the air had been pulled out of the room. I just stood there and watched him break down in front of me.Then he fell forward and hit me.His forehead slammed into the center of my chest and the heat of him followed right after. Wet, sharp, and fast. His fingers dug into the muscles of my back like he was drowning.I couldn’t think past the sound of him.“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know."My hand came up on its own. I ran it through his hair, damp and dark and shaking under my palm, and pressed it flat between his shoulder blades to keep him from falling any further.He didn’t answer. He only pressed closer and shook harder, and his sobs tore out of him in broken pieces that made my jaw ache.I slid one arm under his knees and the other around his shoulders and lifted him. He was too light for how much weight he was carrying. I carried him out of the steam and out of the bathhouse without

Kale’s POVThe sound of the crowd was still ringing in my ears when I walked off stage. The bright lights faded behind the heavy velvet curtains, and my chest was rising and falling too fast. I could not catch my breath. But I was smiling. For real this time. The judges had just called my name. I was in the quarter-finals of California Got Talent. I barely had time to breathe before someone screamed my name down the hallway.“Oh my god, you absolute star!” Molly came running at me. She crashed into me and wrapped her arms around my neck so hard we both stumbled back. We almost fell into a rack of costumes. “You owned that stage, Kale,” she said, pulling back just enough to look at me. “I am crying. I am screaming. I am done for.”She waved her hands around like she was on stage too. A few other contestants stood nearby. They had just been cut. They were not smiling. Molly saw them and rolled her eyes. She popped her gum loud enough for them to hear. “Let them look,” she said, not

Kale's POV “Shut the actual fuck up!” Molly shrieked.She grabbed my arm, her long acrylic nails digging right through the sleeve of my hoodie as her jaw hit the floor.“You literally did not wank to his vacation picture, Kale. Tell me you are lying right now!”“Keep your voice down, you absolute psycho!” I hissed, my face instantly burning a bright, fiery red as I shoved her hand off my arm.I glanced around the corridor, making sure no one was lurking nearby. “I am not lying, okay? It was completely intense. I literally felt like I was going to pass away right there on the mattress.”“Oh my god, period!” Molly cheered, bouncing on her heels. “We love a sexual awakening! I told you that producer baddie was a snack. You are literally living a dark romance novel right now, bestie, I am so obsessed with this journey for you.”Before I could reply, the heavy double doors at the end of the lecture hall swung open. I froze, my voice catching in my throat as Noah walked through, looking sm

Jace POVThe soft hum of the servers in my private study was the only sound cutting through the midnight silence.I leaned back in my leather chair, grabbed a glass and poured the expensive scotch that was sitting untouched on the desk. I traced my finger in a circular motion around the brim of the glass, then took a sip of wine.It burned in a bitter sweet taste... very satisfying. I dropped the glass and laced my fingers together as my eyes remained locked onto the glowing matrix of monitors mounted on the wall before me.I was a man driven by greed. When I saw something rare, something perfect, I didn't just want to manage it. I wanted to claim it, lock it away, and ensure that no other living soul could ever touch it.And from the second Kale had stepped into onto that California Got Talent stage for his audition, I knew he was going to be my ultimate possession.My fingers moved across the keyboard, bringing up the encrypted, high definition camera feed from the downtown penthou

Kale’s POVThis damn penthouse was too quiet, except for the low hum of the city far below. I laid on my back in the massive bed, staring at the dark ceiling. The duvet twisted around my legs like it was trying to trap me.Jace had left about an hour ago, but it still felt like his presence was lingering in the cold air, suffocating me.He had given me a long list of rules to follow. No social media posting. No unapproved contact with people from my old life. Highly limited school hours, restricted only to the absolute bare minimum required for me to graduate.He was rewriting my reality, and I should have been furious. I should have told him to fuck off, but the truth was, I could barely even remember half of what he had said. Jace had unbuttoned his dress shirt halfway down his chest today, exposing a glimpse of his smooth, tanned skin and the hard, defined muscle underneath.The sharp lines of his navy suit fitted his broad shoulders so perfectly it was genuinely disgusting. I had

Kale's POVMy phone buzzed right by my ear and scared the shit out of me. I groaned into the pillow stuck under this stupid soft duvet in the penthouse bed. It felt like sleeping in a cloud. I reached out blind and my hand knocked stuff around on the nightstand before I found my phone. The screen was way too bright. Molly’s name kept flashing.I swiped the green button and dragged the phone to my ear, my voice thick with sleep. “What do you want, Molly? It is literally the middle of the night.”“Kale are you dumb?” Molly’s voice came in loud and fast. “It's literally nine in the morning, bestie. The lectures is about to start and the professor is already here, and your seat is empty. Where the hell are you? Are you ghosting school now, or did you finally get kidnapped by some sketchy music producer?”It took my brain like three seconds to process her words before the reality of the situation hit me. Nine. The first lecture was about to start.I sat up fast and the duvet got wrapped ar

Kale's POVThe leather interior of Jace’s luxury sports car smelled like cedar and whatever expensive cologne rich guys wear. It was thick in the air and honestly messing with my head. I pressed my forehead to the passenger window and watched the neon lights of LA smear across the glass.My old canvas backpack was shoved between my feet on the floor. It had maybe three shirts, a hoodie, and a toothbrush I grabbed on the way out of my cramped apartment.We hadn’t said a word in twenty minutes. The engine had this low hum that I felt through my shoes. I swallowed and shifted, then risked a look at him.Jace drove with one hand on the wheel like he wasn’t even trying. Before we left the JMC garage he had made a quick stop in his private dressing suite to change out of his formal office attire, swapping his crisp white button down shirt for a tightly fitted, charcoal black designer polo.I hated that I noticed. My mouth went dry anyway. The fabric pulled across his chest and shoulders lik