Novels by Desire July

♥ AZALEA'S POV ♥He's tall — tall enough that he has to duck slightly under the doorframe — with a build that suggests he's spent real time training rather than just looking the part, dark hair pushed back like he ran a hand through it one too many times. And when he smiles at me, easy and warm, something in my chest does a small, humiliating flip.There's someone more beautiful than Elias.The thought arrives before I can stop it, and right behind it comes the familiar, exhausting wave of self-consciousness — the awareness of the hospital gown swallowing my frame, the IV taped to my arm, the fact that I probably look like something dragged out of a river. "Hi," I say instead, voice still rough. "I'm Raymond." He steps closer, hands tucked into his pockets like he's trying to take up less space in the room. "I'm glad you're awake."“Thank you, Raymond," I repeat, testing the name, searching my memory for it and coming up empty. "I'm so grateful for your help. I'm sorry, have we — do

♥ AZALEA'S POV ♥The first thing I register is pain — a dull, full-body ache like I've been run through a wringer — and the second thing is a weight against my hand, warm and familiar even through the haze.I shift, just slightly, and a whimper escapes before I can stop it.Martha's head snaps up from where it had been resting against the mattress, eyes bleary, hair a wild nest around her face. For one disoriented second she just stares at me like she's not sure I'm real.Then she's crying."Azzy." My name comes out broken, barely a whisper, and she's leaning over the bed rail to wrap her arms around me as gently as she can manage, like I might shatter if she holds too tight. "Oh my god. Azzy."I don't mean to cry. I've spent eleven years learning how not to. But something about her arms around me, about being held by someone who isn't performing concern for an audience, cracks something loose in my chest that I've kept sealed for far too long."You were right," I whisper into her sho

♥ RAYMOND'S POV ♥"I just want to see her, Raymond, please—" Jasmine's voice cracks down the line, thick with days of crying I can hear even through the phone speaker."I know. I know you do." I press my palm against my eyes, the hallway chair beneath me doing nothing for the ache that's settled into my spine after four days of hospital corridors. "Not yet, Jas. She needs to wake up first.""What if she doesn't? What if this is my fault, what if I should've just—""This isn't your fault." I say it sharp enough to cut through the spiral before it swallows her whole. "None of this is your fault. The second she's stable, you're the first person I call. I promise."Forrest appears at the end of the hall before she can argue further, two fingers pressed briefly to his own eyes before pointing toward her room."Jas, I have to go. Call you back."I hang up before she can object, already moving."She's awake," Forrest says, falling into step. "Barely. Don't expect much."She isn't awake for l

♥ RAYMOND'S POV ♥She goes rigid in my arms before I can even get a proper look at her face."Hey. Hey, stay with me." I lower her carefully to the pavement, one hand cradling the back of her head, the other pressed to her wrist. Her pulse is there, but it's wrong — too fast, then too slow, stuttering like it can't decide what rhythm to keep.I don't panic. Panic doesn't help anyone."Someone call an ambulance," I say, loud enough to cut through the small cluster of onlookers already gathering with their phones half-raised. "Now."Someone finally moves. I keep my eyes on her face — pale, slack, a thin sheen of sweat along her hairline despite the cold — and something in my memory snags on her features, familiar in a way I can't place until the porch light catches her properly.It's her.Two years, and I'd know that face anywhere. The last time I saw it, it was streaked with blood that wasn't hers and terror that was, standing over Jasmine in a stairwell with her knuckles split open an

♥ AZALEA'S POV ♥Dario cheers first."Finally!" He throws both fists in the air like Elias just won something. "About damn time, man!"The sound of it hits me before the words even land — blood draining out of my face so fast the room tilts sideways. I open my mouth. Nothing comes out. There's nothing left in me to say.Elias leans in close, close enough that I can smell the alcohol and someone else's perfume on his skin."Accept it," he says, low, only for me. "Stop clinging to a bond you can't even feel anymore. We both know it's dead."I can't answer him. My throat has closed around every word I own.Around us, the rooftop erupts — cheers, murmurs, someone whistling long and low like this is a show worth applauding. Elias's smile stretches wider with every sound of it, feeding on the crowd the way he's always fed on attention.Then my sister's voice cuts through all of it."Took him long enough," Zinnia says, loud enough to carry, phone still raised. "Guess even fate has limits on

♥ AZALEA'S POV ♥The bathroom mirror in the hotel lobby is not kind to me tonight, but I make myself stand in front of it anyway, tray balanced on one arm, fixing what I can from the heat of the kitchen.I smooth my hair back into the low bun Queen Valkyrie prefers — nothing loose, nothing that "draws attention to volume," in her words. I check my dress. Gray, shapeless, hem past my knees. Modest. Forgettable. Exactly the way she likes me dressed whenever I am going to be anywhere near her son.Younger me wouldn't be caught dead wearing this, but here I am, in said dress and barefaced. No make-up. She'd told me that too, the last time:"You don't want to look like you're trying too hard, dear. It's unbecoming on a girl your size."I press my lips together, check my reflection one more time, and tell myself the same thing I tell myself every time."You're doing this for the bond," I whisper. "Not for her. Not for him. For the bond granted by the Goddess."My reflection doesn't look con