Gilded Lily Book Novels & Stories

"How do you know our names?" Lily smiled enigmatically. "I know many things. But we don't have much time. You must come with me." Amanda exchanged a look with Hannah and Rajan, then followed Lilly down a dark alleyway. They came to a door that blended in with the brick wall, and Marcelin pushed it open. Inside, they found themselves in a dimly lit room filled with ancient artifacts and strange symbols. Lily led them to a table, where a book lay open. "This is what you have been searching for," she said, indicating the book.

“My stuff—how did you…” “I borrowed a janitor,” she shrugged. “Well, bribed. He thinks you're a Russian spy.” I opened the bag. Clothes. The talisman. The Silver Moon Flower vial, safely sealed in a velvet pouch. She hadn’t touched it. “Why are you doing this?” I asked quietly. Lily stepped closer, her voice lower now. “Because you’re leaving him. That’s the best gift you could ever give me.” My throat clenched. “You know he won’t love you back.”

And looked. The pink lily across her back was lush and vibrant; she could almost catch the scent of its delicate petals as they unfurled. The leaves were a cool, dark green, the pollen was a warm gold. She looked hard, she really searched, but that ugly word that Gideon had inked into her back was hidden, it was gone, replaced by something breathtakingly lovely. Zoe had so cleverly used the lines and curves of those awful four letters to draw the petals and the leaves, and somehow she had completely covered over, erased, destroyed the word.

Briarcrest did not like losing control. Nyx realized that the moment the summons arrived. It came folded in thick ivory paper, slipped beneath the door of her dormitory room sometime before dawn. No seal. No signature. Just the academy’s crest embossed in faint silver across the corner. She found it when she stepped out of bed. The paper waited on the floor like it had been watching her sleep. Nyx crouched and picked it up. Inside, a single line was written in precise black ink.

Lily’s eyes turn gold as Hera, her wolf, pushes forward. “What do you smell, Qadira?” Hera asks. “I don’t know,” she answers, still sniffing the air. As the scent gets closer, I pull Tanya toward me, not sure what to expect in this magical land. It doesn’t feel threatening, but since I’m not familiar with the scent, I’m not taking any chances. “GoldMoon,” Hera purrs and the gold in Lily’s eyes fades. Lily steps forward as the largest deer I’ve ever seen in my life steps out of the forest. She has a huge rack of antlers, larger than any deer in the human world and they look like they’re made of gold.

"That cursed golden-haired girl..." "How could she possibly be by His Majesty's side?" Lily's eyes reddened with fury as she stood on her balcony staring into the distance. Only she knew just how deep her hatred toward Elena truly ran. Because Lily was absolutely convinced that Elena had stolen her happiness. Even on her own wedding day. And the fact that Alpha Caelan Blackthorn had still never touched her... proved to Lily that he too had fallen under the spell of that golden-haired girl. Lily was so furious that tears slowly began falling down her cheeks.

Ingrid touched the surface of the box, and the result was the same. “It won’t open.” Everyone then turned to look at Lilith. Lucas smiled gently. “Your turn, Lilith.” Lilith nodded slowly. With a slightly trembling breath, she placed her palm over the carved lotus flower. For a moment, nothing happened, then the carving began to glow softly. A golden light spread across the entire surface of the box. Click The box lid opened slowly. Inside lay an old book wrapped in white linen. The room was instantly filled with silence. No one dared to move. Lilith slowly lifted the book.

The grand library of the Villa Valeriano smelled of woodsmoke, old leather, and the heavy, metallic tang of panic. Outside, the storm had finally broken, leaving Lake Como shrouded in a suffocating, pitch-black fog that pressed hard against the bulletproof glass windows.

Lily's hands trembled slightly as she entered a bookshop just off Bond Street. The dark-rose gown and yellow-gold cloak she wore made her feel out of place amid the shanty shelves and dusty tomes. Motes of dust danced and swirled in the beams of light cutting through the windows and illuminating the gilded spines of the books stacked thickly behind her.

On the fourth morning, the silence was broken not by Dante’s voice, but by the frantic vibration of the tablet he had left on the marble kitchen island. Lily approached it hesitantly. She wasn't supposed to touch his electronics, but the notifications were popping up like rapid-fire bubbles. Each one carried a headline more vicious than the last. Her heart plummeted into her stomach as she read the words. “THE GOLD-DIGGER OF THE GALA: Who is Dante Vallocchi’s Mysterious ‘Fiancée’?” “FROM THE GUTTER TO THE GOLD: The Secret Past of Lily Mendoza.”