A Monster So Merciless (Titans and Tyrants #5)

Chapter 1

Aurora

The first time I saw Curse Titone was the day he saved my life. I was six years old in Sicily.

The second time I saw him was the night he ended someone else’s. I was sixteen years old in Montreal.

The third time he somehow manages to do both at once.

Tonight, I am twenty-eight years old in New York. The man I married mere hours ago lies in a pool of blood at my feet.

Curse is holding a knife.

His eyes are black and empty now.

Once, I thought he was my guardian angel. He pulled me from the salt-choked waves so I could breathe again. In turn, I worshipped him. He was like a dream to me. The object of all devotion.

When I prayed, I prayed to him.

But even the best dreams can shatter like glass. Even angels can falter, can fall.

So many moments that I wished he would once again come and save me, but he didn’t.

So many moments that I wished that he had just let me drown that day.

But he’s here now. With the knife and the blood and those eyes that I don’t recognize. He’s still so fucking beautiful. A monster with a face like a god.

And a name like damnation.

“Let’s go,” Curse says. The first words I’ve heard from his lips in more than ten years.

“Where?”

He doesn’t answer. Does it even matter? Do I have a choice?

If there is a choice, I’ve already made it.

I leave my husband’s body behind and follow the monster, leaving bloody footprints as I go.