The Darkest Whisper. Gena ShowalterЧитать онлайн книгу.
Praise for New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
GENA SHOWALTER’S
Lords of the Underworld
The Darkest Night
“A fascinating premise, a sexy hero and non-stop
action, The Darkest Night is Showalter at her finest, and a fabulous start to an imaginative new series.” —New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning
“Dark and tormented doesn’t begin to describe
these cursed warriors called the Lords of the
Underworld. Showalter has created characters
desperately fighting to retain a semblance of
humanity, which means the heroines are in
for a rough ride. This is darkly satisfying and
passionately thrilling stuff.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews, 4 stars
“Amazing! Stupendous! Extraordinary! Gena
Showalter has done it again. The Darkest Night is the fabulous start of an edgy, thrilling series…” —Fallen Angels reviews
“Not to be missed…the hottest
new paranormal series.”
—Night Owl Romance
The Darkest Kiss
“In this new chapter the Lords of the Underworld
engage in a deadly dance. Anya is a fascinating blend
of spunk, arrogance and vulnerability—a perfect
match for the tormented Lucien.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews, 4 1/2 stars
“Talk about one dark read…If there is one book
you must read this year, pick up The Darkest Kiss… a Gena Showalter book is the best of the best.” —Romance Junkies
The Darkest Pleasure
“Showalter’s darkly dangerous Lords of the
Underworld trilogy, with its tortured characters,
comes to a very satisfactory conclusion…[her]
compelling universe contains the possibility of
more stories to be told.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews, 4 stars
“Of all the books in this series, this is the most
moving and compelling. The concluding chapters
will simply stun you with the drama of them…
You will not be sorry if you add this to
your collection.”
—Mists and Stars
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gena Showalter has been praised for her “sizzling page turners” and “utterly spellbinding stories”. She is the author of more than seventeen novels and anthologies, including breathtaking paranormal and contemporary romances, cutting-edge young adult novels, and stunning urban fantasy. Readers can’t get enough of her trademark wit and singular imagination.
To learn more about Gena and her books, please visit www.genashowalter.com and www.genashowalter blogspot.com.
Gena Showalter
The Darkest Whisper
To Kresley Cole. A shining star, a talent beyond
compare, beauty personified and one of the reasons
I exist. I want to live inside your brain.
To Nix of the Immortals After Dark for coming
to play in my sandbox
To Christy Foster for all your help online
To Krystle for the wonderful title
To Nora Roberts, an amazingly talented woman
and writer—who just happens to be great at
fixing toilets, too!
To my editors Tracy Farrell and Margo Lipschultz,
whose bountiful support blesses me more
than I can ever say
And LAST on this list:
To Jill Monroe. I guess you’re okay. Kind of. (Fine. I
love and adore you beyond what is deemed healthy. You are a shining star, a talent beyond compare, beauty personified and the other reason I exist.)
CHAPTER ONE
SABIN, KEEPER OF THE DEMON of Doubt, stood in the catacombs of an ancient pyramid, panting, sweating, his hands soaked in his enemy’s blood, his body cut and bruised as he surveyed the carnage around him. Carnage he’d helped create.
Torches flickered orange and gold, twining with shadows along the stone walls. Walls that were now spattered with vivid red, dripping…pooling. The sandy floor was thick like paste, wet and colored black. Half an hour ago it had been honey brown, grains sparkling and scattering as they’d marched. Now bodies littered every square inch of the small corridor, the scent of fatality already rising from them.
Nine of his enemy had survived the attack. They’d already been stripped of their weapons, hustled into a corner and bound with rope. Most trembled in fear. A few had their shoulders squared, their noses in the air, hatred in their eyes, refusing to back down even in defeat. Damned admirable.
Too bad that bravery had to be quashed.
Brave men didn’t spill their secrets, and Sabin wanted their secrets.
He was a warrior who did what needed to be done, when it needed to be done, no matter what was required of him. Killing, torturing, seducing. He didn’t hesitate to ask his men to do the same, either. With Hunters—mortals who’d decided he and his fellow Lords of the Underworld made good whipping boys for the world’s evil—victory was the only thing that mattered. For only by winning the war could his friends finally know peace. Peace they deserved. Peace he craved for them.
Shallow, erratic rasps of breath filled Sabin’s ears. His, his friends’, his enemies’. They’d fought with every ounce of strength they possessed, each of them. It had been a battle of good versus evil, and evil had won. Or rather, what these Hunters considered evil. He and his brothers-by-circumstance thought otherwise.
Yeah, long ago they’d opened Pandora’s box, unleashing the demons from inside. But they had been punished eternally, each warrior cursed by the gods to host one of those vile fiends inside himself. Yeah, they’d once been slaves to their new, demonic halves, destructive and violent, killers without a conscience. But they had control now, human in all the ways that mattered. For the most part.
Sometimes the demons did fight…did win…did destroy.
Still. We deserve to live, he thought. Like everyone else, they suffered if their friends were hurt, read books, watched movies, gave to charity. Fell in love. Hunters, though, would never see it that way. They were convinced the world would be a better place without the Lords. A utopia, serene and perfect. They believed every sin ever committed could be laid at a demon’s feet. Maybe because they were dumb as shit. Maybe because they