Lover Reborn
Authors: J. R. Ward
BY J. R. WARD
T
HE
B
LACK
D
AGGER
B
ROTHERHOOD SERIES
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
The Black Dagger Brotherhood:
An Insider’s Guide
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine
Lover Unleashed
Lover Reborn
N
OVELS OF THE
F
ALLEN
A
NGELS
Covet
Crave
Envy
A NOVEL OF THE BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD
N
EW
A
MERICAN
L
IBRARY
Published by New American Library, a division of
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First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, April 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright © Love Conquers All, Inc., 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Ward, J. R., 1969–
Lover reborn: a novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood/J. R. Ward.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-101-57697-7
1. Vampires—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.A73227L694 2012
813’.6—dc23 2011046870
Set in Garamond
Designed by Patrice Sheridan
Printed in the United States of America
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
DEDICATED TO:
You
—
it has been so long,
too long,
since you have had a home.
With immense gratitude to the readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood and a shout-out to the Cellies!
Thank you so very much for all the support and guidance: Steven Axelrod, Kara Welsh, Claire Zion, and Leslie Gelbman. Thank you also to everyone at New American Library—these books are truly a team effort.
Thank you to all our Mods for everything you do out of the goodness of your hearts!
With love to Team Waud—you know who you are. This simply could not happen without you.
None of this would be possible without: my loving husband, who is my adviser and caretaker and visionary; my wonderful mother, who has given me so much love I couldn’t possibly ever repay her; my family (both those of blood and those by adoption); and my dearest friends.
Oh, and the better half of WriterDog, of course.
AND PROPER NOUNS
ahstrux nohtrum
(n.) Private guard with license to kill who is granted his or her position by the king.
ahvenge
(v.) Act of mortal retribution, carried out typically by a male loved one.
Black Dagger Brotherhood
(pr. n.) Highly trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society. As a result of selective breeding within the race, Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength, as well as rapid healing capabilities. They are not siblings for the most part, and are inducted into the Brotherhood upon nomination by the Brothers. Aggressive, self-reliant, and secretive by nature, they exist apart from civilians, having little contact with members of the other classes except when they need to feed. They are the subjects of legend and objects of reverence within the vampire world. They may be killed only by the most serious of wounds, e.g., a gunshot or stab to the heart, etc.
blood slave
(n.) Male or female vampire who has been subjugated to serve the blood needs of another. The practice of keeping blood slaves has recently been outlawed.
the Chosen
(pr. n.) Female vampires who have been bred to serve the Scribe Virgin. They are considered members of the aristocracy, though they are spiritually rather than temporally focused. They have little or no interaction with males, but can be mated to Brothers at the Scribe Virgin’s direction to propagate their class. Some have the ability to
prognosticate. In the past, they were used to meet the blood needs of unmated members of the Brotherhood, and that practice has been reinstated by the Brothers.
chrih
(n.) Symbol of honorable death in the Old Language.
cohntehst
(n.) Conflict between two males competing for the right to be a female’s mate.
Dhunhd
(pr. n.) Hell.
doggen
(n.) Member of the servant class within the vampire world.
Doggen
have old, conservative traditions about service to their superiors, following a formal code of dress and behavior. They are able to go out during the day, but they age relatively quickly. Life expectancy is approximately five hundred years.
ehros
(n.) A Chosen trained in the matter of sexual arts.
exhile dhoble
(n.) The evil or cursed twin, the one born second.
the Fade
(pr. n.) Nontemporal realm where the dead reunite with their loved ones and pass eternity.
First Family
(pr. n.) The king and queen of the vampires, and any children they may have.
ghardian
(n.) Custodian of an individual. There are varying degrees of
ghardians
, with the most powerful being that of a
sehcluded
female.
glymera
(n.) The social core of the aristocracy, roughly equivalent to Regency England’s
ton
.
hellren
(n.) Male vampire who has been mated to a female. Males may take more than one female as mate.
leahdyre
(n.) A person of power and influence.
leelan
(adj.) A term of endearment loosely translated as “dearest one.”
Lessening Society
(pr. n.) Order of slayers convened by the Omega for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species.
lesser
(n.) De-souled human who targets vampires for extermination as a member of the Lessening Society.
Lessers
must be stabbed through the chest in order to be killed; otherwise they are ageless. They do not eat or drink and are impotent. Over time, their hair, skin, and irises lose pigmentation until they are blond, blushless, and pale eyed. They smell like baby powder. Inducted into the Society by the Omega, they retain a ceramic jar thereafter into which their heart was placed after it was removed.
lewlhen
(n.) Gift.
lheage
(n.) A term of respect used by a sexual submissive to refer to her dominant.
Lhenihan
(pr. n.) A mythic beast renown for its sexual prowess. In modern slang, refers to a male of preternatural size and sexual stamina.
lys
(n.) Torture tool used to remove the eyes.
mahmen
(n.) Mother. Used both as an identifier and a term of affection.