Walking Heartbreak (34 page)
Read Walking Heartbreak Online
Authors: Sunniva Dee
In the future,
the world is at war. For the last decade, King Lazuli of the Eastern Empire has systematically taken over the world. No one knows much about him other than a series of impossible facts: he cannot die, he has not aged since the conflict began, and he wants to rule the world.
All Serenity Freeman has known is bloodshed. War has taken away her mother, her home, her safety. As the future emissary of the Western United Nations, the last autonomous region of the globe, she is responsible for forging alliances where she can.
Surrender is on the horizon. The king can taste it; Serenity feels it deep within her bones. There is no other option. Now the two must come face to face. For Serenity, that means confronting the man who’s taken everything from her. For the king, it means meeting the one woman he can’t conquer.
But when they meet, something happens. Cruelty finds redemption. Only in war, everything comes with a price. Especially love.
Three.
This is my number. The sum of reasons why I continue to go on.
One: She needs me.
Two: I have to protect her.
And three: With her, I feel human.
But the weight of a man’s secrets is a thousand pounds on his shoulders. Two thousand more on his chest. Trapping him.
Crushing
him.
My secrets are slaughtering me.
Fear and regret—of what I’ve done, of whom I’ve become, and of what I’ve let go—are dragging me into a hole, and I can’t claw my way out.
The deeper I sink, the farther I push her away.
The farther she goes, the more my mind spirals. Down into a black abyss. It’s dark here. So damn dark.
She needs to know what I’ve done. I have to tell her. But how can I battle the darkness if I lose my light?
This is what my life is now. I’m a shadow of a man in a scarred body, longing to live again.
“She was my past, my present, my everything, and when the time came I’d make her my forever.”
Aside from the normal
changes in her life, college junior, Elle Richards, can always count on her friendship with Tristan. The longing for him to love her back is something she keeps well hidden, even from herself. No matter how many miles apart they are, regular phone calls and texts keep them close…until the day everything changes.
Wide Receiver Tristan Daniels has a good thing going. Much to his, and every single woman’s surprise, he’s in a committed relationship. The possibility of going pro looks more than promising…until his spur of the moment transfer to a rival college is approved. Now, Tristan will be forced to be in the presence of the woman he’s secretly loved for as long as he can remember. Elle.
Being away from one another was enough to keep Tristan and Elle distracted, but angst, confusion, and troubled secrets launches them into a breathless, heart pumping story you won’t want to miss!