PRAISE FOR THE GUILD HUNTER NOVELS OF NALINI SINGH
“Paranormal romance doesn’t get better than this.”
—Love Vampires
“Intense, vivid, and sexually charged.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[A] remarkable urban fantasy series.”
—RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)
“World-building that blew my socks off.”
—Meljean Brook, New York Times bestselling author
“[A] heart-pounding, action-packed story line of love and loss; death and destruction; family and friends; intrigue and suspense.”
—The Reading Cafe
“It’s dark and edgy, and so atmospheric.”
—Book Chick City
“Mesmerizing . . . Fascinating world-building.”
—Bitten by Books
“The Guild Hunter series is not set in a peaceful world and Singh doesn’t pull any punches.”
—The Book Pushers
“Completely awe-inspiring.”
—Fallen Angel Reviews
“Stunning, original, beautiful, intriguing, and mesmerizing.”
—Errant Dreams Reviews
“[Ms. Singh] has a knack for writing characters that are truly believable, and admirably strong and resilient.”
—Dark Faerie Tales
“One of the most immersive and consistently creative works in urban fantasy.”
—Grave Tells
“[A] fabulous addition to the paranormal world.”
—Fresh Fiction
“[A] powerful, riveting novel. I found myself wholly absorbed.”
—Dear Author
“Dark, lush urban fantasy, steeped in violence and power.”
—HeroesandHeartbreakers
Berkley titles by Nalini Singh
Psy-Changeling Series
SLAVE TO SENSATION
VISIONS OF HEAT
CARESSED BY ICE
MINE TO POSSESS
HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE
BRANDED BY FIRE
BLAZE OF MEMORY BONDS OF JUSTICE
PLAY OF PASSION
KISS OF SNOW
TANGLE OF NEED
HEART OF OBSIDIAN
SHIELD OF WINTER
SHARDS OF HOPE
ALLEGIANCE OF HONOR
Psy-Changeling Trinity Series
SILVER SILENCE
OCEAN LIGHT
Guild Hunter Series
ANGELS’ BLOOD
ARCHANGEL’S KISS
ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT
ARCHANGEL’S BLADE
ARCHANGEL’S STORM
ARCHANGEL’S LEGION
ARCHANGEL’S SHADOWS
ARCHANGEL’S ENIGMA
ARCHANGEL’S HEART
ARCHANGEL’S VIPER
ARCHANGEL’S PROPHECY
Anthologies
AN ENCHANTED SEASON
(with Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, and Jean Johnson)
THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CAT
(with Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones)
MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS
(with Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook)
BURNING UP
(with Angela Knight, Virginia Kantra, and Meljean Brook)
ANGELS OF DARKNESS
(with Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn)
ANGELS’ FLIGHT
WILD INVITATION NIGHT SHIFT
(with Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, and Milla Vane)
WILD EMBRACE
Specials
ANGELS’ PAWN
ANGELS’ DANCE
TEXTURE OF INTIMACY
DECLARATION OF COURTSHIP
WHISPER OF SIN
SECRETS AT MIDNIGHT
A JOVE BOOK
Published by Berkley
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
© 2018 by Nalini Singh
Excerpt from Silver Silence © 2017 by Nalini Singh
Penguin Random House supports . fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
A JOVE BOOK and BERKLEY are registered trademarks and the B colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Ebook : 9780451491657
First Edition: November 2018
Cover art by Tony Mauro
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.
Version_1
For Ashwini, who is one tough beta reader.
And who puts up with late-night calls from a certain writer who keeps vampire hours and wants to talk out the stories in her brain.
Also, who sat next to me on a plane and let me interrupt her every five minutes saying, “Read this and give me your opinion,” while I was working out a particularly tough scene.
Thanks for helping to make this book so awesome.
Contents
Praise for the Guild Hunter Novels of Nalini Singh
Berkley titles by Nalini Singh
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
The Legion
Chapter 47
The Legion
Chapter 48
Excerpt from Silver Silence
About the Author
A time of death
A time of life
The drinker of blood lost
The agony of rebirth
The last feather to fall
Such eyes of wild fire, Such broken dreams
One must die for one to live
And the birds, ah, the birds always know
—Archangel Cassandra, Ancient among Ancients, lost to an eons-long Sleep
1
Elena noticed the sparrows with the periphery of her mind.
The small birds were dipping and dancing beyond the Tower windows, their wings nearly brushing the glass. For a second, she felt a chill on the back of her neck, but then the sparrows flew off to do sparrow business and she realized she was being paranoid. Just because the city’s birds had gone all creepy and otherworldly once didn’t mean every sparrow was a harbinger.
Sometimes a bird was just a bird.
She returned to her Scrabble death match with Vivek.
Ten minutes later, the two of them were taking an insane amount of pleasure in arguing over a word when Sara called to ask her to track a young