"You refuse to speak because you think your voice is a curse, Butterfly. A poison that destroys everything it touches. So poison me. Whisper their names, and I will gladly show you how a real monster burns the world to ash just to keep you warm. You think you are trapped in the dark with a psychopath, papillon. You don't realize I am just waiting for your command." - Nikolai de Rivel ____ To Leah, silence is the only armor she has left. Deaf, traumatized, and terrified of physical touch, she just wants to survive Ardencrest University without being seen. When she completely ignores the school's most dangerous French heir on her first day, she thinks she safely avoided a predator. She has no idea she just gave the Reaper Prince a puzzle he is dying to take apart. Behind his polite smiles and lethal elegance, Nikolai de Rivel is an empty-eyed psychopath who demands absolute, psychological control. He doesn't just want to claim her body; he wants to conquer her mind. Leah thinks the campus is naturally parting for her; she doesn't know Nikolai is viciously destroying anyone who steps too close. She thinks she is finally finding peace in the shadows; she doesn't know he is meticulously rewriting her entire reality so she has no choice but to crave his touch. He doesn't want to hide her from the monsters of her past. He wants to drag her into the dark, place her on his lap, and teach her how to rule it. He is the devil. And her rare voice is his trigger. ______ "The Reaper Prince | 18+" is the third book in the Princes of Ardencrest Series. {Can be read as a standalone}

I cupped her face, planting a soft kiss on her beautiful lips. "Don't ever run from me, baby," I said softly, letting my thumb trace her jaw. "I love the chase." Her jaw tightened, her hands coming up to try and move mine. "Stop calling me baby, Ezra," she snapped, eyes flashing. I couldn't help but grin, dropping my voice to something low and dark. "Ohhh, now my baby has a problem with me calling her baby?" She shot me a glare, but I just tucked her hair behind her ear, pressing another kiss to her lips-gentler this time, lingering. "You don't get to tell me what to call you, baby." I leaned in closer, brushing my nose against hers. "You're whatever the fuck I call you."