The Invitation Read Online Free PDF Page A

arterial blood.
    It didn’t come. Apart from a few droplets, he did not bleed.
    Amazing. Impossible.
    She watched as the wound healed. The skin miraculously knitted back together.
    Evie wasn’t one of those women who swooned or fainted at the sight of something out of the ordinary but she was damn sure this was a fainting moment. She felt giddy and lightheaded. Hot and cold at the same time.
    She swallowed back the bile and blinked. She’d be okay if the world stopped spinning.
    He did not bleed.
    Not human.
    Memories of Gabriel flashed through her mind. Christmas upon Christmas, he looked the same. He didn’t age, apart from a few crinkles around his eyes. How had she not realized? How did the world not notice?
    “I am the Shadow king. I rule the realm between Heaven and Hell and I have wandered this earth for centuries waiting for you.”
    His words sucker-punched her in the gut. She’d always thought there was something otherworldly about the way he moved.
    No, it couldn’t be true. He was delusional. Maybe she’d been hit over the head and this was all a weird, fucked-up dream. Maybe he’d drugged her. It couldn’t be real.
    Everything you can imagine is real.
    “Oh god.” She scrubbed her hands over her face.
    He hadn’t aged in twenty years. He was rarely seen except for at the annual Christmas ball. He didn’t bleed.
    She rubbed her chest. “How is this possible? You…you felt so real. You were inside me. I felt you inside me.” She reached out to touch him and stopped herself.
    A raging headache increased the pressure in her temples as she tried to come to terms with his revelation.
    You knew. You’ve always known.
    Had she? Of course she’d known. She’d dreamed about it, wrote novels about a golden court in purgatory overseen by a handsome king searching for his mate.
    He stroked her shoulder and desire cut through the fear. Even terrified, her body reacted, demanding attention. She craved him.
    “I can take corporeal form on one night of the year. On this night I am allowed to search for my consort, for the one woman who completes me. I have searched for many long years, Evie. You are the other half of my soul.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Your soul sings to mine.” He smoothed a stray tendril of her hair and her nipples beaded. “Your body knows my touch. Search your heart, Evie. We are destined.”
    She wanted to lean into him and feel his heat. She wanted to feel his presence surround her, engulf her. But uncertainty fired her nerve endings. She was sick to her stomach. How could she be a consort? She wasn’t born into his society. She didn’t know how to act around American socialites, let alone a magical court.
    The weight of his revelation weighed on her.
    She gathered her scattered clothes. “I need some space.”
    Hurt burned in his eyes, sending shards of pain through her heart.
    How was she supposed to react when the man of her dreams told her he was a ghost?
    The steely silence lengthened as she dressed. Aware that he watched her every move, a little embarrassed, she turned her back to him and tried to salvage some modesty.
    When she finished dressing, Evie faced him. He stood rigid as stone. “Gabriel…”
    “You have until midnight, Evelyn Ward.” His curt, dismissive tone brought tears to her eyes.
    She nodded and left the library. She closed the door behind her and leaned back against the solid wood. Pain whipped around her heart, turned her insides to mush. Usually, after spying on Gabriel, she’d spend Christmas Eve listening to carols, drinking mulled wine and sitting by a crackling fire.
    Tonight she was faced with the most important decision of her life.
    Magical realms were real. The things she wrote about had always seemed so lifelike, it scared her. At times she’d thought herself crazy. As a child her parents had taken her to a psychologist. They were worried she was delusional.
    All her vivid dreams were reality. It made sense now.
    Moments like this never