The Invitation Read Online Free PDF

happened to her. Defining moments. When in the blink of an eye you had to decide whether or not to take a leap of faith into the unknown.
    Oh god. How could she make that decision? It was fantastical. Downright absurd. She couldn’t even decide what to have for dinner most days.
    What was his world like? Would she be able to see her family and friends? Was it a harsh place? What if Gabriel was wrong? What if they weren’t compatible? Would she be stuck there in this Shadow realm?
    Air. She needed some air. To clear her head.
    She hurried back to the throne room and pushed through the laughing crowds. She spied a set of partially open French doors and bolted toward them, thankful for an escape route.
    Once outside she ran down the steps, moving farther away from the house. The crisp night air felt good against her heated skin. The noise from the ball faded and she was left with the pounding in her head.
    Gabriel Longthorn was King of Shadows. An immortal searching for a consort. Her.
    “Fuck.” She bent forward and put her head between her thighs. She wasn’t going to throw up. She needed to think.
    She’d always been different. Apart, as if she didn’t really belong. As though something was missing. Part of the reason she’d become a writer was to connect with the world. The only time she’d truly felt at peace was with Gabriel buried inside her. All the doubts had stopped. She had come alive.
    King of Shadows. It sounded horrifying yet the place he’d shown her shone vivid and bright. Full of life and love. A paradise beyond the veil. A place she would be queen.
    There was only one drawback—to be queen, to be with the man she’d loved all her life, she had to give up everything she’d ever known. Her family, friends, writing.
    “He’d never ask you to give up the things you love. He’s far too stubborn for that.” Lucian stepped out of the shadow of a tree. He pointed to a stone bench, asking silent permission if he could sit.
    “Sure.” She sat next to him. Her indecision and fears must have been etched all over her face.
    “I’m a guard. It’s my job to protect Gabriel any way I can.”
    Of course. His job made sense now. Before she’d thought him a normal bodyguard but now that she knew about the Shadow world, Lucian’s role took on deeper meaning.
    She drank in his features. Like Gabriel he had otherworldly beauty. Was he immortal too? Probably.
    “I have until midnight to decide whether I want to be with him in the…Shadow world.” She tucked strands of hair behind her ear. “What happens if I say no?” She couldn’t believe she was even asking the question. When the words left her lips, pain twisted in her gut. She caught the tragic look Lucian tried to hide. She steeled her spine for the worst. “The truth please, Lucian.”
    “If you do not agree to be queen, Gabriel loses his only chance at happiness. Without you he is doomed to walk between worlds as a shade, never knowing love. His soul will wither and die and the King of Shadows as we know him will be no more.”
    Tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of Gabriel ceasing to exist.
    It broke her heart.
    She inhaled, tried to steady her nerves. “Well, that puts the pressure on.”
    Lucian flashed her a sympathetic look.
    “Why tonight? Why can’t I have some time to get used to things? Why is it all so rushed?” She was desperate to know the answer.
    “Because this is his last chance. He’s waited for centuries. Every year part of him dies as he searches. Unless you complete him tonight, his soul will have died by next year.”
    “I thought being immortal protected you from death.”
    “Nothing is safe from death. Everything ends in some form. He loves you, Evie. He has done for years.” His green-eyed gaze pierced her soul, willing her to accept his king. “The first time he saw you as an adult, it lit a fire inside him that I had not seen for centuries. You gave him hope.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Do not